As an extension of its commitment to provide water for people across South Africa Unilever, through Lifebuoy, has now donated alcohol-based hand sanitizers to those who need it most during the COVID-19 outbreak.
With a life-sustaining vision of ensuring ‘Water for People, and People for Water’ the Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality (UCEWQ) remains committed to the effective management of water resources in Africa.
The UCEWQ which was established in partnership with the Water Research Commission 20 years ago at the Rhodes University’s Institute for Water Research was initially led Professor Tally Palmer who helped draft the 1998 SA National Water Act.
As a result, South Africa legislated the Ecological Water Reserve in the National Water Act. The Ecological Reserve is a means by which South Africa ensures that water is used for development, but the environment is also protected from over exploitation in terms of pollution and abstraction. South Africa was the first country in the world to do this setting a benchmark that other countries have since followed.
Unilever’s Caring for Catchments programme at Boksburg LakeSustainable
Unilever’s Caring for Catchments programme at Boksburg LakeSustainable management of water resources
Dr Nelson Odume, current director of UCEWQ, says: ‘We need to strengthen our water institutions to realise the objective of equitable, efficient and sustainable management of water resources as enshrined in the National Water Act.’
‘The majority of the water problems we currently face in South Africa are as a result of governance and institutional challenges. UCEWQ’s work on water governance, institutions and ethics are aimed at addressing some of these challenges.’
Under the leadership of Dr Odume, UCEWQ has grown to be the Water Centre of Excellence for the African Research Universities Alliance and is the hub for the African Water Resources Mobility Network. They have trained more than 100 post graduate water professionals and are developing a tool that will help the Department of Water and Sanitation in South Africa, and other governments across Africa, to monitor and control pollution, and assist industries to monitor the compliance of their effluents going into rivers.
These young men and women have become leaders in water governance, conservation and legislation – and are custodians for a world that better protects the environment.
Caring for Catchments
In 2017, the Caring for Catchments programme was introduced, and by 2030 aims to make 30 per cent (more than 100 000 megalitres) better quality water available in the Klip-Vaal River catchment, one of the largest water catchments in South Africa and home to more than 12 million people. This programme brings together cross-functional and cross-industry stakeholders, including Government and citizens to actively play a role in joint governance of their water resources.
Professor Palmer says: ‘As water is a shared resource, demand for it will continue to outstrip potential supply if there is no action by all users.’
‘Water shortages are already affecting many parts of the world. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity and two-thirds in water-stressed conditions.
‘Water will increasingly become the limiting resource in South Africa, and supply will become a major restriction to the future socio-economic development of the country, in terms of both the amount of water available and the quality of what is available.’
Meanwhile, with handwashing being promoted as a prime combatant against the spread of the deadly coronavirus that is impacting South Africans at rapid speed, especially those that have limited access to water, Unilever, through Lifebuoy, is donating alcohol-based hand sanitisers to those who need it most. The sanitisers can be used without water and provides 99.9 per cent germ protection.
Given Lifebuoy’s mission to improve the hygiene behaviour of South Africans through various on the ground educational school and clinic programs, it is consistent with the brand’s ethos to help improve hand hygiene at this critical moment. The Lifebuoy brand has
educated people on the importance of good hand hygiene, reaching over 1 billion people globally and 11 million in South Africa.
