30 April 1997
This paper represents the policy of the South
African Goverrnent, as aproved by Cabinet on 30 April 1997.
The document forms an important part in the review and reform of the Water
Law in South Africa.
SECTION A: BACKGROUND
1. SETTING THE CONTEXT
1.1. SCOPE AND PURPOSE
1.2 STRUCTURE
1.3. THE PROCESS
1.4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2. THE NEW SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
2.1. THE CONSTITUTION AND WATER
2.2 WATER AND SOUTH AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT VISION
3. THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
3.1. TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL WATER POLICY
3.2. INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS AND AGREEMENTS
SECTION B: NEW NATIONAL WATER POLICY
4. WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA - PRINCIPLES AND THE POLICY VISION
4.1. THE OBJECTIVES OF WATER POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA
4.2. OPTIMUM RESOURCE USE AND PROTECTION
5. WATER RESOURCE POLICY
5.1. THE LEGAL STATUS OF WATER
5.2. PRIORITIES - THE BASIC NEEDS AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESERVE AND INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS
6. WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICY
6.1 WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
6.2. WATER USE AUTHORISATIONS
6.3. PROTECTION OF WATER RESOURCES
6.4. WATER UTILISATION AND CONSERVATION
6.5. WATER PRICING POLICY
6.6 DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
6.7. PUBLIC SAFETY AND DISASTER PREVENTION
6.8. MONITORING, ASSESSMENT AND AUDITING
6.9. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION
7. INSTITUTIONS FOR WATER MANAGEMENT
7.1. BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
7.2. POLICY STATEMENT ON INSTITUTIONS
7.3. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
7.4. RESEARCH
8. WAY FORWARD
8.1. A NATIONAL WATER BILL
8.2. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW LEGISLATION
8.3. CONCLUSION
APPENDIX 1.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES FOR A NEW WATER LAW FOR SOUTH AFRICA
APPENDIX 2
Everyone has the right to have access to sufficient water.
(Bill of Rights, Constitution of South Africa, Section 27 (1) (b) )
The dictionary describes water as colourless, tasteless and odourless - its most important property being its ability to dissolve other substances. We in South Africa do not see water that way. For us water is a basic human right, water is the origin of all things - the giver of life. The poet Mazisi Kunene has said: From water is born all peoples of the earth.
There is water within us, let there be water with us. Water never rests. When flowing above, it causes rain and dew. When flowing below it forms streams and rivers. If a way is made for it, it flows along that path. And we want to make that path. We want the water of this country to flow out into a network - reaching every individual - saying: here is this water, for you. Take it; cherish it as affirming your human dignity; nourish your humanity. With water we will wash away the past, we will from now on ever be bounded by the blessing of water.
Water has many forms and many voices. Unhonoured, keeping its seasons and rages, its rhythms and trickles, water is there in the nursery bedroom; water is there in the apricot tree shading the backyard, water is in the smell of grapes on an autumn plate, water is there in the small white intimacy of washing underwear. Water - gathered and stored since the beginning of time in layers of granite and rock, in the embrace of dams, the ribbons of rivers - will one day, unheralded, modestly, easily, simply flow out to every South African who turns a tap. That is my dream.
Antjie Krog
A new South Africa and a new Water Law
Water is a powerful symbol throughout the world, carrying with it ideas of baptism and new life, cleansing and healing, and the promise of growth and prosperity. In contrast, in a region of growing demands on a limited resource, the increasing scarcity of water could result in devastating conflicts and catastrophes.
South Africa’s water law comes out of a history of conquest and expansion. The colonial law-makers tried to use the rules of the well-watered colonising countries of Europe in the dry and variable climate of Southern Africa. They harnessed the law, and the water, in the interests of a dominant class and group which had privileged access to land and economic power.
It is for this reason that the new Government has been confronted with a situation in which not only have the majority of South Africa’s people been excluded from the land but they have been denied either direct access to water for productive use or access to the benefits from the use of the nation’s water.
The victory of our democracy now demands that national water use policy and the water law be reviewed. Our Constitution demands this review, on the basis of fairness and equity, values which are enshrined as cornerstones of our new society. But there are other pressing reasons too.
The development of our society, our growing population, and the legitimate demands of the disadvantaged majority for access to that most crucial natural resource - water - have placed new demands on what is, although renewable, a limited resource that can easily become polluted or over-used. There is only so much water that falls on our land every year. Unless we wish to begin to remove the salt from our vast resources of sea water (a very expensive process that requires enormous amounts of energy) we have to live within our means.
The way that we use our water at the moment is far from ideal: we are not getting the social, economic or environmental benefits from our water use that we could, or should be getting, indeed, that we need to get.
The ability of the human mind to find solutions to problems is unending. We have learned how to borrow water from one year and pay it back in the next using our dams as the banks of the water economy. But just as there is a limit to the amount of money that Government can borrow to finance its programmes, there is a limit to the number of dams that we can afford to build, a limit to the number of rivers that we can afford to dam, a limit to the amount of water to be dammed. And, as with even the smallest household budget, we cannot afford to borrow (either money or water) if we cannot repay what we have borrowed.
It is time for us to extend our ingenuity in another direction. Water conservation programmes may be far better investments than financing new dams, new tunnels and pumping stations, new weirs and pipelines. Conservation programmes may both increase water supply (by, for instance, controlling land use practices) and manage demand (for instance, through the application of appropriate tariffs).
The use to which we, as a society, put our water will come under increasing scrutiny and intensifying management as we move into the 21st century. We will have to stretch our understanding, and apply our wisdom ever more creatively if our aspirations for the growth and development of our society are not to be constrained as a result of limited water resources.
This is a significant challenge for a country where rain falls unevenly in space and time; where the areas of highest rainfall are far from the industrial and urban heartland and from areas of rural poverty; where crippling droughts or devastating floods repeatedly wreak their vengeance on our land and our people; and where available water resources are inequitably distributed and sometimes inappropriately used.
South Africa has shown the world that peace can be created out of conflict. This new water policy for South Africa is yet another demonstration of this unique ability. The new water policy embodies our national values of reconciliation, reconstruction and development so that water is shared on a equitable basis, so that the needs of those without access to water in their daily lives are met, so that the productive use of water in our economy is encouraged, and so that the environment which provides us with water and which sustains our life and economy is protected.
I wish to thank all those who have put their time and energy into this important work.
Prof. Kader Asmal,
MP
Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry
April 1997
Context
South Africa’s water law applied the rules of the well-watered colonising countries of Europe to the arid and variable climate of South africa. Water was mostly used by a dominant group which had privileged access to land and economic power. The victory of democracy demands that national policy on water use and the water law be reviewed.
The review must reflect the requirements of fairness and equity, values which are cornerstones of South Africa’s new Constitution. It must also reflect the limits to the water resources available to us as a nation.
There is a limit to the development of new dams and water transfers that we can afford or sustain. Our present use of water is often wasteful and inefficient and we do not get the benefits we should from the investments in our water. Water conservation may be a better investment than new dams. We will have to adopt such new approaches to water management if our aspirations for growth and development of our society in the 21st century are not to be held back as a result of limited water resources.
The law is the basis for our joint action as a society and must underpin our public efforts to manage water resources. This document serves to outline the policy which, it is proposed, will direct the management of water in South Africa in the future and will guide both the drafters in translating our intent into effective legislation and the managers in creating practical programmes of action.
Process of policy development
This White Paper is the product of two years of hard work and wide consultation. The first outcome was the production of the Fundamental Principles and Objectives for a New Water Law in South Africa which were approved by the Cabinet in November 1996. These Principles have in turn guided an intensive programme of work involving the Minister and other political leaders, officials from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and other Government Departments, organised user groups and South Africans from all walks of life and from all provinces in a process of consultation, research and synthesis.
At the same time, building on the foundations laid by the 1994 White Paper on Water Supply and Sanitation, and in close consultation with organised local government, a new Water Services Bill, regulating water supply and sanitation services, has been drafted. This will ensure that, as we address the large questions of water resource management, the needs of all South Africans for access to these basic services will not be forgotten.
The policy development process has been assisted by the support and involvement of officials and experts from other countries and from international organisations.
The White Paper is a very summarised product of this process. It does however outline the direction to be given to the development of water law and water management systems which will take us into the next century.
Key proposals
Some of the key proposals which will guide water management in South Africa in the future are that:
Some of these proposals will pose a challenge to large water users although no particular group is particularly targeted. The White Paper makes it clear that the objective of the new policy is not just to promote equity in access to and benefit from the nation’s water resources for all South Africans, but to make sure that the needs and challenges of South Africa in the 21st century can be addressed.
Farming, including dry-land agriculture and forestry plantations, is an important part of the economy and sustains millions of people in the rural areas; it is also however the sector which accounts for around half the nation’s water use. The mining industry, as it brings out the mineral riches of the earth, unfortunately also releases many harmful products that can threaten our water. Both these sectors will have to re-evaluate their use of and impact on our water resources, and will have to pay a price for water that reflects the real economic cost, including the indirect costs to society and the environment for their water use.
Other sectors, particularly the rest of industry, will also come under pressure to clean up their activities. Local governments (and the domestic users they serve) will have to look at the way they use and often waste water. Even promoters of the needs of the environment will have to justify the degree of environmental protection they seek.
Way forward
As has been made clear in the Principles which guided the law review, the most important objective is to promote the well-being of all South Africans, present and future. The measures proposed are necessary if we are to survive as a nation in the 21st century.
The new national water law will recognise the need for a period of adjustment and transition which in some cases will last for many years. While goals will be set, there will also be provision for interim arrangements.
The way the new approach is put in place will be sensitive to the particular problems faced by each sector. Farmers will be helped to adjust; mines and manufacturing industry will be encouraged to promote their own programmes to meet the standards which will be set, monitored and enforced by Government. Conservation programmes are being started to enable local government and domestic users to meet their obligations.
The objective in relation to our neighbours is the same as it is within South Africa’s borders, to ensure that we adjust to the pressures and demands of the future through co-operation, not conflict, in harmony with the needs of our common developmental goals and the protection of our environment.
These activities and approaches are essential if we are to achieve the national goal of making sure that there will always be some water, for all who need it, contributing towards growing prosperity and equity in our land.
This goal is captured in the slogan of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry whose staff have committed themselves to ensuring: Some, For All, For Ever, which sums up the goals of: