HEALTH AND SANITATION
• Waste is defined in the Act as including “any solid
material or material that is suspended, dissolved or
transported in water (including sediment) and which is
spilled or deposited on land or into a water resource
in such volume, composition or manner as to cause,
or to be reasonably likely to cause, the water resource
to be polluted”.
• Waterwork is defined as including “any borehole,
structure, earthwork or equipment installed or used”.
The Act requires the establishment of a National Water
Resource Strategy (NWRS), which sets out the “strategies,
objectives, plans, guidelines and procedures of the Minister
and institutional arrangements relating to the protection,
use, development, conservation, management and control
of water resources within the framework of existing
relevant government policy”.
The NWRS must include information pertaining to “(iii)
actions to be taken to meet projected future water
needs; (iv) water use of strategic importance; (h) set out
principles relating to water conservation and water demand
management; (i) state the objectives in respect of water
quality to be achieved through the classification system for
water resources provided for in this Act”.
In terms of this strategy, a definition is provided for a
‘greywater footprint’, which is defined as “the volume of
freshwater required to assimilate a pollution load to at
least comply with acceptable water quality standards”.
Greywater is also considered as part of the ‘water
footprint’, and is defined in this respect as the “volume of
polluted water, calculated as water that is required to dilute
pollutants to such an extent that the quality of the water
remains above agreed water quality standards”.
Beyond these definitions, no specific reference is made to
the use, control or standards for greywater usage. Water
re-use is referred to in the strategy, but only in the context
of the provision of water treated by waterwork plants to
potable standards for purposes of water provision services.
The National Water Act makes specific reference to the
reuse of water for the purposes of irrigation of land,
where such wastewater has been generated by industrial
activities or a waterwork. This is listed as a specific
controlled activity, for which a general authorisation or
license is required. This provision in the Act does not
extend to the use of greywater in the context of domestic
uses of water.
However, the Minister does have the power to declare
any use of water a ‘controlled activity’ for purposes
of the Act, provided that such activity will impact the
resource detrimentally. In such circumstances, the
Minister is required to specify the waste treatment,
pollution control and monitoring equipment, as well as
the management practices to be followed to prevent
pollution of any water resources.
In terms of the authority to provide for general
authorisations, the Minister published a notice revising
general authorisations [Revision of General Authorisations
September 2019 Volume 25 I Number 7
in terms of section 39: GN 665 of 6 September 2013:
Government Gazette No. 36820]. This notice makes
specific reference to ‘greywater’. No explicit guidelines
are provided in these regulations for the domestic use of
greywater, save for the disposal to an on-site facility and
the permission to reuse domestic wastewater.
In respect of this notice, a general authorisation has been
granted in terms of section 38 of the Act to the lawful
occupier of land, or person/s who have lawful access to
the land, for the disposal of water. In terms of greywater,
the general authorisation provides that the lawful owner
or occupier of land, or person/s who have lawful access
to land, may dispose of wastewater to an on-site disposal
facility for greywater generated by a single household.
There are restrictions on this general authorisation
insofar as the on-site disposal facility is located close to a
watercourse, wetland, over an aquifer, or below the one in
a hundred-year floodline. The notice provides the following
relevant definitions:
Waterwork
is defined
as including
“any
borehole,
structure,
earthwork or
equipment
installed or
used”.
• Wastewater: water containing waste, or water that
has been in contact with waste material.
• Domestic wastewater: wastewater arising from
domestic and commercial activities and premises,
and may contain sewage.
• Greywater: wastewater generated through domestic
activities and premises, including washing, bathing
and food preparation, but does not contain sewage.
• On-site disposal: refers to the disposal of
wastewater on individual properties not permanently
linked to a central waste collection, treatment and
disposal systems, such as septic tank systems,
conservancy tank systems, soakaway systems,
French drains, pit latrines, some package plants and
related activities.
The general authorisation set out in this notice also
extends to the storage of domestic wastewater for the
purposes of reuse. Though specific reference is not
made to greywater within the ambit of this provision, it is
arguable that greywater falls within the wider definitions of
wastewater and domestic wastewater.
water resource to the extent that the water resource
may be used in an ecologically sustainable way; (b)
prevention of the degradation of the water resource;
and (c) the rehabilitation of the water resource”.
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Greywater is more narrowly defined, excluding sewage.
Given that this general authorisation is in respect of
domestic wastewater, which definition includes sewage,
greywater is necessarily included within its scope. This
authorisation provides that the owner,
lawful occupier, or person/s lawfully
entitled to access land, may store
up to 5 000 cubic metres of
domestic wastewater
for reuse.
This is subject to the
requirement that the stored
wastewater does not
impact a water resource,
any other person’s water
use, property or land. In
addition, the storage of
wastewater must not be
detrimental to the health
and safety of the public
near said storage. PA
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