The Department of Water Affairs (DWA) has, to date, prevented 51-million cubic meters a year of unlawful water use in the Vaal River System through its Reconciliation Strategy, which was aimed at eliminating 175-million cubic meters a year of unlawful water use by 2014.

The DWA completed the Reconciliation Strategy in 2009 and a strategy steering committee was formed in July of the same year to oversee the implementation thereof.

The objectives of the strategy also included continuing with the implementation of water conservation and water demand management to achieve targeted savings of 195-million cubic meters a year by 2015, implementing the R15-billion Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) to deliver water to the Vaal River System by 2020 and solving the acid mine drainage (AMD) problem in the Witwatersrand by 2015.

The department noted that the current compliance monitoring and enforcement processes in the upper Vaal had resulted in various unlawful water users having stopped abstraction, without direct action being taken by the department.

“Significant progress is being made with some of these actions, including the recent commitment by the City of Johannesburg to intensify efforts to save water through better managing the water.

“However, the city’s water use is still increasing and [the provision of resources to implemet the required] water conservation and water demand management projects to achieve the city's 2015 target of 110-million cubic meters a year, must receive priority to avoid water restrictions,” the DWA warned.

The department said it was pleased that the City of Tshwane had successfully implemented measures to save water and achieved its interim targets, adding that, while the Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality’s water savings wer evident in its water consumption data, the municipality was trailing its target and a turnaround action plan to deal with real and apparent losses had been proposed to place the municipality back on track to meet its targets.

The DWA further indicated that it had rejected bulk water service provider Rand Water’s application for an increased abstraction licence for 1.8-billion cubic meters a year, as the department was of the view that the potential to save water existed and that the set targets had to be achieved.

In this regard, Rand Water had started a programme to put in place plans and protocols to implement water restrictions in the municipalities that were not achieving their water conservation or water demand management targets, and which must accompany a revised licence application to be submitted by Rand Water to the DWA.

The department stated that water use from the Vaal River System was currently equal to the system’s available resources, adding that any further increases would render the system vulnerable to drought.

“As such, continuous higher-than-average rainfall is needed in the next few critical years to prevent restrictions when the dams’ levels are low,” the DWA said.

LESOTHO WATER PROJECT

South Africa and Lesotho signed an implementation agreement for the second phase of the (LHWP) in 2011 and committed to building a hydropower station with an installed capacity of between 1 000 MW and 1 200 MW.

The plant would be operational in 2018 and would see some 200 MW of electricity supplied for Lesotho’s power needs, with the remaining power transmitted to South Africa.

The second phase, which started earlier this year following its approval by both countries in May. The phase would see the construction of the 165-m-high, 2.2-billion-cubic-metre-capacity Polihali dam at Tlokoeng.

Phase 2 would also include a water delivery system to augment the delivery of water to South Africa, as well as a pump-storage scheme and associated transmission lines.

AMD

Meanwhile, progress had also been made with the implementation of the emergency interventions to tackle the AMD problem in the Witwatersrand, with the pumping out of AMD and the construction of neutralisation plants being undertaken to correct the pH levels and remove metals from the AMD in the mined-out gold mines in the area.

The DWA stated that AMD decant in the Western basin had subsequently ceased, while construction of the emergency works in the Central basin was progressing well and the implementation of emergency works in the Eastern basin would start in due course.

Further, the department said its study into the feasibility of long-term solutions for AMD challenges in the Witwatersrand was also progressing well and that it was planned to reach completion at the end f July, where after it would be implemented in each of the three basins.