To mark National Water Week, the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Geography subject group hosted a water awareness event at the Vanderbijlpark Campus.

Water Week is a national awareness week celebrated in March every year, coinciding with World Water Day on 22 March. This year’s celebration also coincided with the United Nations’ 2023 Water Conference taking place in New York from 22 to 24 March.

Various stakeholders, including students and staff, attended the event. Speakers included Reveck Hariram from Water Wise – an arm of Rand Water, Mariette Liefferink, CEO of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, and geography and environmental studies lecturer Emile Hoffmann. They discussed various issues pertaining to water use and urged everyone to use water cautiously and sparingly.

Event organiser and senior lecturer Dr Adeline Ngie from the School of Geo- and Spatial Sciences says the aim of the event was to sensitise the university community about water issues.

“South Africa is a water-scarce country, and as a university it is our responsibility to educate people about water conservation initiatives and to raise awareness around the need to protect and conserve the country’s water resources,” says Dr Ngie.

She adds that it is important to continue creating awareness within the broader South African community.

“We are involved in projects with other stakeholders -including partners in Germany, to find out how we can turn water challenges into water opportunities.”

From left are geography and environmental studies lecturer Emile Hoffmann, Reveck Hariram from Water Wise, Mariette Liefferink, CEO of Federation for a Sustainable Environment, and Dr Adeline Ngie from the School of Geo- Spatial Sciences.