The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs is calling on all water users who discharge waste into a water resource or whose activities impact on a water resource, to register these activities by 30 August 2009.
As custodian of the nations water resources the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs has to ensure that the water resource is protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable and equitable manner for the benefit of all people and in accordance with constitutional mandate.
On 5 May 2009, the department published a government notice compelling all waste dischargers, to register these activities within 90 days. This applies to all municipalities, industries (including mines) or individuals whose activities impact on a water resource.
This registration focuses exclusively on those water uses that are waste discharge or waste disposal related, in other words, water uses as described in Sections 21 (e), 21(f), 21(g), 21(h) and 21(j) of the National Water Act. The registration process will assist the department to close current information gaps related to waste discharge and to identify "hotspots" with regard to water quality deterioration of our water resources. This information is essential for the effective management of the catchments.
In order for the department to fulfil its mandate of protecting the quality of water resources interests of all water users the call to register includes the following category of uses discharging waste or water containing waste into a water resource:
* Irrigating with waste or wastewater
* disposing of waste in a manner that may detrimentally impact on a water resource
* Disposing of water which contains waste from or which has been heated in a power generation process removing, discharging or disposing of water found underground
For detailed information taking the applicant step By step through the questions, the registration guide can be consulted. For queries, waste dischargers can phone the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs toll free line on 0800 200 200 or send an e-mail to services@dwaf.gov.za.
The registration process will be implemented in the regions/provinces by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs regional offices.
For more information contact:
Nndangi Musekene
Tel: 012 336 7277
Issued by: Department of Water Affairs
24 July 2009
Source: Department of Water Affairs (http://www.dwaf.gov.za/)
