Sub-Saharan Africa is a water scarce region, and South Africa has found this out first-hand over the past year or two with the Western still under the grip of a devastating flood and strict water restrictions.

The effects of the crippling drought that had a grip on the country over the past two years have been more evident than ever before, and citizens are now more than just a bit aware that every drop of water counts and nothing should be wasted.

While some parts of the country that have summer rains have recovered after a good rainy season at the start of 2017, a lack of rain and an impending late rainy season could spell even more of a disaster for the Western Cape.

National Water Week will be taking place from 20 to 26 March in accordance with the international Water Day on 22 March, and will be used to further educate people on the value of water. The focus of this year’s water week will be on Waste Water, aka the “Untapped Resource.”

The United Nations World Water Development Report 2017, which is driving this initiative, will be launched in Durban on World Water Day.

The event will see the unveiling of the initiative of the United Nations and World Bank High Level Panel on Water (HLPW) on “Access to water and sanitation for 10 Billion people” to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the adoption of the political Declaration on World Water Day 2017.

We all produce wastewater every time we use water, but according to reports released by the UN, instead of reusing that water, we waste around 80% of it by just letting it flow down the drain instead of catching it and repurposing it.

The Global Wastewater Drive is aimed at getting everyone to reduce and reuse wastewater in our homes, in our businesses and wherever else we can by reuse greywater on our gardens and to wash our vehicles, and treating and recycling industrial and agricultural wastewater for use in cooling systems and irrigation.

This will result in more water for every living thing and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 target to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase water recycling and safe reuse.

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