HEALTH AND SANITATION
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government departments such as the departments of
Agriculture Forestry and Fishery, Water and Sanitation,
and Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR).
The DWS supports a national rainwater harvesting
programme, which focuses on the construction of above
and below-ground rainwater storage tanks by rural
households for food gardens and other productive water
uses. Clinics, schools, and hospitals have now been
included as beneficiaries to some extent.
Of late, the provision of rainwater harvesting tanks
is also driven through the Accelerated Community
Infrastructure Programme. Several municipalities now
use roof rainwater tanks for domestic purposes. These
have been found to be particularly effective when used in
conjunction with other water supply options.
DWS considers RWH as one of the practical water
sources for schools. The potential of RWH to supply
rural schools was further investigated by using the yield
reliability analysis (YRA) model. The YRA model is a daily
continuous simulation model based on the volumetric
reliability approach that applies a daily continuous
simulation modelling to obtain relationships between
storage size, deficit, and its exceedance probability.
The Integrated Water Resource Management Systems
directorate is funding the development of these resource
guidelines for domestic RWH. The DRDLR works with its
national, provincial, and local counterparts to facilitate
the installation of rainwater harvesting tanks. The
Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fishery is more
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concerned with RWH for agricultural use, especially in-
field and ex-field RWH. Nevertheless, RWH is also used
extensively for vegetable gardening. The Department of
Basic Education promotes, in line with DWS, the use of
RWH as a water supply source in rural schools.
Institutional levels of policy-
making and implementation
of RWH.
The Department of Environmental Affairs, under its
Climate Change Flagships directorate, identified a set of
Near-term Priority Flagship Programmes for mitigating
climate change and building climate resilience. One
of which is the Water Conservation and Demand
Management Flagship Programme, the coordination of
which is based on the DWS’s budget level programming.
This programme is made of water conservation and
demand management (WCDM) measures and RWH.
Most departments appoint contractors for the supply
and installation of rainwater harvesting tanks. Although
it might be argued that it boosts the local economy by
promoting entrepreneurial enterprises, more coordination
is required in order to avoid unnecessary duplication and
tease out dos and don’ts. The mainstreaming of RWH in
the country’s water resources requires an institutional
innovation that fosters the collaboration of several
government departments. PA
The users have to understand
that the water harvested
cannot be used for domestic
consumption without prior
treatment.
January 2018 Volume 23 I Number 11