Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
NATIONAL WATER CONSERVATION CAMPAIGN
2020 VISION OF WATER IN SOUTH AFRICA SCHOOLS PROJECT 15 MARCH 1996
The National Water Conservation Campaign, as motivated by Professor Kader Asmal, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, will launch the 2020 VISION OF WATER IN SOUTH AFRICA SCHOOLS PROJECT today, 15 March 1996, in time for Water Week, which will run from 17 March to 22 March 1996. Water Week culminates in World Water Day on 22 March 1996.
The 2020 VISION OF WATER IN SOUTH AFRICA SCHOOLS PROJECT has been developed as a partnership initiative spearheaded by the National Water Conservation Campaign and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, with Pick 'n Pay, Rand Water, Umgeni Water, the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa, World Wildlife Fund, Delta Environment Centre, Schools' Water Awareness Project, the Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa, ECOLINK, the Department of National Education, Water and Waste, and Cape Town City Engineers.
The major goal is to engender a culture of water conservation for long-term sustainability and equity in water supply and use. Too often, water conservation is seen as having relevance only in times of severe drought, or in response to short-term water restrictions. The task is to overcome this perception. South Africa suffers chronic water problems - 12 to 16 million people currently have inadequate access to potable water - 21 million have inadequate sanitation.
It is only once water conservation is entrenched as part of our lives that we can begin to satisfy the essential need for sustainability and equity in water management and supply. The National Water Conservation Campaign recognises the need to fight this battle on many fronts; the Schools Campaign is only one - but certainly a vital element.
The launch of the project today is the first part of a long-term plan in which the key contributors to conservation education in South Africa will work together on an ongoing basis to ensure that the 2020 VISION OF WATER IN SOUTH AFRICA becomes an integral part of the school calendar.
An interactive educational poster and work book supports the project. The poster offers a view of both a well and a badly managed river system and poses the question: "Enough clean water for us all?" with the answer: "The choice is ours".
The material offers multidisciplinary suggestions for the celebration of Water Week and World Water Day - and invites entry into a national competition. Schools should record the way in which the material inspires them to celebrate the event. A conservation-related prize to the value of R5 000 is offered for the best entry.
Water conservation is essential to the reconstruction and development of our country - without effective water management, supply and use we cannot build houses, nor provide education, health care or job creation.
This project offers our youth a vision of a future for South Africa to which we have all contributed by means of sound conservation measures, to a society in which there will be "enough clean water for us all" in the year 2020.
ENQUIRIES: Barbara Holtman (phone) (011) 762-2277, 082-444-8824 (fax) (011) 726-3932 Mary Ann Cullinan (Phone) (021) 462-1460, 082-443-4872, (fax) (021) 462-1719