Cape Town and Crimean Water Resources Crisis: Some Similar Problems and Possible Solutions

Abstract

The author presents a vision of the main factors of the water resource crisis in two BRICS countries, South Africa and Russia, concretely in Cape Town and Crimea. Although Russia, contrary to South Africa and many other countries, disposes abundant water resources, there are areas of scarcity and arid lands, Crimea among them. In both cases under consideration poor management and planning, lack of funding, worn out infrastructure and factors of mismanagement and corruption added to natural or geopolitical causes of resent hardships. Besides improvements in above mentioned fields and general modernization of infrastructure, also desalination, complex wastewater recycling and turnover to drip irrigation are among proposals discussed.