The Crocodile West River catchment area is one of the most developed river
catchments in the country. It is characterised by the sprawling urban and
industrial areas of northern Johannesburg and Pretoria, extensive irrigation
downstream of Hartbeespoort Dam and large mining developments north of the
Magaliesberg. As a result, the Crocodile River is one of the rivers in the
country that has been most influenced by human activities, and where more
specific management strategies are of paramount importance.
The Department of Water Affairs (DWA) developed a Water Reconciliation Strategy
for the Crocodile West Water Supply System and published it in 2008. The
strategy was primarily focussed on the quantitive reconciliation of the
requirements for and availability of water, with due consideration of water
quality where it impacts on the reconciliation. Its main aim is to ensure
sufficient and reliable supply of water of appropriate quality to all existing
as well as future users, taking into account provision for the ecological
Reserve. This should be achieved within the framework of the best utilisation of
water resources, at the lowest cost and in an environmentally sustainable
manner. The Strategy is targeted at water related issues. It caters for existing
as well as future needs and is sufficiently comprehensive and flexible to enable
quick response to changing circumstances. The Strategy is cognisant of possible
future scenarios and impacts, and identifies preferred options and interventions
that could be implemented as being most appropriate to the situation. Although a
chronology of events and time scales are considered, the Strategy should not be
viewed as a rigid singular plan with fixed sequencing and time scales. Rather,
it is intended to be both flexible and robust under changing conditions. The
development of the strategy was facilitated in an open process and one of the
mechanisms employed was a Steering Committee that is representative of sectors
important to the study. The Steering Committee is a voluntary body operating at
a strategic level and ensuring that the technical aspect of the study is
transparent, open and consultative and that cooperative governance is embraced.
RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
As the trustee of the country’s water resources, the DWA recognises the need for
a dynamic and interactive planning approach to meet future water requirements.
To ensure successful implementation of this strategy, the DWA has commissioned
the “Support to the Implementation and Maintenance of the Reconciliation
Strategy for the Crocodile West Water Supply System” study. Its purpose is to
put in place arrangements and resources for the on-going implementation and
maintenance of the Reconciliation Strategy. The envisaged activities include
support for the implementation of the current strategy, support to all actions
necessary to continuously update the strategy and to implement revised plans of
action aimed at ensuring on-going adequacy of water availability into the
future. In this process the tools, mainly models developed in the study
“Assessment of Water Availability in the Crocodile West River Catchment by Means
of Water Resource Related Models”, will be applied. It will be necessary to
revise and update the developed models from time to time. Such updates will also
form part of the scope of this assignment.
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