More than 50% of South Africa's catchments are deemed to be over-allocated. The challenge is to find ways to bring the over-allocated catchments back into balance in a manner that does not shock the socio-economic fabric of the country. The logical starting point is to try to do better with less water. In this article, water conservation and water demand management (WC WDM) options are discussed, with particular reference to the irrigation sector as it is the dominant water user in South Africa. The concept of banking water, which incentivizes irrigators to become more water use efficient, is also explored.

South Africa; irrigation; water conservation; demand management

• Journal Article

• Ag Water Conservation Policy
• Ag Water Resource Economics