at the Water Resource Management Summit, Goudini Spa
11 April 2006
Chairperson,
Honourable Minister Sonjica,
Premier Rasool,
Colleagues in the Western Cape Cabinet,
Heads of departments,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Nature is made up of four basic elements; the four elements are
traditionally referred to as earth, water, air, and fire. We can easily
perceive the physical aspects of these elements all around us through the use
of our five senses. The soil in the ground is a manifestation of the element
earth, the oceans and rivers demonstrate the element water, the wind and air
that we breathe are associated with the element air, while physical fire, the
heat of the sun and lightning are representations of the element fire.
We have an abundance of these four elements in the Western Cape in some
form. On earth we have almost 13 million hectares for cultivation. The air
manifests itself in the South Easter which sometimes sweep one of one's feet.
Fires occur annually and cause devastation in our informal settlements and our
mountain ranges. The crucial area of these four natural elements is in our
water supplies. Although we have two oceans bordering the Western Cape we
battle with fresh water for human consumption and for agricultural use.
I experienced this again in the last two weeks while inspecting some of my
department's projects in the Klein Karoo. Whilst visiting emerging farmers near
Oudtshoorn and at Zoar the one common thread in the problems experienced are
the lack of water. This factor and this factor alone is a huge stumbling block
in the successful outcome of farming operations in our Agri-BEE projects.
(Minister I want to abuse this opportunity to invite you to come to Zoar as
there are certain problems, which the Department of Water Affairs can
solve.)
It is therefore extremely important that whilst we are suffering from
drought that we address this problem in trying to find alternatives. The
protection and optimal use of agricultural water is therefore one of the top
priorities of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.
The following projects are presently undertaken or will start in the next
financial year in order to promote the optimum utilisation of the water
resources of the province.
1. The first phase of the Western Cape Olifants/Doring River Irrigation
Study (WODRIS) has been completed recently at a cost of R6,5 million. The aim
of the study is to determine how and where the unutilised water resources of
the Doring River can be used for irrigation and thereby creating much needed
job opportunities in the west coast region of the province. The establishments
of emerging farmers through a spectrum of options such as full ownership,
equity projects and joint ventures with commercial farmers and out grower
schemes were investigated.
The next phase of the study that will commence during 2006 will be at
feasibility level and will include determining what ground water resources are
available in the area for the conjunctive use of surface and ground water,
drilling at he proposed dam site to determine the foundation conditions and a
more detailed engineering and agricultural economic study with regards to crops
yields, system costs and affordability.
2. The Oudtshoorn Agricultural Water Study (OLWO) is presently under way to
determine how water savings could be realised in the area served by the
Stompdrift and Kamannassie Dams near Oudtshoorn. Costing of the various options
are done to determine the economic feasibility and also to determine how the
âsaved waterâ can be made available for use by emerging farmers/empowered farm
workers.
3. There seem to be an ever increasing demand for water by golf resorts in
the George area. This area is the most important dairy and vegetable producing
area in the province and there is a need for more water to be allocated to the
agriculture sector to allow expansion to ensure a more reliable supply of water
and to establish emerging farmers in these farming types. George is also one of
the fastest growing towns in the province and hence the water demand for urban
use also increases annually.
It is anticipated that the George Water Study (GWO) will start towards the
end of 2006/07 financial year. The aim of the study will be to determine the
availability of water resources in the area, the demand from the different
sectors and to come to some sort of agreement with the relevant stakeholders on
a future water allocation to each sector.
4. Agriculture use approximately 50 percent of water in the province and it
is therefore very important that this water should be used as efficient as
possible. It was with this in mind that the agricultural water conservation
programme was started in 1999. The aim of the programme is to monitor existing
water use and to provide technical information and support to producers to
increase their water use efficiency (kilogram of crop produced per cubic metre
of water).
Presently these monitoring and technology transfers take place in
Stellenbosch (plums), Worcester (wine grapes), De Doorns (table grapes), Ceres
(pears), Vredendal (wine grapes) and the Sandveld (potatoes).
The existing programme to promote efficient water use by the agricultural
sector by both commercial and emerging farmers will be continued this year and
extended to other areas within the province.
5. As stated in the beginning the availability and reliability of resources
is a critical component in every Land Redistribution for Agricultural
Development (LRAD) project where the aim is to produce crops under irrigation.
The evaluation of business plans submitted to the Ministry of Land Affairs and
Agriculture take up a lot of time of our engineers and technicians to ensure
sustainability of these projects as far as the availability and quality of
water resources of these projects are concerned.
6. Through the provincial infrastructure grants, agricultural infrastructure
is provided to emerging farmers, LRAD projects and rural communities in the
province. This includes a range of engineering infrastructure such as dams,
pumps, pipelines, canals, irrigation systems, boreholes and reservoirs.
These projects are executed in line with the Expanded Public Works Programme
(EPWP) of the province and need a lot of engineering input, which include the
planning, design, tender, construction, commissioning, operation and
maintenance phases of the projects.
7. The protection of our scarce water resources from pollution by animal
waste is achieved by providing a planning and design service for animal
husbandry. This includes the planning, design and providing of engineering
drawings for animal housing and handling structures to both our commercial and
emerging farmers.
8. The Western Cape Department of Agriculture provides the chair and
secretariat for the Co-ordinating Committee on Agricultural Water (CCAW) of the
province. The Department of Water Affairs, Land Affairs and Cape Nature are
also represented on this committee. The task of this committee is to ensure
that any projects where government funding is involved are sustainable from a
water utilisation, agricultural engineering and economic point of view.
Projects submitted have to be evaluated to determine the feasibility and
sustainability.
The brief of this committee will be extended in the near future to also
include the evaluation of any water use license application that is submitted
to the Department of Water Affairs. The National Water Act, 1998, requires that
a water use license need to be issued to every water user and this process has
already started in terms of proposed new water uses.
The proposed or existing water use and efficiency of that use need to be
determined and evaluated in order to provide comments and recommendations to
the water affairs to assist them in the evaluation of these license
applications.
As can be seen from the above the extent of these services required to
achieve the priority goal of the protection and optimal use of agricultural
water resources of the province is huge and cannot be undertaken by the very
limited present staff incumbent of two engineers (of which one is the Deputy
Director of the sub-programme Engineering Services), one engineering control
technician and four engineering technicians. With the additional funds provided
for 2006/07 two additional engineering technicians will be appointed.
We will, however, still be very far from the proposed incumbent of two
dedicated engineers one engineering control technician and 13 engineering
technicians as proposed in the recent organisation investigation that was
undertaken by the Directorate Organisation Development of the office of the
Premier and approved by the Head of the Western Cape Department of
Agriculture.
Chairperson, the Department of Agriculture is committed in managing our
water resources responsibly and will join other departments and agencies with
their inputs and expertise but we need an integrated approach and a partnership
with the general public to become water wise. With a population of 4,4 million
in this province that must bath or wash everyday must brush teeth at least
twice a day, must cook every day, must flush their toilets a couple of times a
day, must water their gardens every day, enormous quantities of water are
consumed and wasted.
We therefore need a new approach to make this population water wise, to
understand the need to save water and to understand and appreciate the need to
consume water responsibly. Government must also follow the same approach on all
levels as my understanding is that for example huge amounts of water supplied
to municipalities are unaccounted for. This is an occurrence at every
municipality all over the world but we need to try and reduce the amount of
water lost due to infrastructure, seepage etc. The water wise approach must
therefore also be extended to levels of government which provide water.
We will only succeed if we are genuinely prepared to join hands in a
seamless effort by all government departments in order to manage and develop
our water resources that play such a major part in the sustainable development
in the Western Cape.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Western Cape Provincial
Government
11 April 2006
