B Sonjica: National Water week celebrations

27 March 2006

Master of ceremonies, Honourable guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning.

As we celebrate National Water Week we need to focus on using water wisely
and the need to save water. This year’s Water Week theme ‘Water for Growth and
Development’ reminds us of the importance of water and that water is vital for
growth and development. We need water for all aspects of life, from cooking to
washing, to farming, to industry. That also means that each and every one of us
has a responsibility to make sure our water resources are protected in order to
ensure that there is sufficient for future generations to come.

Sustainability and equity are central guiding principles in the protection,
use, development, conservation, management and control of water resources.
These guiding principles recognise amongst other the basic human needs of
present and future generations, the need to protect water resources, the need
to promote social and economic development through the use of water.

The key is to find the optimum balance where water can be used for economic
and social development and on the other hand to protect our water resources.
This is especially relevant to this area with its beautiful natural water
resources scenery and, on the other hand, the rapid economic development that
is occurring. Continuous sustainable development will bring much needed jobs,
which in turn will reduce poverty and improves the lives of people.

The challenge is to internalise the message that water in our country is a
scarce commodity and that each of us has to play a roll in the conservation and
demand management of water. If we all start at our own area of influence I am
sure that it will make a significant contribution to make water available for
further development and in some instances to contribute to the water
requirements of the aquatic ecology. Water requirements for the aquatic ecology
are called the "ecological reserve" in terms of the National Water Act, 1998
(Act 36 of 1998). If additional water resources have to be developed you can be
assured that the requirements of the basic human needs reserve and the
ecological reserve will not be compromised.

Pollution is a major threat to the sustainability of our water resources. In
this regard pollution from densely populated and poorly serviced settlements is
perhaps one of South Africa's most important, but most complex water quality
problems. Important, because pollution in and from these settlements not only
affects downstream users, but has its most significant impacts on the
communities living in these settlements.

You must be aware of the challenges facing some municipalities in the
Province where our water quality data indicates that your sewage treatment
works are not being managed as well as they should be and that some have even
discharged raw sewage into our precious rivers. It is the responsibility of
each municipality to ensure that planning, budgeting and management of such
sanitation infrastructure is done properly and I hope you will take the
opportunity provided by the Bucket Eradication Programme to improve your
performance.

Failing sanitation and waste removal systems create appalling living
conditions in many settlements, and contribute to serious health problems in
these communities. Pollution in and from these settlements is, therefore, not
only a water quality issue, but has much wider implications for Government’s
aims to provide a better life for all. It is complex because pollution in
settlements is rooted in the socio-economic, political and institutional
conditions in the settlement. The use, or misuse, of services together with the
way in which the services are maintained by Local Authorities lies at the heart
of the pollution problem in many settlements.

Solutions, therefore, lie in changing the way in which the services are
supplied and used. However, sustainable solutions to the problem lie not only
in our ability to supply and use waste and sanitation services to best effect,
but also in the longer-term capacity of local government to maintain these
services. This is likely to be the biggest stumbling block to sustainable
management of pollution from settlements.

Local Government in South Africa clearly has significant capacity problems
and misuse of services, for a variety of reasons, is endemic in many
settlements across the country. More importantly, failing waste services
contribute to poor living conditions and hence to the misuse of the services.
Non-payment for services also limits the capacity of the Local Authority to
effectively maintain the services, which then leads to further failure of the
services.

Strategies to manage pollution in settlements must take a broader view of
both Local Authority capacity and the socio-economic and political dynamics of
the community in order to arrest this downward spiral.

The power outages that have recently been experienced in the Western Cape
have also had a major effect on the pollution of our rivers especially in the
urban areas where sewage pump-stations overflow because of these power outages.
Because of the deteriorating state of urban rivers, the related health problems
are transferred to the sea and our beaches and this can have a great negative
influence on our tourism. It is therefore very important for all Water Services
Authorities to ensure that the effect of these outages is minimised and that
emergency plans are in place to manage these events.

Water resources management poses some interesting and demanding challenges.
It is our duty to become actively involved in this process. It is only by
working together that we will be successful. One of the objectives of the
National Water Act is to promote public awareness and stakeholder in water
resource management.

The objective is to involve communities and water users at local level and
to devolve some of the water management functions to decentralised water
management institutions.

We are anxious to ensure that Water User Associations could contribute to
the involvement of all users in local water management and operation of
schemes. Indeed, we believe that the Water User Associations may be able to
provide effective structures through which partnerships between municipalities
and commercial and emerging farmers can be established. We know that successful
and efficient farming is a challenging business and we must get all the help we
can to ensure that our new farmers are successful.

The establishment of Catchment Management Agencies is critical in this
respect. There are already four Catchment Management Agencies formally
established in South Africa with the Inkomati being the first. The
Breede-Overberg Catchment Management Agency is also established and I am
awaiting the recommendations for the governing board from the Advisory
Committee that I appointed to oversee this process.

I am aware that the Gouritz Water Management Area, where we are today, also
finalised the proposal for the establishment of the Gouritz Catchment
Management Agency and that the input from the public and stakeholders were very
favourable and supportive of this new institution. The active involvement of
the Catchment Management Forums in this area is especially heartening and I
believe that participation in water resource management issues are already on a
high level of involvement.

We must strive to manage our water resources to achieve the most beneficial
use of water in the interests of the nation as a whole this includes a
constitutional mandate for water reform.

One of the primary principles of the National Water Act, 1998 is that the
nation’s water resources be managed to achieve optimum long term social and
economic benefit for society from their use. It is also recognised that water
allocations may have to change over time to continually meet this objective.
The Act gives highest priority to water for the Reserve, which includes water
for basic human needs and for the natural environment.

Beyond this, water should be allocated to ensure that the greatest overall
social and economic benefits are achieved. Consideration therefore needs to be
given to the social and economic benefits as well as the potential non-benefits
to society, of water being made available to competing optional uses.

The water allocation reform process is getting on the way in different parts
of the country. It is essential that water allocations also be more equitable
to all users and potential users. Land reform must be managed with the
inclusion of water entitlements to ensure sustainable agricultural benefit.

Joint ventures between commercial farmers and emerging farmers must be
encouraged. My Department does have a financial assistance programme in place
also to assist in the infrastructure needs of emerging farmers within Water
User Associations. Let us make use of these initiatives to promote equitable
water re-allocation to all.

Issued by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
27 March 2006