The Metolong Authority has signed a US$1,27 million (about R8.55 million) contract with Canadian and South African consulting companies to develop a plan that would resettle and compensate those affected by the construction of [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 08 January 2011

The Metolong Authority has signed a US$1,27 million (about R8.55 million) contract with Canadian and South African consulting companies to develop a plan that would resettle and compensate those affected by the construction of the Metolong Dam.

Advance Infrastructure of the Metolong Dam and Water Supply Programme. Photo: © John Hogg / World Bank under Creative Commons Licence

The Metolong Dam and Water Supply Programme (MDWSP) will supply potable water for domestic and industrial use to Maseru and the rural towns of Roma, Mazenod, Morija and Teyateyaneng.

The Metolong Authority Public Relations Manager, Matšeliso Makoele, told Public Eye on Wednesday this week rePlan Inc. (Canada) in association with SRK Consulting Engineers and Scientists (South Africa) were expected to complete the work by March 2014.

Makoele said the consultants would develop the action plan which would include an evaluation and monitoring programme and a baseline socio-economic survey in consultation with local stakeholders such as the directly-affected communities, local chiefs, relevant community councils and other interested parties.

She said the consultancy would be implemented within the framework of the Metolong Resettlement and Compensation Policy and Procedures which was completed in June last year.

“It will also be implemented in accordance with the national and international land acquisition, compensation and resettlement policies and legislation such as the Lesotho Land Act of 1979, the World Bank Operational Policy 4.12, as well as other international best practices,” Makoele said.

She said prior to the awarding of this contract, the Metolong Programme compensated community members affected by activities under Advance Infrastructure Phase 1 and 2, the proposed camp and Water Treatment sites.

An Abbreviated Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) was also prepared as an interim measure to deal with compensation issues while the Policy and Action Plan were still being prepared. Under the Abbreviated RAP, 130 out of 149 people affected by the project received compensation.

The programme is part of a larger initiative by the government of Lesotho to increase access of safe water supply to Lesotho’s lowland areas.

Makoele said secure water supplies to these areas would boost socio-economic development by ensuring the continued development of the manufacturing and textile industries, job-creation, and food production and would therefore greatly assist with poverty alleviation.

The construction of the Metolong Dam and Water Supply Programme (MDWSP) is being co-funded by the Government of Lesotho, Government of South Africa, World Bank, Kuwait Fund, BADEA, Saudi Fund for Development, OPEC Fund for International Development, Millennium Challenge Corporation and the European Investment Bank.

By: Ntsau Lekhetho
Source: Public Eye Online

South Africa is already on the list of the 30 driest countries in the world, and 2010 has not been a good year for water in South Africa, with drought posing serious challenges in [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 31 December 2010

South Africa is already on the list of the 30 driest countries in the world, and 2010 has not been a good year for water in South Africa, with drought posing serious challenges in parts of the country.

Tens of thousands of migrants are pouring into Cape Town forcing authorities to rethink the city’s water supply strategy.

Climate forecasts do not bode well for the Western Cape’s water supply. The region is likely to become warmer and drier with reduced water in the rivers.

Pressure is mounting on our potable water supplies, so it’s a good time to implement some water saving measures around the home.

Here are seven great water saving resolutions for the new year:

1. Don’t flush toilets with drinking water.
2. Water gardens with grey water.
3. Harvest rainwater from roofs of homes.
4. Use harvested rainwater throughout the home (not only in the garden).
5. Clarify swimming pool backwash and return it to the pool.
6. Only flush the least amount of water to clear toilet pans.
7. Wash cars with rainwater.

For a free quote to fulfil your water saving resolutions for 2011 visit our contact page.

Water Rhapsody is the leader in Grey Water and Rainwater Harvesting systems.

Water supply, resource management and sustainability in the water industry are among the top issues to be covered during the Vietnam Water Industry Conference.

Ho Chi Minh City will host the 'Green Technologies [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 09 November 2010

Water supply, resource management and sustainability in the water industry are among the top issues to be covered during the Vietnam Water Industry Conference.

Ho Chi Minh City will host the 'Green Technologies & Solutions for a Sustainable Water Industry' conference

Themed, “Green Technologies & Solutions for a Sustainable Water Industry”, the three-day conference to be held in Ho Chi Minh City will run from 10 to 12 November 2010.

It will focus on emerging technologies and advances that are eco-friendly, energy efficient as well as management best practices.

The South African delegation will be led by Deputy Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi.

Making clean, potable water available to everyone is one of SA’s key priorities. South Africa is largely a semi-arid, water-stressed country. The country’s average rainfall of about 450mm a year is well below the world average of about 860mm a year.

South Africa has a National Water Resource Strategy, which was approved in September 2004. It describes how South Africa’s water resources will be protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in accordance with the requirements of the National Water Policy.

The South African government and Vietnam recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Water Cooperation.

Other topics that feature prominently on the conference agenda include monitoring and control, water loss prevention, water quality and safety, investments and partnership opportunities.

Professionals in the industry will also get a chance to exhibit inventions and latest technologies.

Source: BuaNews

In an attempt to combat its water problems, Amathole District Municipality (ADM) yesterday launched a project worth R110 million to supply water to villages where dams have run dry.

The district was declared a [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 11 September 2010

In an attempt to combat its water problems, Amathole District Municipality (ADM) yesterday launched a project worth R110 million to supply water to villages where dams have run dry.

The district was declared a disaster area by the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica in July last year, as levels reached a critical point. Since then, ADM has established a joint operations committee to develop a drought action plan.

ADM spokesperson Gail Pullen said: “Funding application for drought relief was made in the amount of R156 million and to date the municipality has received only R12.4 million from national Treasury in this new financial year.”

Yesterday, ADM launched its infrastructure project at Ehlobo in the Mnquma Municipality (Butterworth and surrounds), which will supply potable water to 27150 people in 38 villages.

Currently, the villages source their water from streams and springs which are subject to seasonal variations and do not provide an assured water supply. Similar projects will be launched in Amahlathi (Stutterheim and Cathcart) and Mbhashe (Dutywa and Willowvale) municipalities.

Plans by ADM to upgrade infrastructure come as various towns in the district record lower than normal dam levels. “The Butterworth and Dutywa areas have a looming water crisis as the Xilinxa Dam, which provides water to these areas, is now at 29.8percent,” said Pullen. This means only four to five weeks of water is left – unless it rains.

South African Weather Services’ Port Elizabeth-based forecaster Mandisa Manentsa said there was a 30 percent chance of rain today in the areas along the coast and adjacent areas, such as Dutywa and Butterworth, but no rainfall was expected next week.

ADM also reported that the Cathcart Dam was empty and the community now relied on borehole water. Local farmer Bruce Fletcher said the situation is bad. “There’s nothing in town and on the farms. We are praying for the big rains.”

The Bridledrift Dam, which is Buffalo City’s basic water supply, is at 19percent.

By: Xolisa Mgwatyu
Source: Dispatch Online

A battle is brewing between local people and major energy companies looking to exploit possible sources of shale gas in the Karoo.

Shale gas is natural gas stored in rocks that are rich [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 05 September 2010

A battle is brewing between local people and major energy companies looking to exploit possible sources of shale gas in the Karoo.

Shale gas is natural gas stored in rocks that are rich in organic material such as dark colored shale

And at the heart of the conflict will be the one thing that is really scarce in the Karoo – water.

Five companies have recently been given the go-ahead to search for shale gas – trapped deep in the shale rock making up the Karoo landscape. Among them is Sasol, which has partnered with Statoil and American energy company Chesapeake, Shell, Anglo American, Falcon Gas and Oil and Bundu Gas and Oil, which is owned by an Australian holding company.

Bundu and Sasol executives have both said that if enough gas were found in the area, it would be “game-changing” for the industry.

And while most of these permits are technical co-operation permits (TCPs) and only allow for desktop studies, locals are worried about a controversial process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, in which vast amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, are pumped into the ground to fracture the rock and release the gas.

The process would require millions of litres of water (up to 20 million litres for each production test well drilled) from the already sparse Karoo. And communities in the US where the procedure is becoming increasingly common, have cried foul after water became contaminated, apparently as a result of fracking. The US government has ordered an investigation into hydraulic fracturing.

Professor Maarten de Wit, of the department of geology at the University of Cape Town, said the interest in the Karoo as a source for shale gas had started about two years when Shell applied for rights to prospect for gas across large tracts of the Karoo. This made other companies sit up and take notice.

De Wit said that while fracking was water intensive, non-potable water sources could be considered.

“There should be very strict environmental rules in place before mining of shale gas is given the go ahead; one thing that is worth noting is that they need not necessarily have to use potable water; brackish water (as there is in some parts of the Karoo) might well do. But it’s very early days in this new field of shale gas exploration, let alone exploitation,” De Wit said.

A press release issued by Sasol in July quoted executive Ebbie Haan as saying “a discovery of large recoverable shale gas reserves in the Karoo Basin will be a game-changer in the broader SA energy market context and will likely constitute a major step to further develop gas transmission and distribution infrastructure in the country”.

Bundu, whose application for an exploration right has been accepted by the Petroleum Agency of South Africa, was one of the first to apply for rights.

Their application covers over 300 000 hectares of the Karoo.

Paul Bilston of Sunset Energy, the Australian company which owns Bundu, said they had withdrawn their first application, and the second had been denied by the Petroleum Association of SA in May, based on environmental grounds.

Bundu submitted a third application that took account of environmental objections. “We have done this to the best of our ability, firstly by removing gazetted game reserves from the application area, and secondly we will be reviewing and increasing the funding required as a bond to cover rehabilitation liabilities.”

But at a meeting this week, three private game reserves heard that they would be included in the new, larger area.

Bundu will need to submit an environmental management plan before being given exploration rights, then it will take around three years before any drilling takes place.

Graaff Reinet attorney Derek Light , who is representing some 100 landowners and farmers in the area in the Bundu issue, said Bundu’s campaign has been characterised by secrecy.

At a meeting held in Pearston on Thursday, locals were given a map detailing the area for the first time. Light said it was also the first time Bundu admitted that “fracking” would be used.

Locals were not happy with the way in which the meeting was conducted, saying little dialogue had occurred.

Light said they had also been told they had only a few days in which to make submissions.

“It’s difficult to make a meaningful contribution in that amount of time. This is not a game. This is 950 000 acres of ground. This is a big deal,” Light said.

Iain Buchanan of the Mount Camdeboo Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape said that while he understood the need to create jobs in the area, his biggest concern was water.

“Water is something we crave in the Karoo so if this could affect our water, there is just no way we could condone it.”

But Bilston said: “Given the modest scope of our initial exploration we do not expect to impact significantly on the Karoo?

“In terms of water, it is a key issue, and while we are confident of being able to obtain the water to carry out our exploration programme, we will need to look at how water for this is sourced and reused as part of any larger programme.”

By: Bianca Capazorio
Source: Business Report

The rain that fell last weekend was most welcome from an agricultural and gardening point of view, but the 31 mm received in the catchment area of the Wolwedans Dam was again unfortunately insufficient to [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 18 July 2010

The rain that fell last weekend was most welcome from an agricultural and gardening point of view, but the 31 mm received in the catchment area of the Wolwedans Dam was again unfortunately insufficient to make much of a difference to the level of the dam, says the Municipality in a news release on the water situation in Mossel Bay.

It is anticipated that the Wolwedans Dam will be empty by October 2010

The dam’s level rose by about 0,4%, which is equal to 100 megalitres of water and about three to four days of extraction from the dam by PetroSA, farmers and the Municipality. It is therefore still anticipated that the dam will be empty by October 2010, unless sufficient rain is received before then

Although the much smaller Ernst Robertson dam is more than 100% full, water from this dam is released into the Wolwedans Dam. The effect of the Ernst Robertson dam as well as the five megalitres a day of purified effluent water supplied to PetroSA from the newly commissioned Reverse Osmosis plant at Hartenbos has been taken into account in determining the date on which Mossel Bay is expected to run out of potable water at present consumption levels.

“The rains in June and July so far were obviously most welcome, but unfortunately did not buy us much extra time. It did, however, have the effect of generally greening the environment, and this may perhaps create a perception that the situation is not as serious as people are told. I, however, want to reiterate that the situation remains extremely serious and is in fact deteriorating. The water restrictions also remain in place.

“The Municipality continues to race against time to develop additional water sources and work on the 15 Ml/day seawater desalination plant at Voorbaai has already commenced. Although it was hoped that this plant would be in full production in November 2010, it now appears for a variety of reasons, including the reliance on imported components, that it would not be possible to achieve full production before the end of January or early February 2011.

“Production will now be phased in, with 5 Ml of water a day being produced in November 2010, 5 Ml more a day by early January 2011 and full production being reached in January or early February 2010,” said Dr Michele Gratz, Municipal Manager of Mossel Bay.

Dr Gratz said the borehole project has unfortunately been disappointing so far. Water was struck in just four of the fourteen boreholes sunk to date. The borehole drilled at Friemersheim is the only one so far with a satisfactory yield. The yield of the borehole at Dana Bay was not as good but nevertheless justifies connecting it to the water supply system of the Municipality. The water in the borehole sunk at Bartelsfontein is brackish, while the yield of the fourth did not warrant the further development of the hole.

Farmers are substantial users of water in the catchment area of the Wolwedans Dam and the Department of Water Affairs, whose competency this is, is in the process of imposing 60% restrictions on farmers. This should also increase the flow of water into the dam when it rains.

“It remains of the utmost importance that people use water sparingly and ensure that no water losses occur on their properties by regularly checking their systems for leaks and burst pipes and fixing leaking taps, toilets, etcetera,” said Dr Gratz.

Source: Mossel Bay Advertiser

The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) had created a water commission as it believed that a water crisis was looming in South Africa, it said yesterday.

“We regard this issue as [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 21 May 2010

The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) had created a water commission as it believed that a water crisis was looming in South Africa, it said yesterday.

“We regard this issue as being so crucial that the chamber has created a water commission under the chair of Judith Taylor, to drive an initiative for the establishment of a public-private partnership (PPP),” JCCI chief executive Keith Brebnor said.

Such a partnership was aimed at bringing best practices to waste and potable water management across all areas, as well as investigating and upgrading water management infrastructure as required.

“In the press on May 11, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica affirmed that the state of our water infrastructure, both waste water and potable water, is one of collapse under pressure of unprecedented urban growth, poor maintenance and lack of development,” he said.

Brebnor said the risks from an inadequate response were great and called on President Jacob Zuma, cabinet ministers, political leaders, Business Leadership SA, Business Unity SA, captains of industry, non-governmental organisations and other organisations, and the country’s people to act on “this very real crisis that threatens dire consequences for our country”.

- Sapa

A marine research company has proposed a R1.8-billion project to solve the water crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay by tapping ancient water from a huge freshwater source under the seabed.

Dramatic geologic formations are [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 10 May 2010

A marine research company has proposed a R1.8-billion project to solve the water crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay by tapping ancient water from a huge freshwater source under the seabed.

Dramatic geologic formations are displayed in the Cape Fold Belt - the folded sedimentary sequence of rocks in the south-western corner of South Africa.

In a recent presentation to the Development Bank of SA, Deep Water Research (DWR) from Cape Town said the aquifer – situated 60km off Port Elizabeth – “is larger than the Breede River Dam”. Sucked out hot from at least a kilometre beneath the floor of the sea, the supply would be “very long term and consistent”, it said.

Local experts have raised questions about the proposal, however, pinpointing the need for a comprehensive impact assessment and the need to balance the certainty of finding water in the volumes described against the funds spent searching for it. The security of the resource, the threat of seawater contamination and the geological ramifications should be taken into account, they argued.

In a presentation to the bank at its Midrand headquarters, Hugh Lloyd, a director of DWR, said there were large volumes of fresh water off the South African coast.

“A programme to explore and develop this resource on the coast, where our water resources are diminishing rapidly, has been initiated by DWR.”

The aquifers were revealed during years of oil and gas exploration, he explained. “An exploration well off Port Elizabeth intersected a potentially abundant supply of potable water.

“This resource alone has the potential to be an order of magnitude larger than the Breede River Dam. Such aquifer water resources have potential major advantages over dams as the water is not polluted, doesn’t evaporate, the supply is very long term and consistent, and it can become productive far sooner than a dam.”

The water in this and other aquifers comes from rain that has fallen for millenia on the sponge-like Cape Fold Belt. The belt includes various inland ranges as well as coastal mountains like the Groendal (near Uitenhage), Van Stadens and Tsitsikamma, and also outcrops in central Port Elizabeth. This rain sinks into fractured sandstone and quartzite and seeps gradually down through cracks in the Table Mountain group rock to the coast.

It emerges in local landmarks like the Uitenhage springs, and was the catalyst for the establishment of the old Swartkops spa baths. It, however, also flows out beneath the seabed.

With South Africa now gripped in a severe, long-term water crisis, DWR had created a programme to explore and develop this submarine resource, Lloyd said. Programme milestones include the development of “a concept hydro-geological model together with broad-based engineering and economics”, and a memorandum of agreement with the Water and Environmental Affairs Department to explore for water along the entire South African coast.

The company had also gained access to data compiled by the Department of Geosciences and the national Petroleum Agency, he said.

“The department has written a letter of intent to DWR to purchase 130 million cubic metres a year from DWR in the Eastern Cape.”

DWR had further reached an agreement with the world’s leading companies in the field of oil and water exploration and sea spring water, he said. Including the Port Elizabeth site, there are at least five possible sites worth exploring off the country’s south and east coast as well as others off the Western Cape and Namibia.

“Each project comprises a well farm and facilities delivering 50 million cubic metres of water a year.”

Lloyd said the capital cost for each extraction project would be R1.855-billion, and it would take about 2½ years to get each project up and supplying water.

Preliminary financial analyses of the project generally indicate “it is very robust and viable”.

“It has the potential of being repeated many times both in Southern Africa and world-wide.”

Wilderness Foundation director Andrew Muir – a former Herald Citizen of the Year, who has raised concerns about unregulated drilling – said a strategic environmental assessment was needed to consider the full costs and benefits of the project. The assessment would need to include the laying of the site-to-shore pipeline, the effect on geology and marine ecology, and the energy consumption of such a huge drilling operation.

“We support any initiative to try to find an alternative water source, but the full picture must be carefully considered.

“I do not know about any projects like this world-wide. Would the proposed extraction be sustainable? What will happen environmentally and geologically if we take this water out?”

Retired senior geologist Dr Russel Shone said he was unaware of any successful project of this kind anywhere else in the world.

Table mountain group rock was very hard and it was doubtful the fractures would collapse if the water was sucked out of them, he said. The water in the fractures could be as much as 400 million years old.

But even if a large slab of this rock was pinpointed, it would be very hard to determine how much water it held, he said.

“The table mountain group rock is the sponge. By using seismic data and bouncing shock waves they can determine how much of this rock there is and how far down it is.

“But the water is in the cracks in the sponge – and just how fractured is that particular rock? It would be very hard to say. It’s the great enigma of this geology.

“It sounds to me like these guys are flying a kite.”

Consideration needed to be given to the motivation and benefits behind the project, he said.

“Drillers drill holes and they get paid even if nothing is found.

“We must ask if the project is economically feasible – that’s the cost of looking for the water and then, even if it is found, of drilling for it in difficult marine conditions. Water is a basic human need. It’s not like petroleum, where costs can be recouped when it is sold.”

Even if fresh water was found, there was a danger that as it was extracted, it would be replaced by seawater, he said.

“There is a chance that this salinity can then leak out of the fracture at another point.”

Lloyd said “some private funding” was already available for the project and the hope was that the government would now buy into the project through either the Industrial Development Corporation or Development Bank of South Africa, both of which had been approached. “The next step will be to speak to Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.”

Pressed on how sure he was of achieving supply, he said DWR had a “borehole core”, obtained from years of exploration in the area for oil and gas.

“This core tells us the volume of the fractures – and PE looks very good. What we still need to know is whether the fractures are wide enough to get the flow rate we need.”

There would be no danger of seawater seeping into the aquifer because fresh water was lighter than seawater and it naturally pushed the seawater out, he said.

- Guy Rogers
Source: Weekend Post

The [Cape Town] city council will soon be asked to give the financial green light to a R1,7-billion, multi-year bulk water augmentation project.

Berg River Dam

A report discussed at the utility services portfolio [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 04 May 2010

The [Cape Town] city council will soon be asked to give the financial green light to a R1,7-billion, multi-year bulk water augmentation project.

Berg River Dam

A report discussed at the utility services portfolio committee yesterday notes that additional bulk water supply infrastructure has become critical, to increase the water treatment, bulk storage and conveyance capacity of the city’s bulk water supply system.

The total capital cost of the bulk water augmentation system is estimated at R1,7bn, and the implementation time frame at about six years.

In his budget speech in March, mayoral committee (Mayco) member for finance Ian Neilson said while the scheme would not significantly affect the 2010/11 financial year’s budget, a tariff increase, projected to be 8 percent above inflation, would need to be phased in in subsequent years.

The additional infrastructure was necessary to ensure the system could continue to supply potable water during peak demand periods, as population and economic growth fuelled demand.

“If the infrastructure is not implemented timeously, the risk of having to implement water restrictions in some areas of Cape Town, or across the entire city during peak water demand periods in the hot dry summer months, will progressively increase,” the report said.

At a meeting of the mayoral committee in 2005, the proposed scheme was identified as a key component of the city’s water services development plan.

But long-term funding approval has now become urgent, and the city council will be asked to recognise that allowance will have to be made for the project in the city’s budget for the next six years.

Bulk Water manager Peter Flower noted in yesterday’s report that he needed to “reinforce the urgent need to finalise the funding mechanism in order that the early stages of the project will not be compromised, resulting in delays in final implementation”.

Flower told the Cape Argus that it was critical that the project now be accommodated in the city’s long-term budget planning, and that it not be pushed back another year.

It was essential for long-term planning and to ensure the city’s water supply, as well as to ensure minimal impact in terms of tariff spikes.

Meanwhile, the city yesterday announced a R538m up-grade of the metropole’s electricity network in the coming financial year.

“The city is following a proactive maintenance and replacement programme to avoid any Eskom-type crises,” Mayco member for utility services Clive Justus said, adding that it was essential for the city to timeously replace and maintain its equipment and infrastructure.

He said maintenance and repair this year received priority spending, with a 3 percent allocation above inflation.

The more than R0.5bn allocation would provide for the commencement of upgrades of substations at Rosmead Avenue, Roggebaai, Strand, Oakdale, Langeberg, Retreat and Parow South.

A new substation would also be built to serve Century City.

“All these upgrades will reduce the risk of power failures,” Justus said, adding that a further R80m would provide for new service connections and associated infrastructure, while R58m was set aside to address the augmentation of the overall system.

- Ella Smook – iol

South Africa’s water boards are proposing increases of between 6.2 percent and 43 percent to the cost of the potable bulk water they supply to the country’s municipalities.

Such tariff increases, if accepted, are likely [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 04 May 2010

South Africa’s water boards are proposing increases of between 6.2 percent and 43 percent to the cost of the potable bulk water they supply to the country’s municipalities.

Such tariff increases, if accepted, are likely to increase the cost of drinking water supplied by municipalities to end users.

The proposals, details of which are contained in a document tabled at a meeting of Parliament’s water affairs portfolio committee on Tuesday, appear to fly in the face of an announcement made by Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica last month.

“I want to allay the fears of South Africans that there is not in the near future a possibility of a hike. It’s not in the pipeline,” she told a media briefing at Parliament on April 13.

However, according to the document, tabled by the department’s chief director for institutional oversight Thoko Sigwaza “neither the minister nor the portfolio committee has a mandate to approve or reject tariff increases”.

The document includes a table of bulk water (the water abstracted from rivers and reservoirs, treated, and supplied to municipalities) tariff increases proposed by the 13 water boards. These range from 6,2 percent for Umgeni Water (from R3,24 a kilolitre to R3,47), to 43 percent in the case of Namakwa (from R6,37 to R9,11).

Among the water boards supplying the larger metropolitan areas, Rand Water is calling for a 14,1 percent increase (from R3,48 a kilolitre to R3,97) and Amatola for between an eight and 8,8 percent increase. Bushbuckridge Water is proposing a 12,46 percent increase. “Bulk water tariffs are not proposed by the department, but are determined by the water boards,” the document states.

Further, it notes that tariff increases for the current (2010/11) financial year “must be tabled on or before March 15 if the increases are to take effect from July 1, 2010″. It says a consultation process has been held with municipalities about the proposed tariff hikes.

Under a section titled “Impact of Tariff Increases on the End Users”, the document says that water accounting at municipalities is “often not ring-fenced, therefore it is difficult to assess impact of tariff on end users”. Further, water boards needed to raise funds to finance capital expenditure on infrastructure over the next five years “estimated to exceed R10 billion”.

During her briefing last month, Sonjica said any water tariff increase would have to go through an “extensive” consultation process before it could be enforced. “We are a participatory democracy. Any matter related to a hike of a water tariff has to go through an extensive consultation process… with all of the water users of South Africa,” she said at the time.

Officials at the department of water affairs were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. Sonjica is currently out of the country.

- Sapa