WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
The National Water Act (Act No 36 of 1998) (NWA) is based on the principle that National Government, through the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), has overall responsibility for, and authority over, water resource management for the benefit of the public, without affecting the functioning of the natural environment. Its management also needs to ensure that the environment will be able to deliver the goods and services to society in a sustainable manner. In order to achieve this objective, the NWA (Section 3) provides for the protection and sustainable use of water resources through the determination and implementation of Resource Directed Measures (RDM) and Source-Directed Controls (SDCs, e.g. licensing and discharge standards).
RDM tools include the following:
- Water Resource Classification
- The determination of the Reserve
- Setting Resource Quality Objectives
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The NWA Section 3 requires that the Reserve be determined for water resources, i.e. the quantity, quality and reliability of water needed to sustain both human use and aquatic ecosystems (the Ecological Reserve, or Ecological Water Requirements (EWR)), so as to meet the requirements for economic development without negatively impacting on the long-term integrity of ecosystems. The Reserve is one of a range of measures aimed at the ecological protection of water resources and the provision of basic human needs (i.e. in areas where people are not supplied directly from a formal water service delivery system and thus directly dependent on the resource). DWS is therefore tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the Reserve is considered before water allocation and licensing can proceed. The determination and consideration of EWR flows is an important component of development projects that may impact on the downstream environment and users, e.g. dam building and operations.
The determination of the Reserve, and setting of EWRs, takes place within a framework of Water Resource Classification. Water Resource Classification is a set of guidelines and procedures for determining the desired characteristics of a water resource. It prescribes a consultative process to classify water resources (the Classification process) and thereby facilitate a balance between protection and use of the nation’s water resources
Resource Quality Objectives, or RQOs, are numerical and/or narrative descriptive statements of conditions which should be met in the receiving water resource, in terms of the overall quality of the resource, in order to ensure that the water resource is protected. The RQOs are intended to give effect to the Water Resource Classes determined in each water resource.
Dr Patsy Scherman and a team of specialists have been working on EWRs, and more recently Classification and RQOs, almost since their inception and legislation in the South African Water Act of 1998. Dr Scherman has often acted as the water quality specialist for rivers and coordinated the training programmes run during the larger studies. She has also served as team leader on a number of studies, where she has managed specialists as diverse as biologists, economists (maro- and socio-), modellers, geohydrologists and stakeholder engagement specialists. The EWR team has also been involved in setting the EWRs for a number of dam developments, e.g. the proposed Ugie Dam, Zalu Dam in the Lusikisiki area, the proposed Vioolsdrift Dam on the Lower Orange River, and Neckertal Dam on the Fish River in Namibia.
