SwaterSouth Africa’s
SwaterSouth Africa’s scarce water needscareful managementSouth Africa is a water-scarce country, the 30th driest in the world. Using water wisely will become more important as thepopulation grows and droughts related to climate change increase. Study finds smaller, local systems offer more benefits.By Saul NgaravaAAgricultural economist, Saul Ngarava, studied 1 184 homes in SouthAfrica’s North West, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape provinces tosee which types of water governance resulted in better water, energyand food security. He found that the best results were achieved wherewater was governed democratically by different types of organisationsworking together.How is water governed in South Africa?Water governance is driven by the Constitution, which says, “Everyonehas the right to have access to sufficient food and water”, and whichgives different water management responsibilities to different levelsof government.At one end of the spectrum, national government managesall water resources. At the other end, local government takes careof supplying clean water to households and disposing of sewageand wastewater.The National Water Act of 1998 is charged with managingSouth Africa’s scarce water resources through different local levelinstitutions. These are catchment management agencies, water userassociations, international engagement bodies and the Water Tribunal.The Water Services Act of 1997 says how these institutions shouldmake sure that everyone has access to basic water and sanitation.Why do governance arrangements matter?Water supports development and can help with creating jobs andeliminating poverty. It is essential in national planning and thereforeit is vital that it is managed properly. In South Africa, there aredifferent water governance arrangements: bottom-up and top-down.The two I have researched are the water user association and thecatchment partnership.There are 43 water user associations in South Africa – formal,top-down associations of individual water users. An example is alarge-scale irrigation scheme that provides water to commercial,emerging and small-scale farmers and their local towns and20 | Service magazine
waterSArticle courtesy of The Conversationvillages in major agricultural areas. I researched the VaalhartsWater User Association, which covers the farming areas of Taungand Magareng, stretching across the North West and NorthernCape provinces.Water user associations usually have a lot of infrastructure. Thiscan include 100km-long irrigation canals and pipelines. They’remainly centred on commercial farmers who use this commonirrigation system, and although they deliver water to all homes inthe farming area, they are largely dictated to by farmers.A catchment partnership is a ground-up, informal voluntarycollaboration between multiple organisations with shared interests.I researched the Umzimvubu Catchment Partnership in Matatielein the Eastern Cape province. It is made up of more than 30organisations including the local municipality, the non-profitEnvironmental Rural Solutions, the provincial forestry departmentand the South African National Biodiversity Institute, an academicresearch institute.These organisations work together to build social capital – theresources linked to a network of relationships. The network is aconvergence of indigenous knowledge, expertise and data aimedat empowering all the participants to take equal ownership of thewater governance arrangement.Catchment partnerships usually serve only a smaller area andeveryone who lives within it. They often aim to conserve a riversystem and its catchment area so that the water can be used forlocal job creation and economic growth. They don’t have as muchexpensive water infrastructure and they rely on natural benefits –water from natural springs, food from wild fruit or fuelwood thatis used for cooking.Are these arrangements unique to South Africa?Water user associations and catchment partnerships are notunique to South Africa. England, Scotland, Tanzania, Nepal andIndonesia, among others, also have them. In these countries, wateruser associations and catchment partnerships have resulted in watermanagement by a wide range of organisations, and they face manyof the same issues.What problems can arise in water governance?Water user associations such as Vaalharts Water User Associationtake more time to make decisions. Technical experts in finance,human resources, engineering and others need to be consulted,along with subcommittees who add their voices, and even thegovernment’s Department of Water and Sanitation. This means thatinfrastructure maintenance and agreements on how to distributewater fairly among the farmers, industry, towns and communitiescan be slow or not happen at all.In catchment partnerships such as the Umzimvubu catchmentpartnership, grassroots and local organisations aim to work togetherto reach consensus. This makes decision-making faster, easier andmore effective. However, they lack funding, mostly because they aremade up of organisations without large funding bases. Sometimes,their member organisations take care of their own water needs firstbefore considering the partnership.Water supports development andcan help with creating jobs andeliminating poverty.Water, energy and food securityMy research found that the Vaalharts Water User Associationfocused solely on water security. But this mainly benefited thecommercial farmers who grow cash crops such as pecan nuts,lucerne, groundnuts, wheat, citrus and grapes.My research found that people living in the Umzimvubucatchment partnership have more water, energy and foodsecurity overall. For example, the households I studied in theUmzimvubu catchment partnership were able to supplement theirwater supply with clean drinking water from a spring that thecatchment partnership had restored and protected. The catchmentpartnership also tested the quality of the water and set up tanks tostore it, providing clean, free, drinking water to over 700 people.A limited amount of water was also available for their livestock.This improved the food security of homes in the Umzimvubucatchment partnership area. Free water meant the families hadmore money to buy electricity.The catchment partnership had projects to clear away invasivetrees which drain local water supplies. This helps rejuvenatethe natural grasslands, where livestock graze. This creates morefood security.What changes do you propose, and why?The South African government wants to establish more high-levelwater governance structures such as water user associations. Basedon my research comparing the Vaalharts Water User Association andUmzimvubu catchment partnership, this is the wrong approach.Top-down structures that restrict broad participation, and increasebureaucracy and corruption, might not be able to provide the water,energy and food security that South Africa needs. An effectivechange would be to disband water user associations and replacethem with catchment partnerships. SService magazine | 21
