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The Mokolo River Catchment: Validation of the Existing Lawful Use of Water

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The Mokolo River Catchment: Validation of the Existing Lawful Use of Water Report No: PWMA 01/A42/00/02007 DEPARTMENT OF WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY Directorate: National Water Resource Planning THE MOKOLO RIVER CATCHMENT: VALIDATION OF THE EXISTING LAWFUL USE OF WATER STUDY REPORT Final Report January 2007 Submitted by: Schoeman en Vennote JJ Wessels COPAD Engineers Karen Bowler Enterprises PO Box 2979 PO Box 2471 12 Sydney Carter Street PO Box 32553 RANDBURG BRITS Roosevelt Park GLENSTANTIA 2125 0250 2195 0010 (011) 886 1319 (012) 252 0458 (011) 782 4744 (012) 993 362 011) 886 3995 (012) 252 1120 (011) 782 4744 (086) 671 3702 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] The Mokolo River Catchment: Validation of existing lawful water use Final Study Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The registration process required that all water uses, regardless of the legal status thereof, had to be registered. The only registration requirement was that it must be an existing use in the qualifying period, whether lawful or not. The qualifying period for groundwater resources is 1 October 1996 to 30 September 1998. For surface water resources the qualifying period is 1 October 1997 to 30 September 1999. The validation of registered water use was therefore critical for the management and control of resources since lack thereof may lead to the establishment of claims to water due to over allocation, an unfair or disproportionate use of water from a resource. The main purposes of the validation process was inter alia to: (i) determine water use for the 1998/99 and current periods, (ii) provide inputs for hydrological modelling and (iii) prepare and compile data sets to be used during the verification of existing lawful water use. During the registration process some 19 126 ha of irrigation with an associated annual volume of 94.6 million m3 was registered. The existing lawful water use was determined as 75.4 million m3/a which includes some 24.2 million m3/a of the Mokolo River Irrigation Board. The net result of the validation process is an over registration of some 19.2 million m3/a. When the existing lawful use from surface water (excluding the Irrigation Board) of 46.2 million m3/a is compared with the 1998/99 water use of some 52.2 million m3/a, it is evident that water users were abstracting some 6 million m3/a more than they were lawfully entitled to. Although the water use decreased between 1998/99 and 2004, the current annual abstraction from surface water resources (47.9 m3/a) is still some 1.7 million m3 more that the existing lawful entitlement. In terms of ground water resources the current annual abstraction of 5.7million m3/a is some 700 000 m3 more that the existing lawful entitlement of 5.0 million m3/a. An increase in the total storage since 1985 was detected. The total storage in 1985 was some 25.0 million m³. During 1998 this storage increased to 28.3 million m³. The latest storage identified in 2004 is some 31.1 m³. The existing lawful storage is some 28.0 million m³. While some of the increases in storage were lawful there is currently some 11,7% or 3.1 million m³ of the current storage development that may be unlawful. All figures are validated totals (preliminary) as the verification of water use under section 35 of the National Water Act has not commenced. It is therefore necessary to initiate the section 35 process as soon as practically possible. In order to address the current over-allocation of water downstream of the Mokolo Dam it is proposed that compulsory licensing be implemented as soon as possible (particularly for this area) as this is the only legal mechanism available to rectify this problem. Final - January 2007 i The Mokolo River Catchment: Validation of existing lawful water use Final Study Report TABLE OF CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................................I TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................II LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................V LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................VI LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................VI LIST OF ANNEXURES........................................................................................................VI ABBREVIATIONS..............................................................................................................VII 1 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1 1.1 BACKGROUND....................................................................................................1 1.2 PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT.............................................................................3 2 SCOPE OF ASSIGNMENT.........................................................................................4 3 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION...........................................................................................5 3.1 PUBLIC MEETINGS.............................................................................................6 3.2 FIELD VISIT TO THE STUDY AREA....................................................................7 3.3 PRODUCTION AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION PRODUCTS............8 3.3.1 Background information document................................................................8 3.3.2 Validation results...........................................................................................8 4 VALIDATION PROCESS............................................................................................9 4.1 PROCESS WARMS DATA AND INCORPORATE INTO CUSTOM DATABASE..9 4.2 AUDIT WARMS DATA..........................................................................................9 4.3 OBTAIN SURVEY AND OTHER WATER RELATED INFORMATION................10 4.4 CAPTURE ENTITLEMENTS...............................................................................10 4.5 CALCULATE CROP WATER REQUIREMENTS................................................11 4.6 SATELLITE IMAGE PROCESSING....................................................................11 4.7 IRRIGATION IDENTIFICATION..........................................................................12 4.7.1 Digitising of irrigated and other cultivated fields...........................................12 Final - January 2007 ii The Mokolo River Catchment: Validation of existing lawful water use Final Study Report 4.7.2 Crop identification........................................................................................13 4.7.3 Irrigation system identification......................................................................13 4.7.4 Irrigation volume calculation........................................................................13 4.8 DIGITISING OF DAMS AND VOLUME DETERMINATION.................................13 4.9 ESTABLISHING LAWFUL WATER USE............................................................14 4.9.1 Irrigation with surface water.........................................................................14 4.9.2 Irrigation with groundwater..........................................................................16 4.9.3 Storing of water...........................................................................................16 4.10 CLASSIFICATION OF VALIDATED WATER USES...........................................17 5 VALIDATION RESULTS...........................................................................................18 5.1 IRRIGATION.......................................................................................................19 5.2 STORAGE .......................................................................................................21 5.3 GIS COMPILATION............................................................................................21 6 IRRIGATION WATER DEMAND...............................................................................23 6.1 SUMMARY .......................................................................................................23 6.1.1 Representative crop.....................................................................................23 6.1.2 Rainfall........................................................................................................24 6.1.3 Evapotranspiration.......................................................................................24 6.1.4 SAPWAT Model...........................................................................................24 6.1.5 Irrigation demand records............................................................................24 6.1.6 Actual irrigation usage.................................................................................25 6.1.7 Irrigation efficiency.......................................................................................26 6.1.8 Abstraction rate...........................................................................................26 6.1.9 Crop factors.................................................................................................26 6.1.10 Return flows................................................................................................26 6.1.11 Model interface............................................................................................26
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