There needs to be more inclusivity in the access to water, especially in rural areas.
This is according to Professor Philiswa Nomngongo, DSTI-NRF SARChI Chair in Nanotechnology for Water.
Nomngongo said while water shortages in urban areas like Johannesburg and Cape Town often dominate the discourse, not much is said about South Africa’s rural communities that remain without consistent access to clean water.
“My question is, when are we in South Africa going to talk about the supply of clean and safe water in an inclusive way, not in a way that only considers some areas. We totally forget about people who do not have access to clean water in South Africa, some of whom still fetch water from the rivers. Rural communities are always the forgotten ones. It doesn’t matter which province you’re talking about, it’s the same throughout” said Prof Nomngongo.
She says rural areas are often overlooked, not just in basic structural services for water, but also when it comes to research tailored for these communities.
“As a result, there aren’t many funded research projects looking into water research projects focused on rural areas. My research also aims to shed light on the water issues that persist in South African rural areas. Lastly, we want also to be able to teach and inform rural communities about the dangers related to water issues.”
Her current research project in the Eastern Cape, has identified a problem of extended water rationing in rural areas.
These are communities where water is only available on specific days and times, despite the availability of water taps across the households. “We go to communities and get told the water is only available on Tuesdays early in the morning,” she says.
Nomgongo is a professor of Environmental Analytical Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg.
She has been the DSTI-NRF SARChI Chair in Nanotechnology for Water since 2020.
Her research focuses on the use of nanotechnology to improve water quality. “Monitoring water quality is very important. In order for us to come up with solutions, we need to know what the problem is. So, we’re using nanotechnology to identify the problems in different sources, whether it’s wastewater or river water,” she says.
There are many tangibles from her research. “We manage to identify problems in different areas. Our research tells us a lot of things. For example, it tells us that in the urban areas, our raw water systems are contaminated by pharmaceuticals and a lot of other pollutants that should not be in the water,” says Prof.
“In some rural areas, the primary problem is microbial contamination, such as E. coli in borehole water. In such instances, our team can develop nanomaterials that trap E. coli and improve water quality.”
Picture: NRF