Highlights
- Water storage tanks ensure water security
- Water tanks as a sustainable solution for water scarcity in rural communities
Water tanks are essential as a water security solution for people living in rural communities. There are so many concerns regarding access to clean water in rural areas. Firstly it is a daily occurrence for women in most rural areas to travel long distances to fetch water. In some parts here in South Africa, women spend almost six hours daily fetching water and carrying it home on their heads. This meant that this process of fetching water has proven consuming, and as a result prevents women from focusing on other daily activities such as household chores, community involvement, farming, etc. The second concern is the unclean often infused with bacteria water, that they fetch from rivers and dams.
The Water for Africa Institute established that Diarrhea and Malaria among Africans is a common occurrences due to Cholera, Typhoid and diseases alike, not to mention other illnesses like Yellow fever. Much of this water contamination is the lack of water storage equipment. The third concern is the consistent water shortages, even though water scarcity is a national issue. However, the lack of water supply impacts rural areas more, because of the already existing lack of service delivery, low economic activity, and many social disparities.
WHY ARE WATER STORAGE TANKS IMPORTANT?
If more people in rural communities have water tanks in their homes, schools, or churches then water security can be guaranteed. Having access to clean water in their homes will significantly improve the overall quality of their lives. This is because community members will easily have water to sustain their daily activities, and those involved in agricultural activities will also be able to sustain their commercial and industrial needs When rural communities, farmlands, and other industries become more self-sustaining when it comes to their water usage, the local municipality can look at other ways of making drinking water accessible in rural areas as there would be a greater supply thereof. In addition, if local municipalities can construct multiple water storage tanks to help lessen the burden of fetching water, women and young girls can focus on being involved in other daily important tasks, as fetching water is time-consuming.
TSGN’s RECOMMENDATION
On 3 August 2022, IOL reported that Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu, who was responding to a written question that was raised in parliament by the IFP’s Sbuyiselwe Buthelezi, who had asked Mchunu what areas his department identified, nationally, as being the most affected by the water crisis and likely to have major water and sanitation issues, and plans his department has in place to prevent day zero. And he said, “Areas experiencing water shortages are mostly rural areas in the provinces of the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, and the Northern Cape.”
Therefore, Thabile Sefala Global Network recommends that civil society organizations, local government, and other relevant stakeholders need to partner together to ensure that communities in the above mentioned provinces receive long-term assistance amidst this water shortage. Hence our solution is the provision of water tanks as one of the ways to ensure that communities have easy access to clean water. For we believe that if they have water storage tanks, they will also have water security. However, it is noteworthy that TSGN will not be offering water storage tanks to each province, however, the identified provinces will be assisted. And this is why we recommend all the relevant stakeholders involved be a part of bridging the water shortage gap in other provinces.
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