The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry are currently introducing a charge for Water Resource Management as part of the implementation of the raw water Pricing Strategy.

The main reason behind the new Water Resources Management Charges is to recover the cost of water resource management in each water management area ("WMA") in the country. A WMA is an area which includes one or more catchment areas. There are presently 19 in South Africa. South Africa is a water scarce country and water demand exceeds available water in the eleven water management areas. In order to ensure an equitable and sustainable water supply to all, the water resources must be carefully managed.

The charge, which was first set out in the Raw Water Pricing Strategy, gazetted in October 1999, is payable by all water users who use quantities of water from the country's water resources for irrigation, mining, industry, municipal purposes and for commercial afforestation, excluding those defined in the National Water Act as Schedule 1 users (ie the permissible use of water without a licence, for example using water to which one has legal access for reasonable domestic use) .

This charge is additional to other charges which many water users have been paying over the years.

The other charges are:

• the Consumptive Charge which is only applicable to users receiving water from government water schemes,
• the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority ("TCTA") charge which is only applicable to users dependent on water from the Vaal river system, and
• the Water Research Levy, applicable to users receiving water from government water schemes, water services providers, such as municipalities, and water user associations ("WUAs"), including similar institutions not as yet transformed into WUAs such as irrigation boards and subterranean water control boards.

Industrial and municipal users are being billed monthly for their water use, while the irrigation farmers and forest growers will be billed every 6 months. The invoices to the former groups have already been sent out for the first number of months and the first invoices to irrigation farmers were sent in December 2002 and those to forest growers in January 2003.

The water resource management charge varies from WMA to WMA and also for the type of water use. For the 2002/03 financial year, the charge varies from 0.2 to 3.7 cents per cubic metre.

For more information, please see http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Projects/WRMCharges/

Extention for Public Comment on the draft Radioactive Waste Management Policy and Strategy

The Minister of Minerals and Energy has announced the extension of the closing date for public consultation on the draft Radioactive Waste Management Policy and Strategy for South Africa. The deadline for public comment has been extended to 31 December 2003 to allow stakeholders more time to study the draft Radioactive Waste Management Policy and Strategy so as to enable them to comment meaningfully on the document.

All interested parties are invited direct their written comments to:

for attention Dr S de Waal
Director Nuclear Safety
tel: (012) 317 9282
fax: (012) 317 9539 or
e-mail sdw@mepta.pwv.gov.za.

The Director-General,
Department of Minerals and Energy
Private Bag X59
Pretoria
0001

Please do not hesitate to contact Morne Viljoen of our offices if you require any advice or assistance in drafting comments on the draft Radioactive Waste Management Policy and Strategy for South Africa.

Launch of Air Pollution Monitoring Station

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism ("DEAT"), will launch an Air Pollution Monitoring Station in Bellville South, one of the Cape's most active industrial areas. Data acquired using the Air Pollution Monitoring Station will help identify emissions from industry in the area and the patterns thereof. The data will be captured on a 24-hour basis, throughout the whole year and presented to the Interested and Affected Parties (IAP) and stakeholders and will be available daily on the City of Cape Town's website. According to DEAT this is crucial for ensuring that industry is accountable for its emissions status.

Brought to you by:

The Environment, Mining, Energy and Natural Resources practice area at Bowman Gilfillan.

Bowman Gilfillan provides the Newsflash service to assist our clients to keep up to date and informed of changes to policy and the law in the environmental and mining fields.

This Newsflash is not intended to supplement or amend your environmental legal register. We have presented information regarding changes to policy and the law which may be of interest to you.

Contact Claire Tucker, head of the practice area for more information.

Tel: + 27 (11) 669-9402
Fax: + 27 (11) 669-9001
e-mail: c.tucker@bowman.co.za
or visit www.bowman.co.za