8.6 Water Resource Management Environment

In South Africa, key players in water resource management and supply need to work together. On the national level, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is the overall custodian and regulator of water resources. On a regional level, Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) undertake devolved management on behalf of national government at a regional (catchment) level and place water resource management into more manageable units. Implementation of CMAs has been challenging and has happened only in a few parts of the country so far because catchments are not natural political units.

Since 2000, municipalities have been given new responsibilities as water services providers and water services authorities. For example, Bitou Local Municipality, falls within Eden District Municipality, but is both the water services provider and water services authority for the Greater Plettenberg Bay area. Municipalities are expected to report to and be supported by the CMAs. Figure 45 summarizes the new water resource management framework.

Figure 45 – Institutional framework for (ground)water management (Murray, 2007).