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Water Transfer and security (Lesotho: The Highland Water Project (Benefits…
Water Transfer and security
Lesotho: The Highland Water Project
A Scheme in Africa that aims to supply more clean water to South African Cities such as Johannesburg, due to the city not having a river running through it.
Completed in 2003
Benefits to the Scheme
It supplied Lesotho with more clean water to the residents, which increases the life expectancy and decreases poverty due to a higher access to clean water.
It boosts the GDP of Lesotho as the transfer of water to South Africa supports 75% of the country's GDP alone.
It employed over 1000 people into the construction process which diversifies the Employment sector of Lesotho.
South Africa benefits from this scheme by:
It decreases the Water Stress issue in Johannesburg, which prevents the need to hosepipe/ water usage bans and limits
It will meet the demand for the increasing urban population of Johannesburg.
It keeps large scale industries (e.g, Power Stations and Metal manufacturing) open due to the availability of water used as a coolant for the resources in the factories.
This in effect raises the GDP of South Africa as the companies are able to stay open. It also means that there will be no price increases in energy consumption that the public have to pay for.
Further trade deals that can be made between Lesotho and South Africa, which results in economic developments and income for both nations.
The capital city of Lesotho, Maseru will be supplied with 90% of the population having access to clean, safe water.
Disadvantages to the scheme
For Lesotho:
700Km^2 of Farmland was flooded behind the dam to make a reservior
This negatively affected farmers that lived in the area by the decrease in crop yield, not allowing them to have a stable income and lower availability to food (Sustenance faming)
30,000 people that used to live in the area behind the dam had to migrate due to the flooding of the land.
This results in Schoolchildren not being able to get to school easily and taking diversions, causing them to lose valuable education time. This potentially effects the Literacy Rate of children in Lesotho, which restricts their chances of being employed.
Was a very expensive project: Costs peaked at
4 Billion Dollars (US$)
which could have been better spent on development techniques or medical research that could have better effects.
40% of the water is lost by leakages due to poorly maintained infrastructure.
Corruption and certain people groups halted the production of the Polihali Dam
Destruction of wetland system in Lesotho's Highlands causes specific animal species to go endangered which decreases the biodiversity of the area.
For South Africa
South Africa fund the majority of the project, which peaks at around
4 Billion US Dollars ($)
.
40% of the water is lost in Leakages.
Increased Water tariffs to help pay for the scheme are too expensive for the poorer population of South Africa
Largest manufacturing scheme in Africa that took 30 years to complete.
Was it a success?
The Highland Water Transfer scheme was a
marginal success
because despite it helping the residents of both Lesotho and South Africa by boosting possible economic development and quality of life, it had insanely high costs and the water is not sustainably kept, so water conservation is now a problem there.
Reducing Water consumption at home
reduce 60 seconds in the shower
Checking water meter for leaks
Not running the taps during activities (Brushing your teeth, washing the dishes etc.)
Using water bottles instead of glasses when drinking
collect the cold water while waiting for hot water
Water Conservation
Fixing leaks
Installing metred supplies (Air-rated taps, water metres)
Preventing pollution that decreases water quality
Rasing tariff prices and water bills
Educating the public/Spreading awareness
Grey-water Recycling in Jordan
Grey-water recycling: When water that is taken from drains in sinks, washing appliances and showers and is filtered and sanitised to be used again for cooking or consumption.
80% of the water taken from hotels go to a water treatment plant.
The Water is filtered using ultraviolet light which removes bacteria and germs from the water.
Jordan saves €20,000 per year by not needing to import the water by trucks from other areas.
It supplies the growing population of Jordan with safe and sustainable water.
Groundwater Management
When groundwater (water underground) is collected by rain through the saturated zone and water table through porous rock or cracks in the ground.
They can be tapped into to collect drinking water.
A problem to groundwater is that they can abstracted too much, and causes the supply to run low and the soil and water table becomes unstable, causing landslides and plants not being able to grow efficiently.