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 Water
quality is a term used to describe the chemical, physical, and biological
characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for an
intended purpose. These characteristics are controlled of influenced by
substances, which are either dissolved or suspended in water.
Although scientific measurements are used to define the quality of water,
it's not a simple thing to say that " this water is good ,"
or " this water is bad ". The quality of water that is required
to wash a car is not the same quality that is required for drinking water.
Therefore, when we speak of water quality, we usually want to know if
the water is good enough for its intended use, be it for domestic, farming,
mining or industrial purposes, or its suitability to maintain a healthy
ecosystem.
 Water
quality is changed and affected by both natural processes and human activities.
Generally natural water quality varies from place to place, depending
on seasonal changes, climatic changes and with the types of soils, rocks
and surfaces through which it moves. A variety of human activities e.g.
agricultural activities, urban and industrial development, mining and
recreation, potentially significantly alter the quality of natural waters,
and changes the water use potential. The key to sustainable water resources
is, therefore to ensure that the quality of water resources are suitable
for their intended uses, while at the same allowing them to be used and
developed to a certain extent. Effective management is the tool through
which this is achieved. Water quality management, therefore involves the
maintenance of the fitness for use of water resources on a sustained basis,
by achieving a balance between socio-economic development and environmental
protection. From a regulatory point of view the "business" of
water quality management entails the ongoing process of planning, development,
implementation and administration of water quality management policy,
the authorisation of water uses that may have, or may potentially have,
an impact on water quality, as well as the monitoring and auditing of
the aforementioned.
 The
effects of polluted water
on human health, on the aquatic ecosystem (aquatic biota, and in-stream
and riparian habitats) and on various sectors of the economy, including
agriculture, industry and recreation, can be disastrous. Deteriorating
water quality leads to increased treatment costs of potable and industrial
process water, and decreased agricultural yields due to increased salinity
of irrigation water. On the other hand not all health, productivity and
ecological problems associated with deteriorating water quality are ascribed
to man's activities. Many water quality related problems are inherent
in the geological characteristics of the source area. The occurrence,
transport and fate in the aquatic environment of numerous persistent and
toxic metals and organic compounds (e.g. pesticides) have given cause
for serious concern. Contamination of groundwater resources, or of sediments
deposited in riverbeds, impoundment's and estuaries by toxic and persistent
compounds can cause irreversible pollution, sometimes long after the original
release to the environment has ceased.
Salination
A persistent water quality problem is salination, which has two major
causes, natural and anthropogenic. The origin of natural salination of
river water is geological. Man-made causes are multiple. A wide variety
of man's activities are associated with increased releases of salts, some
in the short and others in the long term. Immediate increases in salt
concentrations result from point sources of pollution, such as the discharging
of water containing waste by industries. Diffuse pollution, resulting
inter alia from poorly managed urban settlements, waste
disposal on land and mine residue deposits pose even a bigger
problem, as it impacts over a larger area on the water resource. The effect
of diffuse pollution on groundwater is also often problematic in terms
of remediation.
Eutrophication
Another major water quality problem is eutrophication which is the enrichment
of water with the plant nutrients nitrate and phosphate. These encourages
the growth of microscopic green plants termed algae. As nutrients are
present in sewage effluent, the problem is accentuated wherever there
is a concentration of humans or animals. The algae cause problems in water
purification, e.g. undesirable tastes and odours, and the possible production
of trihalomethanes or other potentially carcinogenic products in water
that is treated with chlorine for potable purposes.
Micro-pollutants
A water quality issue which is receiving increasing attention among industrialised
nations, is pollution by metals and man-made organic compounds, such as
pesticides. Serious incidents of health impacts to man and animals have
occurred at places throughout the world through uncontrolled exposure
to these micro-pollutants. Pollution of this type tends to be highly localised
and associated with specific industries or activities. Mining activities
often expose pyrite containing rock formations to air and water to produce
acid rock drainage. Due to the low pH of acid rock drainage heavy metals
are mobilised. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has recently
established a water pollution control works in the Brugspruit
catchment, at huge cost, to treat acid rock drainage emanating
from abandoned coal mines.
Microbiological pollutants
Water contamination by fecal matter is the medium for the spread of diseases
such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid.
Erosion and sedimentation
Average sediment yields for South African catchments range from less than
10 to more than 1 000 tonnes/km2/annum. In some parts of the country erosion
has increased by as much as tenfold as a result of human impacts. Apart
from the loss of fertile agricultural soil, off-site damage like loss
of valuable reservoir storage, sediment damage during floods and increased
water treatment costs, have been largely ignored even though these are
estimated to be in excess of R 100 million per year.
Water Resource Management, including water quality management, is an
exclusive National competency. As such, water quality management is the
responsibility of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, and the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry's Water Quality Management function,
which consists of the-
- Department's Directorate Water Quality Management, which provides
policy development, capacity building, specialist support, authorization
and audit services at a strategic level;
- Department's nine Regional Offices, which provide policy implementation,
operation, control and monitoring services at an operational level;
and
- Department's Institute for Water Quality Studies, which provides
a scientific support service.
The capacity of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry's Water
Quality Management Function will be extended with the establishment of
Water Management Institutions, such as the establishment of Catchment
Management Agencies within the water management areas of South Africa.
Due to the extent and multiplicity of the management functions associated
with water quality management, it is no longer considered to be the sole
obligation of a single authority, but is now becoming the responsibility
of all levels of the community, including industry, local government as
well as individual water users. The most effective "vehicle"
for facilitating participatory management, is the Catchment Forum. Through
such forums, the public can also be involved in water quality management.
 Being the public trustee
of the Nation's water resources, the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry
and his Department, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, has
to manage South Africa's water resources to ensure continued adequate
water supplies of acceptable quality to all recognised users. From a water
quality management point of view these recognised users consist of, five
water user sectors; these being the domestic, agricultural, industrial
and recreational water user sectors , as well as the aquatic ecosystem,
also constituting the water resource base.
Water quality management is governed and/ or influenced by a hierarchical
suite of environmental legislation, which ranges from-
- South Africa's water resource management related international
obligations, of which Agenda 21 is a prominent example;
- to the Constitution, 1996 (Act No.108 of 1996), constituting
the supreme law of the Country and guaranteeing the rights of all
people in South Africa;
- to framework environmental legislation, such as the National
Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No.107 of 1998) [NEMA
107:1998], which had principally been promulgated to enact Sections
24, (environmental rights) and 41 (containing provisions on co-operative
governance) of the Constitution;
- through to sectoral environmental legislation, of which the National
Water Act, 1998 (Act No.36 of 1998) [NWA 36:1998] is the most
prominent example.
 South
Africa started experiencing environmental pollution problems during the
first half of the 19th century, with the development of towns and industries
and associated accumulation of wastes in built-up areas. Initially, control
of water pollution in South Africa focussed on the development of acceptable
sewage disposal methods. Water quality management, however, dates from
the promulgation of the Public Health Act of the Union of South Africa,
1919 (Act No.36 of 1919). This Act gave the Chief Health Officer of the
Public Health Department the responsibility of controlling pollution by
ensuring that the "best known or the only or the most practical methods"
for sewage disposal were being used. This allowed the Chief Health Officer
to prevent effluent from sewage treatment works from being discharged
into water courses. It was a requirement that sewage or sewage effluent
had to be disposed on land.
 In
moving from the pre-1950 to the post-1950 era, South Africa underwent
a change from an agriculturally based economy to one in which industry
and mining played a major role. These changes coincided with the evolution
from its early beginnings as the Department of Irrigation to the present-day
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. The next major milestone was
the promulgation of the Water Act, 1956 (Act No.54 of 1956). The 1956
Water Act aimed at the control of industrial use of water and the treatment
and disposal of effluent. By 1956 it was becoming apparent that reconciling
water supply with water demand would be increasingly difficult and that
re-use of effluent would have to play a major role in the management of
the country's scarce water resources. After 1956 the earlier requirement
of the health authorities that prohibited the disposal of effluent to
natural water courses had to fall away. The 1956 Act, in fact required
that all effluent be returned to the water body from which the water was
originally abstracted. Later amendments, notably the Water Amendment Act,
1984 (Act No.96 of 1984) broadened water quality management, and the uniform
effluent standards, the General and Special Standards and the Special
Standards for Phosphate, were made. The uniform effluent standards approach,
however, did not cater for variable circumstances, such as those associated
with seasonal changes, or with the different natural and/ or and anthropogenic
conditions associated with different catchments.
In order to ensure fitness for use of the country's water resources,
the users' requirements had to be brought into consideration. This principle
resulted in the Receiving Water Quality Objectives (RWQO) approach, which
essentially dictates the nature and extent of Source Directed Controls
(SDCs) that are required within a catchment context. The South African
Water Quality Guidelines, which constitute the primary reference when
determining the water quality requirements of water users, were produced
as part of the RWQO approach. The water quality requirements of the aquatic
ecosystem form part of these.
 With
the signing into law of the current Act, the NWA 36:1998, in August 1998,
the RWQO approach was broadened, introducing the concepts of Resource
Quality and Resource Quality Objectives (RQOs). Resource Quality means
the quality of all the aspects of the water resource, which includes water
quality, water quantity, as well as the aquatic ecosystem quality (quality
of the aquatic biota and in-stream and riparian habitat). RQOs are regarded
as a Resource Directed Measure (RDM), which are aimed at the requirements
of the water resource. Inherent to this approach, are SDCs that must be
established in order to ensure that the requirements that were set during
the RDM process, are not violated. The RQOs approach embodies an approach
that strives towards a sustainable balance between protection, on the
one side, and water use and development, on the other side.
 Sustainability,
equity and efficiency are recognised as the central guiding principles
in the protection, use, development, conservation, management and control
of water resources. These guiding principles are inherent to the management
of water quality. Water resources must therefore be judiciously managed
and equitably shared by all water users in the most optional manner. In
water quality management, sustainability means that the protection of
water resources must be balanced with its development and use. This "balance"
is attained through a process of resource classification, the determination
of an associated Reserve and the determination of Resource Quality Objectives.
Resource Quality Objectives, inter alia, stipulate in-stream water quality
objectives aimed at meeting the water quality requirements of the five
water user sectors, and are aimed at ensuring fitness for use of South
Africa's surface water, groundwater and coastal estuaries. The concepts
of Resource Quality Objectives and Resource Quality that were introduced
by the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998), necessitate that
water quality management, now, also takes responsibility for the management
of the aquatic ecosystem quality (in-stream and riparian habitat, and
aquatic biota quality).
 The
following prominent principles form the basis of water quality management
policies and practices in South Africa.
- The management of water quality must be carried out in an integrated
and holistic manner, acknowledging that all elements of the environment
are interrelated.
- Decision-making must ensure that the best practicable environmental
option is adopted by taking account of all aspects of the environment
including all the people in the environment.
- The precautionary approach to water quality management applies,
in which active measures are taken to avert or minimise potential
risk of undesirable impacts on the environment.
- In general the principle of Polluter Pays, applies. In accordance
with this principle, the cost of remedying pollution, degradation
of resource quality and consequent adverse health effects, and of
preventing, minimising or controlling pollution, is the responsibility
of the polluter.
- Participative management in the management of water quality must
be advocated, ensuring that all interested and affected parties, and
previously disadvantaged persons have an equal opportunity to participate.
- Transparency and openness must underlie all decision-making processes,
and all information must be made accessible in accordance with the
law.
Water quality management, in South Africa, has evolved from a pollution
control approach, which essentially concentrated on source directed management
measures, to the current approach where water quality management consists
of an integrated source, remediation and resource directed management
approach which recognises the receiving water users', as well as the aquatic
ecosystem's water quality requirements. This water quality management
approach is actualised through a combination of measures and arrangements
provided for in the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998); these
provisions including:
- The protection of water resources;
- the establishment of Water Management Strategies and Water Management
Institutions;
- the licensing of water use. (Which includes the licensing of discharges
through coastal marine out-fall pipelines to the marine environment);
- the implementation of a National Pricing Strategy containing a system
of Waste Discharge Charges; and
- the establishment of a National monitoring system and a National
information system.
Resource directed water quality management
In order to counter the continuing deterioration of water quality and
to meet the challenges of the future, the Department of Water Affairs
and Forestry has adopted a Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach,
consisting of a Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach for non-hazardous
substances and a Pollution Minimisation and Prevention approach for hazardous
substances.
 The
Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach for non-hazardous substances
accepts that the receiving water environment has a certain, usually quantifiable,
capacity to assimilate waste without serious detriment to the quality
requirements of its recognised users. However, if applied without the
necessary precaution, the Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach
for non-hazardous substances will inevitably lead to the deterioration
of water resources to the point where they will be less fit for use by
the recognised water user sectors. To counter the limitations of this
approach, a precautionary approach was accepted to avert danger and minimise
uncertainty and potential risk of undesirable impacts on the environment.
For those wastes that are hazardous and a threat to the environment due
of their toxicity, persistence and extent of bio-accumulation, a precautionary
approach aimed at minimising or preventing their entry into the water
environment, was adopted.
Hierarchy of water quality management decision-taking
Decisions in regard to water quality
management are made in terms of a hierarchy of principles, which is specifically
aimed at marrying the protection, and use and development of water resources.
The hierarchy of decision-taking is as follows:
Source directed water quality management
Without efficient and effective source directed
controls, the water quality objectives set through resource directed water
quality management will, in most cases, not be met. Prior to authorising
a license application for a wateruse
that may potentially impact on water quality, the applicant must
conduct an impact assessment. Such an impact assessment has to demonstrate
that the source directed controls proposed, are sufficient to ensure that
the water resource remain fit for use by the recognised water user sectors,
in accordance with the Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach. Impact
assessments must also consider the cumulative effects of actions that
in itself may not be significant, but may be significant when added to
the impact of other similar actions.
The basic geographical unit of water quality management is the catchment.
Water quality management at a catchment scale must integrate land use
effects with the physical characteristics of the catchment, and with external
factors, such as economics, to manage water quality. Many of these factors
have boundaries that are different from the catchment boundaries. Therefore,
successful water quality management relies on the integration of these
diverse factors into a holistic management system. The aim is continuous
improvement of water quality management over time.
Water quality catchment assessment studies
 A
catchment assessment study entails the assessment of the entire catchment,
in which the natural environment and all human activities and impacts
on the water resources are investigated. The current status of physical
environment, the hydrology, the land-use activities, the demands and the
various impacts, impacting on water resources are determined during the
study. In addition, to the investigation of prevailing conditions, future
developments as well as projected growth and the increase in impacts on
the water resources within the catchment are determined. In this way management
options that best suit the specific catchment can be developed to ensure
sustainable development. Catchment assessment studies contribute to the
process of integrated water resources management. The catchment assessment
study process requires the engagement and participation of the various
stakeholders and institutions in the area, who are interested in water
quality, or affected by water quality and the way it might be managed.
It follows that one of the best ways of understanding water quality issues
in catchments is by engaging the people and institutions who perceive
them, or who are affected by them. Such involvement is very often gained
through the use of Catchment Forums, which are participatory bodies representing
the interests and needs of the stakeholders.
Water quality component of the Catchment Management
Strategy
 The
Catchment Management Strategy (CMS) is a framework strategy for managing
water resources within a water management area (WMA) that takes into account
all matters relevant to the protection, use, development, conservation,
management and control of water resources; and at the same time promotes
integrated water resources management. In terms of the National Water
Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998), a CMS must be established for each of
the nineteen WMAs in accordance with the requirements of the National
Water Resources Strategy (NWRS). The CMS pulls together the water quality,
water quantity and aquatic ecosystem components of the water resource
into a coherent management approach that aims to secure the beneficial,
equitable and sustainable use of water resources. However, while it is
important to integrate the management of these, the complexities of the
water environment usually demand that they managed somewhat independently
at the catchment level. With respect to the water quality component of
the CMS, the framework for management is based on identifying the stakeholders'
needs with respect to use of the water resource over and above the requirements
necessary for protection, basic human needs and strategic important uses.
This framework comprises the following:
- establishment of resource water quality objectives for use of the
resource, based on the needs of the stakeholders;
- determination of source management objectives to meet these needs;
- formulation of sectoral water quality management plan indicating
the management requirements and responsibilities to achieve these
objectives;
- development of single source and sector specific water quality management
plans to give effect to this framework, and the
- introduction of single source interventions e.g. water use licenses
to ensure that resource water quality objectives are met.
Before the framework of the CMS can be developed a catchment assessment
study (CAS) is required, as the CAS provides the input information requirements
for the CMS. The CAS provides an information and knowledge system suitable
for support of development of a CMS, to sustain implementation of a CMS
for the catchment and to support source specific management interventions.
Essentially, water quality management employs a combination of the four
environmental management instruments, viz.: the regulatory, market-based,
self-regulatory and civil management instruments.
Regulatory management instruments
 Water use, and impacts
on water quality are regulated through a range of authorisations, which
are either being directly managed by the Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry, or in co-operation with other government departments, e.g.:
- Licensing of water use that may have, or may potentially have an
impact on water quality in terms of Section 40 of the National Water
Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998);
- issuing of disposal site permits in term of Section 20 of the Environment
Conservation Act, 1989 (Act No. 73 of 1989);
- recommendation for approval of Environmental Management Programs
(EMPs) in terms of Section 39 of the Minerals Act, 1991 (Act No. 50
of 1991) to the Department of Minerals and Energy; and
- recommendation for approval of Environmental Impact Assessments
(EIAs) in terms of Sections 21, 26 and 28 of the Environment Conservation
Act, 1989 (Act No. 73 of 1989) to the Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism.
Market-based management instruments
In water quality management the Pricing Strategy, which includes a system
of waste discharge charges, makes provision for certain incentives which
has as its aim-
- the introduction of new technologies or management practices;
- the conservation and the economically efficient allocation of scarce
water resources;
- the removal of elements of waste streams
Self-regulatory management instruments
 The ISO 14000 series of
environmental standards provides a range of self-regulatory management
instruments, which can be utilised by industry to improve their environmental
performance. The only component of the ISO 14000 series of environmental
standards that is required for certification at the moment, is ISO 14001.
Before an organisation can obtain ISO 14001 certification, it must, amongst
others, have considered all legal requirements. In promoting ISO 14001
certification, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry will be able
to extend its water quality management capacity.
Civil management instruments
 The
National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998) requires where appropriate
the delegation of management functions to a regional or catchment level
so as to enable everyone to participate. The importance of public participation
is further emphasised by the National Environmental Management Act, 1998
(Act 108 of 108) which lays down the principle of transparent and participative
management for co-operative environmental management. A consequence of
this decentralisation of decision-making requires the establishment of
catchment based institutions such as Water User Associations and Catchment
Management Agencies to ensure public participation. Within water quality
management, catchment forums have provided an ideal mechanism to facilitate
the involvement of stakeholders in decisions affecting their water quality.
Catchment forums serve as suitable platforms for efficient and coherent
participation of stakeholders with diverse interests.
 Co-operative
Governance and participative management is central to the Department of
Water Affairs and Forestry's water quality management approach, and provides
for integration across a number of dimensions. In its management of water
quality, the Department advocates the principle of participative management
by involving other government departments and local interested and affected
parties in decisions affecting the use, development and protection of
water resources. By means of such integration the socio-economic needs
and that of the environment are accounted for, allowing for sound and
holistic decision making that ensures minimal impact on water quality.
Such co-operative environmental governance is facilitated by means of
catchment forums, which serve as institutionalised mechanisms to involve
stakeholders in decisions about water resources management.
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