For a dumbo like me, wetlands were just soggy patches that one encountered and ruined shoes and socks. Little did I realise the important role that wetlands play, and lambasted myself for not having appreciated them more before. Simply put, they function like our kidneys: they filter the stuff through.
In understanding the role of wetlands, we need to look at their enemies: greedy property developers who use wetlands as a dumping ground, as opposed to the good ones who use wetlands as an integral part of their planning process.
The starting point is to look at the policies that support wetlands. Wetlands are a health issue, a water issue, an environmental issue, a construction, mining and building issue, and they all have to work within the framework of the National Water Resource Strategy 2( NWRS2) currently doing the rounds, which, in turn, falls under the National Water Act of 1998.
The following is an extract from Chapter 13 of the NWRS2 regarding monitoring and information management:“ This includes quantity and quality and addresses rainfall, streams, rivers, reservoirs, wetlands, estuaries and groundwater. The aim is to provide information for the allocation, regulation, pricing, cost recovery, control, compliance monitoring and enforcement at local, regional and national levels and for internationally shared waters.”
So far from being a soggy marshland, wetlands form an integral part of the water network and supply chain.
The definition of a wetland, as provided by the Department of Water and Sanitation( DWS), is:“ Land which is transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface, or the land is periodically covered with shallow water and which supports vegetation typically adapted to life in saturated soil.” networking contributor tech news industry environment infrastructure municipalities
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