NWRS NWRS National Water Resource Strategy National Water Resource Strategy Water for an Equitable and Sustainable Future June 2013 Second Edition VISION OF THE NWRS2 Sustainable, equitable and secure water for a better life and environment for all NWRS NWRS National Water Resource Strategy NWRS NWRS National Water Resource Strategy PREFACE We all want a better life for all. This is the decade of equity and redistribution – the decade we must realise everyone's right to water, a right guaranteed in our Constitution. How do we achieve equity and redistribution of our water resources? How do we ensure water security for the future and also enough water for our national economic growth and development priorities? These are the challenges this National Water Resource Strategy 2 tackles. Our water resources are under pressure. If we are to meet the demands of the economy, of society and ensure sufficient water for the environment we need to make strategic decisions and plan comprehensively and carefully. This NWRS2 sets out the strategy to plan, develop, manage, protect and control the use of our water resources effectively for the future. If we are serious about achieving equity and redistribution and the goals of our developmental state, we need to streamline our policies, legislation and strategies for both water resource management and water services. We are currently tightening our policy, legislative and overall sector environment and this Strategy forms part of that process, so that we can remove obstacles to greater equity in water resource allocation and meet our national objectives. The dynamics of water, equity, development and growth are complex I would like to acknowledge and thank all those who where water resource management lies at the heart of our aspiration to contributed to this Strategy which, I believe, provides achieve growth, sustainable development and poverty reduction. There a robust way forward towards achieving water can be no growth and development without water, so water must be at security, sustainability and our national priorities. the heart of all our planning, financing and governance frameworks. Making this Strategy work requires a collaborative effort. I call on the entire water sector and other Good governance, improved management of our resources and sectors, both public and private, to embrace this ensuring that every drop counts are addressed in the Strategy, through Strategy towards realising a better life for all. an improved institutional framework, strengthening our sector capacity, and through various mechanisms and concepts, such as water re-use and water off-setting. Towards addressing our infrastructure challenges and demands for the entire water value chain, we need an estimated R670 billion over the next ten years. In addition we require an investment of R30 billion for sustainable water management programmes, bringing our total sector investment to R700 billion, being R70 billion per year. This is a considerable investment which will be funded from on-budget and off- MRS B E E MOLEWA budget sources through the private sector. MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS NWRS NWRS National Water Resource Strategy Water Sector Priority Focus Areas 2013 - 2018 Achieving equity, including Water Allocation Reform Water conservation and water demand management Institutional establishment and Governance Compliance monitoring and enforcement Planning, infrastructure development &operation and maintenance of water resources infrastructure NWRS NWRS National Water Resource Strategy FOREWORD Given constraints and demands on the resource, we cannot afford practices which reduce supply, such as pollution, inefficient water management practices, lack of infrastructure maintenance, unaccounted for water, and poor governance. Our national economic and This National Water Resource Strategy 2 sets out how we will achieve development priorities together with the complex the following core objectives: environment within which we operate require a “new” era • water supports development and the elimination of poverty and of advanced and smarter water management. This inequality Strategy provides for robust and sustainable water sector • water contributes to the economy and job creation, and institutions (including nine catchment management • water is protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and agencies and nine regional water utilities) that have the controlled sustainably and equitably. necessary capacity to manage our water resource sustainably and equitably as well as ensure sustainable The major focus of the NWRS2 is equitable and sustainable access and and effective service delivery. use of water by all South Africans while sustaining our water resource. Equity and redistribution will be achieved through the authorisation The concepts, approaches and themes spelt out in this process and other mechanisms and programmes, such as water Strategy are in line with international principles and allocation reform, financial support to emerging farmers and support to approaches (World Water Forum and Rio+20 Summit) urban and rural local economic development initiatives. where social and economic goals are aligned, sector investment is increased and water is recognized as With our growing population, and focus on economic growth and fulfilling a central role in socio-economic planning and development we need to ensure water security and healthy water development. ecosystems that support our national imperatives. Apart from the water demands of the economic sectors (energy, mining and agriculture), A key challenge of this Strategy is to increase our skills increasing urbanisation and industrialisation place enormous pressure and capacity within the sector for both water resource on our scarce water resource in terms of management and allocation. management and water services. Institutions must be Over the last ten years water consumption of the domestic sector has appropriately staffed and resourced and towards this end increased from 22% to 27% of the total resource. we will continue to prioritise skills development, staff motivation and capacity building at all levels. Increasing Whilst we have well-developed water resources infrastructure (with our regulatory capacity to improve compliance and more than 4 395 registered dams) we are fast approaching full utilisation ensure that standards and license conditions are met is an of available surface water yields, and are running out of suitable sites for integral part of strengthening our institutional framework new dams. In addition, climate change outcomes in terms of rainfall and and capacity. temperature will have a negative impact on water storage. Water demand is likely to grow at about 1.2% over the next ten years. We Our sector makes a critical contribution to South Africa's therefore need to find new ways of reducing water demand and transformation, development and growth objectives. increasing availability – which move beyond 'traditional engineering Access to safe water supply and making water available solutions' of infrastructure development. Ensuring a sustainable water for productive purposes profoundly affects the daily lives balance requires a multitude of strategies, including water conservation of poor people and supports rural livelihoods. Through and water demand management (WCWDM), further utilisation of achieving these objectives we will significantly contribute groundwater, desalination, water re-use, rainwater harvesting and to equity, redistribution and reducing poverty in South treated acid mine drainage. Africa. Whilst South Africa benefited from a surplus of available water in 2000, South Africa does not face a water crisis at the moment, the time has now come where a mix of water resources is required to but is at risk if water is not taken seriously and reconcile supply and demand. Towards this end, Reconciliation interventions not applied timeously. Strategies have been developed to assess water balance against future needs. These strategies will inform our future water resource planning, Successful implementation of this Strategy will bring management and investment and key issues include: about great benefits: access to water and sanitation for all South Africans, availability of water to support economic • greater focus on WCWDM – every drop counts and we cannot afford growth and job creation, protection of existing assets, to waste any more water, anywhere stimulation of the construction sector, including small and • increased value and utilisation of ground water medium scale enterprises, and protection of our precious • re-use of water at the coast as well as in inland systems water resource for current and future generations. As the • opportunity for more dams (though limited) and transfer schemes Department of Water Affairs, we will provide the (and where the opportunity exists, it is at great cost) necessary leadership to operationalize this Strategy and • desalination: raise the investment required; however, this requires the • Small scale seawater desalination already being used in certain collaborative effort of all sectors and stakeholders to make areas it successful and to ensure that water plays a central role • Treated mine water desalination becoming more important in bringing justice, development and growth for all. • Desalination of seawater on a large scale • catchment rehabilitation, clearing of invasive alien plants and rainwater harvesting is growing in importance Let's make it happen! • making