This thrust focuses on articulating the thinking for
the new roles and responsibilities of the various
stakeholders based on catchment and water management
area boundaries. The marked shift from central
management of resources to more localised scale is
critical to the main founding concepts of IWRM. The
defined management boundary based on watershed
boundaries is another fundamental provision in IWRM as a
concept.
This thrust will support the suitable implementation of
IWRM in South Africa. The further articulation of the
NWA for the benefit of all South Africans and the
fulfilment of the developmental role of the state within
the water resource limitations will be investigated.
Lessons learnt and evaluations of the IWRM applications
in South Africa to date will be part of this portfolio
focusing on home-grown approaches and experiences in
water resource management.
The thrust supports research on tools and methodologies
for decision support in IWRM which aims at providing
strategic intervention for new policy development and to
improve the understanding regarding the effective
functioning of institutional structures. These
structures are for implementing IWRM, through;
Future projections based on scenario building
Bridging the gap between WRM and better services
More emphasis on enforcement and compliance
Addressing financial provisions and institutional
sustainability challenges
Better understanding of internationally shared water
resources in support of NEPAD
|
Programme 1: Institutional
governance and reforms |
|
The principle of
subsidiarity or as is sometimes referred to as
democratization of water resource management, has
brought about challenging concepts, both
conceptually and in terms of application. Although
current reforms in South Africa are based on sound
IWRM principles, to date the implementation
thereof continues to break new ground, proving
that institutional engineering cannot provide a
one-size-fits-all solution to the new management
paradigm. Further understanding and research are
hence needed to learn and decide on best practice
as defined in the South African or similar
socio-economic settings. |
|
Programme 2: Compliance and
enforcement |
|
For the
implementation of state-of-the-art legislation
like the NWA, a matching enforcement and
compliance regime needs to be in place to ensure
effective implementation. The regulatory
environment in the South African water sector is
at its infancy and requires substantial support
from research in creating the understanding and
knowledge for informed decision making.
Bench-marking and best practice are crucial here
to learn from lessons. |
|
Programme 3: Pricing and
Financing WRM |
|
The issues of
financial sustainability, affordability of charges
by users, transparency and corporate governance
aspects are becoming central in the
decentralization era. The new infrastructure
agency responsible for new developments and
maintaining national assets provides good ground-
breaking research opportunities, especially to
assess if water tariffs can indeed pay for
managing and sustaining water resources? Does
pricing water and introducing the water resource
charges exclude the poor and will it further
cripple local government from delivering services?
The waste discharge charge is another serious
introduction to the water sector fraught with
considerable challenges. This programme can
project and assess such issues. |
|
Programme 4: Transboundary
water resource management |
|
This programme will
provide tools and guidelines for resolving
potential water-centred conflicts for the
management of shared international rivers and
transboundary aquifer systems, including
development of appropriate institutional forms and
functions, development and harmonisation of policy
and regulation in shared river basins, strategies
for knowledge-sharing and joint management of
shared river basins. A need has been identified to
define the roles and interrelationships between
local WRM institutions and international basin
organisations. |
|
Programme 5: Future
scenarios |
|
This
activity has been warranted a separate programme
to ensure that local South African expertise is
qualified to explore future scenarios and answer
the what if questions in support of reflection
and evaluation of national policy applications.
Projecting the water resource management and
development institutional arrangements landscape
10 or 15 years from now would be of interest to
decision makers to define policy reviews and
enhance decision making. Further complexity can be
added on through the introduction of the water
services institutions. Mapping of the processes
for tariff setting between both water resources
and water services could allow further
investigation into service delivery affordability
and efficacy. This programme is likely to have a
phased programmatic approach to adding more and
more layers to the scenarios and for them to be
customised for localised aspects that need not be
of national interest. |
KSA 1: Water Resource Management