South African Water CaucusSubmissions to Parliamentary portfolio

committee 2 June 2004

Order of submissions• Introductions• Overview• Stakeholder empowerment and public participation• Water resources• Water services• Forestry

Water ResourcesInput from WESSA:WC

• SA is a dry country - essential to use water sparingly- act and plan accordingly

• Water demand management - a key strategy for sustainable development and resource conservation

•WDM requires participation at all levels of society across sectors - this must be adequately budgeted for and include civil society in implementation

•WDM is not the same as occasional restrictions

• Very large subsidies have been allocated to local authorities - need to be conditional on much better accountability to DWAF and local communities.

Water resources (continued)• Seriously declining water standards in many

municipal areas - implications ito of constitution and NEMA as well as to broader environment.

• Budget must facilitate research into, transparent information about and projects to address this problem.

• The Healthy Rivers project should be extended• Working for Wetlands now a DEA&T

responsibility - should be actively supported by DWAF especially ito alien clearance

Water resources (continued)• Dangerous trend of outsourcing dam building and

ownership - new dynamic that goes beyond responsible water provisioning

• DWAF should allocate funds to alternative, localised resource mangagement options and projects like leak fixing, plumbing retrofits and rainwater harvesting

• Needs to be more integration of water strategy with other policies and legislation - E.g. land-use planning, agriculture, minerals and energy etc