Importance Of Water In South Africa

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Water quality and availability in South Africa The freshwater that is used for drinking, washing and preparing food comes from rainwater, surface water sources or groundwater (Oberholster and Ashton, 2008). Population growth and economy development is putting more pressure on the worsen water quality of the country. The availability and quality of water in South Africa is affected by factors such as the rainfall patterns, and the government policies that are used to protect, control, manage and determine the access to water use. Water is the most vital resource and it will be impossible to sustain biodiversity or encourage social and economic development without it (Bucas, 2006). Water is essential for domestic use, agricultural use, mining, recreational and industrialization. These activities have an effect on the water quality and quantity of the water such as, water contamination with waste produced from mining and industries, run off into the river of agriculture fertilizers (Claassen, 2010).…show more content…
The pressure on the water sources leads to pollution and eutrophication with high presence of organic and inorganic compounds (Ewerts, 2013). Eutrophication is also caused by human waste, due to the old South African sewage system, the sewage plant find it difficult to treat the effluent and cater for the effluent, this might overflow into the water source used for potable water purification, increasing micro-organisms levels in the water and have an impact on the treatment process as the water treatment should be able to remove the presence of micro-organisms (Oberholster,

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