Climate-Change-Induced Weather Events and Implications for Urban Water Resource Management in the Free State Province of South Africa

• Published in: Environmental management (New York) Vol. 71; no. 1; pp. 40 - 54
• Main Authors: Muyambo, Fumiso, Belle, Johanes, Nyam, Yong Sebastian, Orimoloye, Israel R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biodiversity; Broadcasting; Climate Change; Disaster management; Disaster risk; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological effects; Ecology; Emergency preparedness; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental Management; Extreme weather; Food security; Forestry Management; Humans; Infrastructure; Literature reviews; Marginality; Nature Conservation; Policy making; Poverty; Public administration; Public health; Resilience; Resource management; Risk management; Risk reduction; South Africa - epidemiology; Urban planning; Video broadcasting; Waste Water Technology; Water; Water demand; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Resources; Water resources management; Water supply; Water supply systems; Weather; South Africa; QwaQwa; Climate change-induced weather events; Disaster risk reduction; Climate projections; Water resource management
• ISSN: 0364-152X; 1432-1009
• DOI: 10.1007/s00267-022-01726-4

Current climate projections for Southern Africa indicate an increase in the incidence of extreme weather events in the future. Even though South Africa does not rank among the highest on the world multi-hazard index list, the country is prone to multiple climate-related extreme events which pose substantial human and ecological impacts. Consequently, such climate extremes have serious negative effects on regional water resources, public health, biodiversity, food security, natural systems, and infrastructure. The main aim of this study is to review the literature on climate-change-induced weather events and the implications for urban water resource management in South Africa particularly focusing on QwaQwa. The study reviewed 122 documents which include books, peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, newspaper articles, institutional and government reports, and one news broadcast video. Findings revealed that QwaQwa experiences increasing water challenges as demand for water increases and both quantity and quality decrease to critical levels. This study, therefore, provides preliminary suggestions of strategies to build resilience in this climate change context, such as investment in climate-resilient water infrastructure, effective and transparent management of public resources with accountability, strengthening resilience through addressing poverty and marginalisation, nature-based solutions, and education and awareness. Furthermore, conducting hazard, exposure, and resilience analyses is necessary in order to inform the development of relevant disaster risk reduction strategies. The findings contribute to the literature on climate change impacts on water resource planning in South Africa and similar climate change contexts. The findings could; therefore, be valuable to researchers and applied practitioners such as policymakers, water resource management professionals, and urban planners.