The contribution of water to the sustainability of rural livelihoods can be assessed through the sustainable livelihoods\u2019 framework, where the latter depends on five assets, i.e., physical, social, financial, natural and human.\u00a0 Water is part of the natural resources and directly plays a vital role in the development and sustainability of rural communities through the various ways in which it enhances all the livelihood assets.\u00a0 Primarily, water is essential for the well-being, health, and overall prosperity of individuals residing in rural areas.\u00a0 Clean water is critical for proper hydration, hygiene, and sanitation practices and helps prevent waterborne diseases.\u00a0 Access to clean water can reduce illness and mortality rates. \u00a0Overall, access to clean and safe drinking water is crucial for attaining good health and survival of individuals in rural areas, allowing households to maintain a set of activities that require physically and mentally functional individuals. Furthermore, access to sufficient potable water is a basic need for life, and a constitutional right. However, many rural communities are struggling, competing with livestock to find water in open sources which run dry in droughts.<\/p>\n
Water access influences education and long-term welfare prospects. Specifically, good health through safe water provision gives children good health to go to school, develop themselves academically, and realize high productivity and incomes in their future lives.\u00a0 Households with educated children can count on their financial and other support in later years, which enhances sustainability. \u00a0Educated household members are in a better position to assimilate information and enhance their entrepreneurship and capability to engage in agricultural enterprises that are financially remunerative.\u00a0 Educated family members can also identify viable business opportunities and successfully manage them.<\/p>\n
When water mediates the effectiveness of other household assets that guarantee sustainable livelihoods.\u00a0 In its effects on the health of household members, water also affects human capital.\u00a0 Good human health ensures that members can contribute physically and mentally to activities that contribute to the household’s welfare.\u00a0 Water is vital in promoting gender equality and empowering women in rural communities.\u00a0 In communities where water sources are located away from homesteads, women and girls are the ones who have to collect it.\u00a0 This is achieved at a considerable cost to their time, leaving them with limited time for other economic activities.\u00a0 Therefore, water availability allows females to engage in activities such as the pursuit of education for young girls and income generation activities for adult females.\u00a0 They can also use the available time to participate in broader community development issues.<\/p>\n
Most rural communities use the availability of the land to engage in agriculture for subsistence and income generation.\u00a0 Water availability is essential for enhancing the productivity of the land.\u00a0 Households with land can pursue agricultural activities beyond the rainfall seasons through irrigation.\u00a0 Regarding crops, irrigation water allows enhanced crop yields and productivity.\u00a0 Besides, livestock farming is an important component of rural economic livelihoods and water availability is critical for its practice.\u00a0 With reliable access to water, rural communities can grow various crops, establish horticultural ventures, and engage in animal husbandry, thus increasing their income and economic resilience.<\/p>\n
In water-scarce environments, it is often a source of social disharmony as households compete to access it and becomes a source of failure to engage in meaningful broad-based development.\u00a0 Therefore, water availability allows community members to relate better socially, which then contributes to social sustainability and development. Communities that have access to clean water thrive.<\/p>\n
In summary, water has direct and indirect short and long-term ways in which it determines the sustainability of rural communities.\u00a0 It is critical that water is available for domestic, agricultural and other economic activities.<\/p>\n
Opinion piece written by:\u00a0 Prof Mudhara of the University of KwaZulu Natal \u2013 Farmers Support Group for the HCI Foundation \u2013 conversations titled building thriving and sustainable communities\u2019 series. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The contribution of water to the sustainability of rural livelihoods can be assessed through the sustainable livelihoods\u2019 framework, where the latter depends on five assets, i.e., physical, social, financial, natural and human.\u00a0 Water is part of the natural resources and directly plays a vital role in the development and sustainability of rural communities through the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-showcase"],"yoast_head":"\n