Dumile Cele - Drought Indaba
2016-06-21
A school of thought exists that the 3rd world war will be fought over water and food. Looking at the rate of global warming effects on our water reserves, I am beginning to subscribe to this construct. Even if you don't believe this prediction, the drought all around us calls on all of us to take serious action to save this precious resource - water.
The drought facing KZN and the rest of the country has severely impacted on government's ability to provide water services, but the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry is happy to see that eThekwini Municipality has gone an extra mile to ensure both residents and business are not as affected as could have been witnessed without proper management of the situation.
The various interventions by the city to restrict water flow all points to constructive efforts in ensuring water supply in the long term for all users in our municipality, and though this may have been perceived in a negative light, ultimately we are all still getting water services in spite of the drought.
Roughly 60% of our Municipal water use is from residents and the rest commercial and industrial uses. We would like to commend the awareness and education initiatives undertaken by the city to sensitise residents of water saving and conservation. We would also like to encourage business, to lead the way in providing water saving solutions to residents as well as adopting water saving systems as discussed in the earlier presentations. Our culture of water use will be reflected in the ability of coming generations to have water security and is also tied to larger health and sanitation issues.
Messages of Support
The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry would also like to express its support to the new by-laws on Nuisances and Behaviour in Public Places and the Problem Buildings By-Law. Both these by-laws give confidence to business that Durban can continue on its tourism growth path and more importantly it gives confidence to investors looking to take advantage of our status as the first African Common Wealth Host City. Enforceability of these by-laws will take centre stage, and the outcome of proper enforcement will be an increase in jobs for Durban's residents, a more liveable and walkable city, and a positive impact to the City's GDP.
www.durbanchamber.co.za