The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is engaging the public through public consultations on the draft policies of climate change and sustainable hydropower generation in order to source comments and inputs towards the finalization of the policies. Public consultation is crucial as public participation is an important pillar for building and sustaining democracy and it provides a platform for critical engagement between the citizens and the government. The public consultation in Mpumalanga took place on 20 September 2016 at Mbombela.
The objective of the Climate Change Policy is to provide a sector policy position aligning the water and sanitation sector strategy on Climate Change and the National Climate Change Response (NCCR) White Paper; therefore the policy position echoes and reaffirms the objectives of the NCCR White Paper within the context of sustainable water resource management and sanitation in the country. Water is the primary medium through which climate change is most likely to impact on people, livelihoods, ecosystem, as well as all sectors.
The primary objectives of the policy include- informing effective management of inevitable climate change impacts on the country’s water sources through interventions that build and sustain South Africa’s social, economic and environmental resilience and emergency response capacity, as well as making a fair contribution to the global and regional effort to promote further the application of integrated water resource management as a priority tool to reduce climate change vulnerability. Another is to ensure that water management systems are well adapted to cope with increased climate variability.
The Sustainable Hydropower Generation Policy is aimed at addressing the need for power generation in the country in support of the NDP and other development objectives whilst ensuring sustainable water resource management and use; therefore it provides a policy position for the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on the establishment and development of hydropower at existing DWS infrastructure as well as within the water resources of South Africa as part of long term interventions by the department to support sustainable power supply in South Africa. As a policy principle, the department will support the development of hydropower as part of both social and economic development within the context of water scarcity and water infrastructure challenges without compromising sustainable protection of water resources and sanitation services provisions. The policy also addresses dam safety in relation to hydropower generation.
For more information contact:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2492
For further enquiries:
Themba Khoza
Cell: 082 600 5666
