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dam-l 1st SA River catchment man. plan/LS

P R E S S   R E L E A S E

For immediate release
1999-06-23
__________________________________________


PALMIET RIVER MANAGEMENT PLAN A
FIRST FOR SOUTH AFRICA


The Palmiet River near Grabouw in the Western Cape will soon be the first
river in South Africa to have a strategic catchment management plan in place
which complies with most of the requirements set out by the National Water
Act (Act Nr 36 of 1998).

First a steering committee (representing all stakeholders in the catchment
area) was elected in 1996 after a public participation process.  During the
following two years the members of the committee  pooled their resources and
have recently completed the compilation of information on the present and
future water requirements of all existing and potential users in the
catchment.

This information will now be used by Common Ground Consulting to draw up a
strategic management plan for the future management of the entire Palmiet
River catchment area.  According to Harald Winkler from Common Ground
Consulting, public participation plays an important role in this technical
exercise.  A number of workshops on key issues will therefore be held with
interested and effected parties in the area before they complete their brief
by December 1999.

Cape Town's needs was the driving force

The process to draw up a management plan for the Palmiet River started
almost four years ago when Cape Town requested permission from the Minister
of Water Affairs and Forestry to supplement its water supply with water from
the Palmiet River.  The minister approved this request, but on the condition
that all the role players in the catchment first draw up an integrated
catchment management plan for the Palmiet River.

DWAF chief engineer of project planning, Erik van der Berg, says that
although the process took much longer than initially anticipated, it has
laid the foundation for future catchment management plans in South Africa.
One of the main reasons for the delay was that the Palmiet River Steering
Committee was actually way ahead of the new Water Act, resulting in it
having no legal status and tying its hands in obtaining funds  However, Van
der Berg said that the co-operation from the community has been tremendous
and that most of the groundwork was done free of charge by individuals and
organisations within the catchment area.  Funds for the appointment of
consultants to compile the final catchment management plan was obtained from
the Water Research Commission.

Because of the unplanned delays, Cape Metropolitan Council (CMC) did
withdraw the first water from the Palmiet River in August 1998 - without a
management plan being in place.  However, it was done in consultation with
DWAF and only after certain prerequisites set by the Steering Committee were
met.

SA divided into 18 management areas

In terms of the National Water Act the Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry (DWAF) have provisionally divided South Africa into 18 water
management areas, each to be governed by its own catchment management
agency. The Palmiet River catchment has been included under the proposed
Breede River Water Management Area, as will all other rivers in the
Overberg.  The purpose of these agencies is to delegate water resource
management (mostly administered by central government at the moment) to
regional and catchment level and to involve local communities.

 The ideal is that each river in South Africa should eventually have its own
catchment management plan, which will be used then by the catchment
management agency for decision-making purposes.



Prepared for the Palmiet River Steering Committee by:
Bea Whittaker
Milkwood Communications (Pty) Ltd, P O Box 1325, Hermanus 7200
Tel: (028) 341-0322.  Fax: (028) 341-0430.

ENQUIRIES

DWAF:
Erik van den Berg
Tel:  (012) 338-8639
Fax:  (012) 338-8295
E-mail: iia@dwaf.pwv.gov.za

Palmiet River Steering Committee:
Barbara Gale
Telefax: (021) 987-2566
Cell:  082-5754-573
E-mail: gale@aquacatch.co.za

Cape Metropolitan Council:
Mike Killick
Tel:  (021) 487-2487
Fax:  (021) 487-2592
E-mail: mkillick@cmc.gov.za

Common Ground Consulting:
Harald Winkler
Tel:  (021) 424-5052
Fax:  (021) 424-2495
E-mail: hwinkler@commonground.
co.za