Pretoria – The Department of Water Affairs is making good progress in efforts to eradicate unlawful irrigation in the Vaal River System by 2014, with the intervention already having stopped 51 million cubic meters per annum of unlawful water use.
This came up during the latest Strategy Steering Committee meeting of the Vaal River System.
The committee comprises representatives of agriculture, local authorities, water service providers, mines, energy and industry sectors, national departments and provincial government representing a wide variety of stakeholder groups in the Vaal River System.
It gives guidance to the department in monitoring the implementation of various actions needed to ensure sufficient water is made available to supply the water needs now and for the next 30 years.
During the meeting, it was noted that water use from the Vaal River System equals the available resources and any further increases will make the system vulnerable to drought.
“As such, continuous higher than average rainfall is needed in the next few critical years to prevent restrictions when the dam’s levels are low,” the committee said.
Some of the actions set out by the committee include:
•Eradicating unlawful irrigation water use of 175 million m3/annum by the year 2014;
•Continuing with the implementation of Water Conservation and Water Demand Management to achieve targeted savings of 195 million m3/annum by 2015;
•Implementing Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project to deliver water to the Vaal River System by the year 2020; and
•Addressing underground mine water induced salt-loading (acid mine drainage) by 2015.
The meeting noted that significant progress was being made with some of these actions, including the recent commitment by the City of Johannesburg to intensify efforts to save water.
However, it was also noted that City’s water use was still increasing and the resourcing of Water Conservation /Water Demand Management projects to achieve their 2015 target of 110 million m3/annum must receive priority to avoid water restrictions.
The City of Tshwane was commended for successfully implementing measures to save water and achieving their interim targets.
The committee was also notified that the bulk water service provider, Rand Water, applied for an increased abstraction licence from the department.
This was condemned by the department due to the limited resources in the Vaal River System. The department said the potential to save water existed, and that the set targets must be achieved.
Rand Water has therefore started a programme to engage with their customers to come up with detailed plans to manage water use.
It was noted that South Africa and the newly elected government of Lesotho ratified the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase 2 and the project will now proceed.
South Africa and Lesotho signed an agreement in Maseru in August 2011 for the implementation of the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
More detailed progress reports on the water resource management strategies can be found at the following link: www.dwa.gov.za/Projects/VaalWRMS/documents.aspx - SAnews.gov.za
