Water, birds, and biodiversity - key elements of education

Abstract

Given the reality of the water crisis in the Western Cape (WC), especially in the City of Cape Town and the satellite towns, a unique opportunity exists to use the combination of the Paarl Bird Sanctuary and the Drakenstein Waste Water Treatment Works (PBS/WWTW) for education about water and related facts. Severe drought is not the only reason for the shortage of fresh water. It is likely that the water requirements of the burgeoning human population of the province, together with the need to use water to irrigate food crops, now exceed the water resources of the WC, despite the storage created in dams. An associated fact is that in the WC a large proportion of employed people work in Agriculture, both directly and indirectly. So any cut in water for irrigation, would increase unemployment and intensify poverty, which are already huge problems. The overall predicament has /country-wide, and even global implications, emphasising the need for water-related education.