Water Rhapsody’s Neuhoff cracks SA Man of the Week

Seen in the magazine, SA Men, Werner Neuhoff takes role of SA Man of the Week with the following article attached

As the world confronts the growing scarcity of the most indispensable resource, fresh water, a global body of female thought leaders will convene in Canada in October to explore and better understand what’s at stake.

South African “ecopreneur”, Werner Neuhoff, from Water Rhapsody; will present to the International Women’s Forum (IWF), comprising leaders from 70 nations in Montréal, Québec. The global leadership conference will draw women heads of state, corporations and enterprise, as well as members of the diplomatic community, women policy-makers, decision-takers and opinion-leaders on five continents.

According to Neuhoff, global leaders have recognised the importance of addressing future threats to water shortage. The conference will highlight the importance of water for everyday life and ensuring its availability in years to come. “I’ll be talking about the current water situation in South Africa, the importance of water conservation and provide long-term sustainable solutions like rainwater harvesting from roofs and grey-water re-use,” says Neuhoff.

Unfortunately South Africa’s water sources are not in a better situation that the rest or the world. It is estimated that fresh water demand in South Africa will outstrip supply by 2025. The more frightening indications are that Gauteng will have water outages by 2016 and Cape Town will have serious water shortages by 2013. As early as 1995, Professor Bryan Davies, then-head of the Fresh Water research unit at UCT, predicted that Cape Town would be dry by 2013.

“We have always been able to augment further supply by building an additional dam, but not so anymore. There is not another single place or any more river water that can possibly be found anywhere in the Western Cape for augmenting supply. The Western Cape is simply damned out of water,” Neuhoff explains.

An anticipated 800 – 1000 leading experts, advocates and catalysts for change will take part in this global dialogue that will focus on Water, Wealth & Power for the Eco-Century. Their global membership will be challenged to test the boundaries of possibility for a new era of improved access to and utilisation of water resources. Neuhoff will be presenting to this global audience for the Plenary Program – Ecopreneurs: The Blue Gold Rush.

“It’s a huge privilege for me to know that I’m representing ecopreneurs and South Africa at such a prestigious event. It’s certainly one of the highlights in my career and I sincerely hope that our solutions will be implemented, not only in the world, but most importantly here in South Africa,” Neuhoff says.

The conference is designed to stimulate new thinking on domestic and foreign policies regarding water. “As South Africa, we represent the African continent. The water industry will become far greater than any other industry, including gold, minerals or oil,” Neuhoff explains.

The IWF is a global organization of pre-eminent women of significant and diverse achievement. It is a one-of-a-kind organisation of singular standing in the world today that furthers dynamic leadership, leverages global access, and maximises opportunities for women to exert their influence.

“If South Africa’s decision makers do not react to the solutions that we’ll be delivering to the world leaders, we could very well find ourselves in a situation that will be impossible to recover from. The time to save water is when there is water to save. Once the water has run out, it will be too late,” Neuhoff concludes