This workshop was a follow-up workshop from the first held in Durban. The second workshop was organised by the Department of Water Affairs (DWA), with assistance of Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) and the United Nations Development Programme. The workshop relooked at the outcomes of the Durban workshop and made amendments and/ or additions on the solutions, challenges and priorities on water.
The consultative meeting held in Irene was attended by 55 stakeholders. Key participants were from various departments in the DWA such as the climate change, institutional oversight, policy and strategy, and national water resource infrastructure departments. International organisations and the private sector, such as UNDP and Eskom respectively were also present.
Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Director-General: International Water Cooperation (DDG: IWC), Lindiwe Lusenga described the dialogue as a wave to identify the challenges standing on the way of achieving the country’s goals in the water sector. Discussions over the course of the one-day workshop focused on the key national priorities for the sustainable development of water based on the three Sub-thematic themes (water resource management, WASH, and Wastewater and Water Quality). Issues dealing with water resource management monitoring and reporting were also discussed. Stakeholders identified common priority cross-cutting issues on policy and regulation, finance, monitoring and reporting, Governance and Institutional Arrangements, Sustainable Infrastructure Management, within the three themes.
Issues relating to policy and regulation came to the fore with stakeholders agreeing on the need for the DWA to strengthen and implement the Enforcement Protocols as the sector leader responsible for regulation. It was also felt that the policy and legislative framework need to be strengthened to make DWA an effective regulator. The need for consensus on water regulation for legal international compliance was also highlighted as a priority issue.
Thus the workshop reaffirmed the importance of water in national development and noted that in the South African context, legislation such as the Constitution, the National Water Resources Strategy (NWRS), the National Water Policy, Water Supply and Sanitation Act, the National Development Plan (NDP), and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD), New Growth Path etc. are all central to the realisation of human needs, equitable growth and development.
On financial management priorities, stakeholders agreed on the need for DWA to have a Long Term Programme focus and mobilize funding for sustainability of water infrastructure management programmes. There is consensus on the need for increased reinvestment, development and maintenance on infrastructure through appropriate funding mechanisms, such as billing and revenue collection. Stakeholders agreed to the need for increased use of sustainable infrastructure management methods for both water (WRM & WS) and sanitation. This includes use of international full cycle asset management methods like International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) as the current aging infrastructure is not reflecting use of such standards.
A number of Water Resource Management Monitoring and Reporting mechanisms that should be in place were identified by the stakeholders. Among these identified is the need for a long-term monitoring framework for both Water Resources and Water Supply supported by appropriate funding to sustain national programmes. Stakeholders further agreed that the programmes for monitoring must be structured to reflect who / What pollutes our water, and to be able to rank polluters (i.e. wastewater treatment plants / agriculture / industries / mines / urban run-off).
The need for Governance and Institutional Arrangements, and Sustainable Infrastructure Management to be in place are also priority areas that were considered for post 2015. For example, there was an emphasis for water management and implementation to work on collaborative institutional arrangements, i.e. within South Africa and internationally. There was recognition on the need to focus on increased collaboration between sectors for sustainable water management, e.g. Food, Energy, Mining, Industry etc. It was further felt that International transboundary water management through bilateral, trilaterals and RBOs need to be strengthened.
During the dialogues, the stakeholders noted that South Africa has previously set monitoring targets and met them on various aspects with the three themes identified, particularly some of the WASH targets. The stakeholders however realised that these targets are changing or moving as they are influenced by the circumstances with the country as well as the government’s key focus areas and vision at the time. It was therefore agreed that it would be difficult to make pronouncements on these unless there is a clear guidance that is influenced by the government position. Therefore these would be thoroughly dealt with in the follow on stakeholder engagement processes.
While the stakeholders expressed the above position, the following suggestions were made as elements for consideration in future sustainable development targets for water:
- A need to compare with existing targets then monitor and evaluate what has been achieved to date. Targets should only be set for new initiatives.
- In the context of South Africa, MDG targets, Presidential targets and National targets (Government outcomes) should be used as the base for looking at water targets. The NWRS and the DWA business plan should influence the targets.
- The targets should also be set on regulation and capacity building.