3 South African Looming Crises

This article is based on a GREENPEACE report and news from within South Africa and has to do with SA's possible future power, food and water scarcity and what, if anything can be done about it. This problem also applies to many other countries as well.... so the solutions also apply.

Labeling the current water situation in South Africa as anything other than a crisis would be to downplay the severity of the problem.

The National Development Plan (NDP) has clear defined milestones to achieve its 2030 objectives. Some of these milestones include:

? *Ensuring that all South Africans have access to clean running water in their homes (not going to happen unless action is taken by the SA Government).

? *Realising a food trade surplus, with one-third produced by small-scale farmers or households (not going to happen without power or water).

? *Ensuring household food and nutrition security (only if we can continue to produce food and irrigate our crops).

None of these goals will be met without secure access to water.

Sola-Gro SA / **We now see South Africa stepping further into a problematic upcoming storm as seen by this report by Jacques Moolman, President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry?-?https://capechamber.co.za/media-release/new-water-licensing-regulations-could-do-more-harm-good?? - In part this is a Department of Water and Sanitation B-BBEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment) driven ‘water license’ where all water sources and sourcing would be subject to a 75% black shareholding which will affect everything spoken about here and is something of great concern for all South Africans and especially for agriculture.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that in 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries with absolute water scarcity and two-thirds of the world’s population could be living in water-stressed conditions.?

The problem of access to drinking water is especially prominent in South Africa, where most of the population does not have?access to safe water facilities. This access is even lower in rural areas and among disadvantaged socio-economic groups, especially for children and our elderly.? (Sound familiar???)

This leads to a situation where food security for millions is threatened. Water has a huge impact on food production and these challenges have been exacerbated by climate change which will make extreme weather events such as drought more frequent and intense and less predictable as time goes by. This same scenario will lead to less predictable access to water for consumption and agricultural use and food production in most parts of South Africa or worldwide but usage can be minimized?through the use of specially built unit systems called Sola-Sheds. (See SGSA project below).

Add to this a company 'Maskam Water' who produce the Fusion Waste Water Treatment Plant which treats grey and black water so that it can be re-used for odourless and pathogen free toilet flushing and irrigation of gardens, lawns, golf courses to agri irrigation and market gardens while saving potable (drinking) water and we could be well on the way to helping our water and food woes - www.maskamwater.com

FOOD

Results indicate that out of almost 17.9 million households in SA in 2021 almost 80% (14,2 million) reported that they had adequate access to food while?15 percent (2,6 million) and 6 percent (1,1 million) stated that they have inadequate to severe inadequate access to food, respectively. Now in 2023 these figures are a lot worse. If agriculture (small to large) is affected even in the slightest way by the above problems, these figures will worsen and is not acceptable.

The agricultural sector is in crisis as load shedding (intermittent access to power) costs farmers billions of Rand to keep the supply chain afloat and according to Agri SA’s CEO Christo Van der Rheede, who noted that without action, South Africans can expect crop failures, higher food prices and shortages of certain food products in the near future. “The entire agricultural value chain relies on electricity for irrigation, their processing plants and to maintain cold storage facilities which can easily affect the quality of your meats and vegetables if it experiences disruptions.” - also threatening the sustainability of the sector and the 800,000 jobs it provides plus the agricultural sector lost more than R23 billion in 2022 which will be exceeded in 2023. **This is not sustainable…

Sola-Gro South Africa?(SGSA)

If we and other countries continue to walk past possibilities to make our respective countries less susceptible to the above problems of power, food and water shortages we are going to be staring into a dark and tumultuous time. Add to that all the other associated problems we have like poor infrastructure and service delivery in general and we have a ticking time bomb which will show itself in social unrest. Take food and water out of people’s mouths and that scenario becomes unavoidable.

Unfortunately most of what can be done in the short or long term is in the hands of Government, Local Government and Municipalities but we as citizens and industries also have a part to play and will be critical to 'getting it done'.

Sola-Gro South Africa's ‘Power - Food - Water’ security Agrivoltaic project is a small but significant ‘step-in-the-right’ direction as regards where we need to go as regards our future power, food and water needs and once set up could give many industries and our local communities the units, data, basic information and services they need to help themselves while helping South Africa plus that 'power, food and water' that is required. Multiply a unit by 5, 10, 20 or 100 units and you will see a community or area flourish... then add a Fusion Waste Water Treatment Plant from Maskam Water and re-use the odourless and pathogen free treated wastewater to irrigate gardens, lawns, golf courses and agricultural irrigation and leave the potable water for drinking... food for thought and action!!!

SGSA’s initial target market is the agricultural industry in the Cape but to then quickly expand across South Africa to help grow more abundant quality produce on a smaller footprint area, use less water and fertilizers while helping out the irrigation of these crops by the harvesting of water through gutter and storage systems and water from air generators while at the same time producing their own power with excess power being sold back to the grid and this in an all-in-one ‘Sola-Shed’ (kit) that can be erected as a once off or be multiplied quickly and easily. Think farms (small to large), open community areas, schools to concrete rooftops of businesses, warehouses and parking areas.... the possibilities are endless and will build strong communities. This would then also lead to export trade to all corners of the world.

This would be power, food and water security from grassroots level up.…

Also see my LinkedIn article below for more information on what Maskam Water is offering regarding treatment plants, to pumps and more which will help you and/or help your clients - https://tinyurl.com/2s42hrkz

Graham Riley / Founder & CEO of Sola-Gro South Africa / Market development for Maskam Water...

Mobile: 082 082 7711 - Outside SA: 027 82 082 7711

Email: [email protected]