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| National Toxicity
Monitoring Programme : |
| The National Water
Act specifically mandates the Minister of Water
Affairs and Forestry to establish national monitoring
systems that monitor, record, assess and disseminate
information on water resources. To comply with this
requirement of the Act and with Chapter 3 of the
National Water Resources Strategy, DWAF is developing
and implementing a series of national water quality
monitoring programmes. |
| In 2004, the programme entered Phase 2
- Monitoring Systems Design and Development of an
Implementation Plan. |
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| Objectives |
To measure, assess and regularly report on
the status and trends of the nature and extent of,
- potentially toxic substances in South
African water resources (watercourses, groundwaters and
estuaries)
- the potential for toxic effects to
selected organisms
in a manner that will support strategic management
decisions in the context of fitness for use of those
water resources, be mindful of financial and capacity
constraints, yet, be soundly scientific.
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| Terminology |
- Toxicants are chemical
pollutants capable of exhibiting a toxic
effect.
- A toxic effect manifests as an
impairment of the activity of an organism or cellular or
sub-cellular system.
- Target organisms potentially
include humans, other mammals, fish, invertebrates and
plants.
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