ABOUT US
The main objective of the Chief Directorate: Resource Directed Measures (RDM) is to ensure protection of water resources, as described in Chapter 3 [PDF
- 35KB] of the South African National Water Act - 1998 (No. 36 of 1998) [PDF
- 774KB] and other related water management legislation and policies. The role of RDM is to provide a framework to ensure sustainable utilization of water resources to meet ecological, social and economic objectives and to audit the state of South Africa’s water resources against these objectives. In particular this unit is responsible for:
- Developing policies, strategies, systems, methodologies and guidelines for
resource directed measures (RDM), particularly the Reserve determination, water
resources classification and specification of associated resource quality
objectives (RQO).
- Determining (and updating) the Reserve in significant water resources.
- Prioritisation, piloting and coordination of RDM implementation.
- Capacity building and technical support for RDM implementation.
- Developing indicators and assessing the state of the nation’s water resources.
- Auditing implementation of RDM and resource quality against the Resource Quality
Objectives and the Reserve.
The Chief Director: RDM reports directly to the Policy & Regulation Branch
Manager of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. This reflecting the
importance of the output from this group and the need for independence from
groups focused on water resources development and utilisation.
Structure
The Chief Directorate comprises the following directorates:

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