SABI Magazine SABI Magazine June July 2017 | Page 41

Water resources
•
supply and delivery issue.
This requires holistic and
integrated management
and governance.
Water management must be
implementation, outcome
and impact driven.
The National Water Policy (1997)
and the National Water Act (1998)
are founded on Government’s
vision of a transformed society
in South Africa, in which every
person has the opportunity to
lead a dignified and healthy life
and to participate in productive
economic activity.
The First Edition of the National
Water Resource Strategy (NWRS)
describes how the water resources
of South Africa will be protected,
used, developed, conserved,
managed and controlled in
accordance with the requirements
of the policy and law. The central
objective of managing water
resources is to ensure that water
is used to support equitable and
sustainable social and economic
transformation and development.
Because water is essential for
human life the first priority is
to ensure that water resources
management
supports
the
provision of water services - potable
water and safe sanitation - to all
people, but especially to the poor
and previously disadvantaged.
But water can do much more than
that: water can enable people to
make a living. The NWRS seeks
to identify opportunities where
water can be made available for
productive livelihoods, and also
the support and assistance needed
to use the water effectively.
Water is of course central to all
economic activity. The NWRS
provides a platform for the essential
collaboration and co-operation
among all departments in all
spheres of government involved in
economic development.
It is an important input to
the evolving National Spatial
Development Framework, helping
to provide a better understanding
of the contribution that water
can make to development in all
departments’ areas of activity.
The National Water Act has
transformed the way water is
controlled, from a system of
rights based on land ownership
(the riparian system) to a system
designed to allocate water
equitably in the public interest.
The progressive reallocation of
water to sectors of society that
were previously excluded from
access to water can help to
bridge the divide between the first
and second economies, whilst
maintaining existing beneficial
water uses and encouraging the
greater efficiencies needed in
our dry country.
This must be done in a manner
that ensures that we achieve an
acceptable balance between
the use of our water resources
and the protection of the
integrity and diversity of the
aquatic environment.
The NWRS therefore emphasises
water conservation and measures
to promote greater efficiency
in water use, and outlines the
support and assistance that will
be provided to implement them.
Whilst the pricing of water use is an
important instrument to promote
conservation, social needs must
be addressed, and the NWRS
includes provisions for subsidising
previously disadvantaged users.
A vital element of the NWRS is the
progressive decentralisation of the
responsibility and authority for
water resources management to
catchment management agencies
and, at a local level, water
user associations.
These institutions, representative
of water users and other
stakeholders, will facilitate effective
participation in the management
of water resources in their areas. It
will also enable the Department of
Water Affairs and Forestry to move
from its present multiple roles as
operator, developer and regulator
to become the sector leader, policy
maker, regulator and monitor.
The Department will lead the
creation of the new institutions,
which will take a number of years,
and support and guide them in the
execution of their tasks.
It will continue to be necessary
to build new infrastructure such
as dams, pumping stations and
pipelines to meet increasing
demands for water to improve
standards of living as well
as to contribute to increased
economic activity.
New
dams
and
related
infrastructure will further improve
security against water shortages
during drought periods and, with
careful operation, can also provide
some safeguards in downstream
areas against the effects of
floods. In line with government’s
commitment to promote investment
in economic infrastructure, an
indicative programme of capital
development is outlined, much of
which will be funded by the users
themselves. Social investment
by national government will,
however, still is needed, especially
in rural areas to overcome the
legacy of decades of deprivation.
The direct economic benefits,
together with the savings in social
expenditures that will result from
the transformation of the lives of
impoverished communities, clearly
justify such investments.
However,
building
on
the
outstanding legal foundation
provided by the National Water
Act, the NWRS will guide the
achievement of the common
vision of an equitable and
sustainable society.
The National Water Act (Act 36 of
1998) (NWA), as per section 5(1),
not only facilitates such a strategy,
it demands the establishment,
maintenance and implementation
of such a strategy.
1.4. National Water Policy for
South Africa (1997)
A proposal is mooted to establish
a natio nal agency to develop
and manage nationally-important
or multi-sector infrastructure,
leaving the development of local
infrastructure to local institutions. There is a limit to the development
of new dams and water transfers
that the can afford or sustain.
South Africa’s present use of water
is often wasteful and inefficient
and the country does not get
the benefits she should from the
investments in its water. Water
conservation may be a better
investment than new dams. South
Africa has to adopt such new
approaches to water management
if her aspirations for growth and
development of her society in
the 21st century are not to be
held back as a result of limited
water resources.
The NWRS must provide an
enduring framework for water
resources management, but it is
not a rigid master plan. The National Water Policy outlines
the direction to be given to the
development of water law and
water management systems.
Five yearly reviews provide
the opportunity to re-evaluate
developments in the social and
economic
environments
and
to adapt approaches to water
resources management to suit
changing circumstances and needs. Some of the key proposals to guide
water management in South Africa
in the future are that:
The development of the NWRS
brings South Africa into full
compliance with one of the first
targets of the Johannesburg Plan
of Action, adopted at the 2002
World Summit on Sustainable
Development,
namely
to
develop national water resource
management plans. •
Many challenges face water
resource managers in ensuring that
water supports the transformation
of society and the economy, and
neither the resources nor the time
required to address them should
be underestimated.
•
•
The status of the nation’s
water resources as an
indivisible national asset will
be confirmed and formalised.
National Government acts as
the custodian of the nation’s
water resources and its
powers in this regard will be
exercised as a public trust.
All water in the water
cycle whether on land,
underground or in surface
channels, falling on, flowing
through or infiltrating
between such systems, will
be treated as part of the
common resource and to the
extent required to meet the
broad objectives of water
resources management,
will be subject to
common approaches
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