The ins and outs of water-use regulations and legislation: Part 2

In this article, the second in a four-part series, Integrated Water Use License Application Management explores the type of water use in South Africa that requires a licence or government authorisation.

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Several fallacies exist in the South African agriculture sector regarding the water uses on farms that require government approval, and this often leads to confusion among farmers.

In this article, Johan Enslin and SJ Jansen van Rensburg, directors of Integrated Water Use License Application Management, delve deeper into the agriculture-related water uses that require authorisation in terms of Section 21 of the National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998).

A common misconception is that only the abstraction of water from rivers or boreholes on farms needs to be authorised by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). However, activities that could potentially pollute water, as well as those that take place within certain ranges of water sources, also require government approval.

Nevertheless, a farmer doesn't necessarily require authorisation for each of his or her water-use activities. Instead, the DWS usually processes all the activities in one application and issues a single integrated water-use authorisation.

TAKING WATER FROM A WATER RESOURCE

Section 21 of the National Water Act (NWA) states that the abstraction of water from a river, stream, dam, wetland or borehole must be authorised by the DWS.

The abstraction of water for use on farms is not limited to irrigation; drinking water in feedlots, pig pens, chicken coops and dairies, as well as water for washing and cleaning these facilities, must also be authorised.

If water is abstracted from any source that is situated on or forms a boundary of the farm and is used for the watering of free-roaming livestock and game, it does not require authorisation.

However, this is only the case if the number of free-roaming animals falls within the carrying capacity of the farm.

THE STORAGE OF WATER