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Background
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What
is the rationale behind the eWISA "Story books" for South African
Water Resources ?
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Life
and prosperity for all South Africans, depends heavily on our precious water
resources. Fortunately, we have many capable and qualified scientists,
engineers, technologists and technicians who, over decades, have established a
sound foundation for the use and management of our water resources through
research and development projects. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry,
as sector leader, has guided the development of water infrastructure and
Institutions such as the Water Research Commission, the large Water Boards, the
CSIR, Universities, Professional Institutions and dedicated private
organizations have formed the backbone of sustainable water resource management. |
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However,
an overview (always available and continuously updated) of the South African
water environment for all South
Africans is non-existent. This
is of crucial importance, when considering sustainable capacity building
efforts. Most of the time educators rely on global search facilities to obtain
information for a specific purpose and the information obtained depends on the
time available to search. Most of the time the documentation generated during
this effort is only used for a specific purpose. |
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The Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) |
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WISA is the only
professional organization, representing the entire water sector in South Africa.
Their mandate is capacity-building and knowledge-transfer to improve the levels
of competency and the levels of education and contribute to the sustainable use
of the water resources in Southern Africa and to the improvement of quality of
life.
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A
central source of information on all aspects of water will help achieve this
objective.
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The concept of the water "story books"
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The
concept of the “water story book” is to provide a perspective and overview
of our water resources. An integrated approach is required, and “Catchment
Management” as described by the legislation and implemented by DWAF is used to
transfer this concept as an updated source of information to all interested and
affected parties (public, schools, universities, etc.). The story books will
incorporate information related to all water bodies in a catchment (rivers,
wetlands, estuaries, groundwater) as well as describing the influencing aspects,
such as the natural processes, ecology, land-uses, water-users, people and water
infrastructure (dams, water and waste water treatment infrastructure etc.).
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Requirements: |
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Dedicated host –
server.
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A custodian – accepted
by all role players in the water sector.
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The establishment of
communication links to provide the information.
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It must be
continuously updated and relevant to a broad audience. Information will be
added all the time.
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It must be
directly linked to other important information (documents, photos, videos,
fact sheets, etc.) and have ‘tools’ such as a dictionary, communication
mechanisms (forum, ‘blog’), information on infrastructure, role players,
the history of water in South Africa
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There must be direct- and cross- links to all the
catchment components (estuaries, wetlands, rivers, dams,
water-infra-structure, etc.) to ensure that the users can understand how they
are all interlinked. |
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It must support and
facilitate capacity building efforts in the water sector. |
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There must be many
interactive maps for a geographical display of points of interest in any area
of South Africa. |
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Through
eWISA (the capacity-building and knowledge-transferring arm of WISA), WISA has
established the infra-structure and developed the mechanism to comply to the
above requirements.
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A
special word of thanks goes to the Founder Members of eWISA (DWAF, ESKOM, ESETA,
Rand Water, ERWAT, Magalies Water, Bloemwater, Umgeni Water, City of Cape Town,
NCP Chlorchem) and to our eWISA members, who have all contributed largely to make
this vision of WISA a reality, through the development of the eWISA website and
the distribution ‘tools’ within a year of its launch.
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The
website and information warehouse does not replace existing structures or want
to be an information centre for scientific research – it is a WATERPEDIA for
all South Africans and it supports
the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry as the sector leader and all the
water organisations and institutions as well as initiatives such as Masibambane,
Working for Water, WIN-SA, and others.
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The
most valuable sources of information which are (but not limited to) used as a
point of departure:
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Rivers
(Catchments):
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DWAF
ISP documents: http://www.dwaf.gov.za.
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River
Health Program Information: http://www.csir.co.za/rhp/index.html
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Estuaries:
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The
CSIR Report Series on the Estuaries of the Cape (1982).
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The
Estuaries of Natal by George Begg.
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Department
of Environment Affairs and Tourism - South African Estuaries
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Wetlands:
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DEAT:
South
African Wetlands Conservation Programme
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The
Ramsar Convention of Wetlands
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The
Mondi Wetlands Project
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South
African National Biodiversity Institute - Working for Wetlands Programme
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South
African National Biodiversity Institute - Working for Wetlands Programme
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