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The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane has warned that the lack of investment in reliable water provision as well as dignified solutions would create a burden of diseases and scarcity of food in the communities.

Speaking during the High Level Panel on Water (HLPW) on the occasion of Africa Focus Day of the Stockholm World Water Week, Minister Mokonyane said investment in the water infrastructure was the backbone of reducing challenges that were confronting communities.

Minister Mokonyane said: “Without investing in reliable water provision and good quality as well and dignified solutions, our public spend on the public health service will continuously escalate. Therefore interventions will have to be on investing in water so that you reduce the burden of disease and the scarcity of food in the communities.”

Highlighting the work of HLPW on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Minister Mokonyane said the panel has mapped out an inclusive approach with regard to cooperatively working together for the realisation of the SDGs.

“’To indicate what has been happening around the work of the HLPW, it has, amongst other things, mapped out an inclusive approach on the journey to realise SDGs. It defined that journey in a manner that contributes towards sharing of knowledge and information,” Minister Mokonyane said.

She said critical in the work of the HLPW has been to identify water as being essential  to  food, energy and health and wellbeing of every society in the world and making sure there was not only access to clean water but reliability in the provision of the service.

Minister Mokonyane said part of the work that was being done by the panel has been appreciated at the World Economic Forum, citing the panel’s contribution to what was meant about the fourth revolution.

“The fourth revolution should not be one that excludes issues of water and sanitation. It should create space to make sure that water provision and dignified sanitation solutions are not only seen as social activities but areas of investment by the private sector so that the responsibility does not only rely on the public purse,” Mokonyane said.

Issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation