Fish River Valley Remains Land of Milk and Honey

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Water Control Ensures Great Fish River Valley Remains Land of Milk and Honey

Hippos once wallowed in pools of the Great Fish River; later African and European went to war on her banks. Today the river supports a flourishing agricultural industry yet water hasn’t always been abundant. The Great Fish River Water User’s Association is playing a crucial role in the administration of this vital resource to ensure the valley survives.

t’s 1974 and the Great Fish River store. The next day the picture marshy vleis filled with wallowing in the Eastern Cape is in flood. A makes front-page news – a symbol hippo. Today the giant Gariep Dam Inewspaper photographer snaps a of the spirit of those living in the in the Free State feeds the river. It picture of farmer Oscar Evans 200 km-long valley. has become a rushing torrent that wading, waist deep, across the swell- provides water to irrigate agricul- ing water. In his hand is a tiny The Evans family have lived on their tural land throughout the valley. mouse scooped up as it swam for farm, Melrose on the Bedford side of its life. the Great Fish River, since 1890. Then The Great Fish has sustained the Great Fish River was already a mankind for centuries. The Xhosa, The flooding river wreaks havoc but “sloot” ferrying water to an increas- with their herds of cattle, regarded it cannot defeat those living on its ing number of farms in the valley. the river as their own after driving banks, no matter how small. On dry Before this though, at the end of the out the Bushman before the arrival land Evans gently lets the gasping 1700s, the French ornithologist and of Europeans. The frontier wars creature go and continues on his explorer Francois Le Vaillant de- between the European settlers way to buy candles at the trading scribed the Great Fish as a series of and the Xhosa were based on

The Water Wheel March/April 2004 14 WATER USER’S ASSOCIATIONS

access to land and, more crucially, former chairman of the Great the river. Without water no one Fish River Irrigation Board for 19 could survive and it was with the years, says the open canal system Great Fish River between them that used to transport water to farms European and African clashed in loses as much as 15% of water eight wars between 1779 and 1853. through seepage, growth of vegeta- Most of the skirmishes were fought tion on the canal banks and evapo- in the Great Fish River Valley. ration.

When settlers arrived in the 1700s “When the Gariep Dam was fin- the river provided ample water for ished in 1969 there were plans to all farmers in the valley but by the build concrete furrows and pipe- 1950s the resource was under lines through the whole distribution pressure as more and more land system but it never happened. I was irrigated. doubt it ever will because of a lack of funds,” says Troskie. For this reason Evans has been involved in the administration of Mr CT (Chris) Troskie, former chairman Water for crop irrigation in the water in the valley since he took of the Great Fish River Irrigation Board valley is released into the Fish River over the farming of Melrose from from the Gariep Dam via an 88,8 his father. km tunnel, with an internal diam- East, Cradock, Cookhouse and eter of 4,8 m. The tunnel directs For many years he served on the Hofmeyr. water southwards to the Brak River Renfield Irrigation Board, one of the a tributary of the Great Fish. The sub-areas of the Great Fish River Andreas Engelbrecht, CEO of the Gariep distribution system is part of Water User’s Association (formerly Water User’s Association, explains the great Orange River water distri- the Great Fish River Irrigation that farms in the northern part of bution project that was first con- Board). He was also water bailiff for the valley between Teebus and ceptualised in the 1920s. Without 14 years responsible for ensuring Elandsdrif have a water quota of this water there is no question the that farmers in the district shared 13 500 m3 per hectare per annum valley would not be able to support the resource honestly. while those between Elandsdrif and the vast and sophisticated farming Middleton receive 12 500 m3 per operation that has developed in WATER USER’S hectare per annum. recent years. ASSOCIATION Crops are irrigated with water led DROUGHT The Water User’s Association com- to farms by a series of open earth prises 17 sub-areas each supervised canals. Flood irrigation is the most After the drought in the 1950s, by a water control officer reporting popular means of watering although nearly 20 years before the comple- to a management committee of farmers are increasingly switching tion of the Gariep dam, it was clear farmers. to the more economical and effec- that the government irrigation dams tive “pivot” irrigation. in the Great Fish River Valley Altogether there are 380 commer- (Grassridge, Lake Arthur and Kom- cial farmers (including black land “There is a growing awareness of mando) could not keep up with the owners) farming 33 000 arable the importance of protecting water demand for water and farming in hectares in the Great Fish River as a resource,” says Engelbrecht, the valley came under threat. Valley. The biggest crop is lucerne “farmers know flood irrigation uses (60%), (produced for several major more water than is sometimes The former government was eager dairies in the valley and along the necessary and, when they can, they to please its rural electorate and Eastern Cape’s southern coast,) are switching to more economical awarded huge subsidies to those followed by maize (30%) and wheat ways of watering.” working the land, even so the (10%). Sheep, angora goats and bees drought meant many families are also farmed. WATER LOSSES were forced to abandon their farms. The government stepped in Irrigation is by far the biggest job Chris Troskie, owner of the farm buying 70% of the agricultural prop- provider for towns like Somerset Kokskraal near Cookhouse and a erty in the valley, reorganising it into

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more economical lots before re- selling. Farms in the upper valley were 85 hectares, in the middle 60 hectares and in the lower valley 45 hectares. Today many of these smaller farms have been amalga- mated into major agricultural op- erations measuring up to 500 hectares.

“With constant government support farmers had it easy. The prob- lem is they looked for handouts when the going got tough and even- tually many couldn’t cope when that government support disappeared,” explains Troskie.

INGENIOUS WAYS

When a resource is scarce or has to be shared it is inevitable there will be some who try to take more than is their right. Over the years farmers have thought up ingenious ways to redirect water onto their land and, in his time as water bailiff, Evans once had to remove a dead cow, legs in the air, which was appar- ently being intentionally used to block a furrow. In another instance a farmer complained he wasn’t receiving his full quota. Evans elabo- rates: “We inspected his sluice and couldn’t see anything wrong, it was The Scanlen weir in the Great Fish River the right height and width. It was only when we looked under the MEASURING QUOTAS adjusts the tilt of the scraper. The water that we found the farmer had end result means there is less run blocked the sluice under the water Measurement of water is a constant off and more effective irrigation forcing the stream onto his prop- area of debate. Currently quotas are keeping erosion and wastage to a erty.” measured with a parshall flume. minimum.

Then there was the farmer who “There is far more accurate tech- The Great Fish River Valley has a made his overweight wife sit in the nology available for measuring quo- history as rich as its soil and contin- furrow to block the stream. “The tas,” says Engelbrecht, “which would ues to play a major role in South sheer size of her body gave him solve a lot of problems but it is African agriculture. The river sup- enough time to pack mud around prohibitively expensive.” ports several towns and ensures her and redirect the water his way.” work for thousands of people. In the most recent incident (only a New technology by farmers is “It’s a resource we have to manage couple of months ago) a farmer and improving the use of water in the and protect,” says Engelbrecht, water bailiff began throwing valley. One example is a laser that is “without it a thriving part of our punches over access to water. “They fitted to a scraper towed by a trac- country would suffer and an impor- both landed up in the canal,” chuck- tor. The laser measures the gradi- tant landmark in local history would les Engelbrecht. ent of the land and constantly re- be lost.”

The Water Wheel March/April 2004