In an effort to protect water resources and to ensure healthy ecosystems and water availability for current and future use, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) hosted a public consultation on the guidelines for the management of rehabilitation and restoration of water courses.
The consultation, which took place on Thursday, 4 September 2025 in Pretoria, was aimed at sharing with key water sector stakeholders, the Draft Rehabilitation Management Guidelines (RMGs) for Water Resources and to obtain input, comments, and support from interested and affected parties.
The event brought together stakeholders from national, provincial, and local government; catchment management agencies; waterboards; parastatals; research institutions; private sector; academic institutions and civil society members to discuss proactive measures to mitigate water resource quality degradation and promote rehabilitation and restoration to maintain water ecosystem function.
DWS has previously consulted key sector stakeholders through platforms such as the Project Steering Committee (PSC), Freshwater Ecosystem Network (FEN), Catchment Management Fora (CMFs), Western Cape Estuaries Task Team, and intergovernmental engagements between DWS, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), Water Research Commission (WRC), as well as at the 2024 Wetland Indaba event.
Chapter 3 of the National Water Act (NWA) (Act 36 of 1998) provides for the protection, use, conservation, management, and control of water resources in an efficient, sustainable, and equitable manner in South Africa. DWS aims to uphold the NWA through the sustainable management and protection of water resources. These water sources include rivers, dams, wetlands, groundwater, estuaries and lakes.
The development of the guidelines began in 2020 and provide guidance to water users on step-by-step rehabilitation measures/interventions that can be followed for each water resource.
The guidelines identified and categorised five water resource themes into Rivers, Wetlands, Estuaries, Groundwater, as well as Lakes and Dams as per the definition of the NWA, and further outline five phases to be followed to undertake the process of rehabilitation. They include:
- Diagnostic Phase, which entails determining the conditions and the type, size, and extent of impacts on characteristics of watercourses.
- Planning and Assessment aimed at the assessment and collation of available information from maps and datasets on the affected watercourses and the review and assessment of legal considerations.
- Defining Rehabilitation Objectives, which provides the objective of rehabilitation to ensure the impacts on the characteristics of watercourses are addressed.
- Execution Phase, which involves providing recommendations on techniques and methods to address impacts identified. Consideration is also given to the protection of water resources, ecosystem services, people, and livelihoods.
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Phase, which involves overseeing the monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of maintenance and rehabilitation interventions.
Moving forward, stakeholders are expected to provide inputs on the draft guidelines for Rivers (Volume 1), Wetlands (Volume 2), Estuaries (Volume 3), Lakes and Dams (Volume 4), and Groundwater (Volume 5), including Guidelines in Practice Report by no later than 29 October 2025.
This can be done by using the link: https://www.dws.gov.za/wem/rehabguidlines.aspx. Stakeholders are requested to forward their inputs and/or comments to Mr Kgotso Mahlahlane (MahlahlaneK@dws.gov.za) and copy Mr Samkele Mnyango (MnyangoS@dws.gov.za).
Enquiries:
Ms Wisane Mavasa
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 060 561 8935
E-mail: mavasaw@dws.gov.za
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