Progress with Water Allocation Reform in South Africa - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 363

of the National Water Act. Water use may refer to use of either the surface or
groundwater resource. All of these uses of water form part of the process of water use
allocation and, therefore, part of the programme.
Much of the thinking with respect to allocation planning and compulsory licensing (a
specific intervention in which water allocation plans are developed and licenses for water
use issued on a catchment-wide scale) has focused on the consumptive use of water, and
primarily on water for irrigation. However, other uses of the water resource are included
as well. In particular, these include the challenges concerning reallocation of licenses for
water used to carry waste.
The WAR programme prescribes the most beneficial use of water, which, unless
demonstrated, could result in the reallocation of water between inefficient and
unproductive users and sectors to more productive ones. WAR, and the methodologies
developed by the programme, attempts to give effect to the goal of “beneficial use in the
public interest” and preaches the slogans “more crop/rands/jobs per drop” of water used.
The current emphasis on consumptive use of water by irrigated agriculture is that use
by this sector accounts for approximately 62 per cent of the water use in South Africa.
Although irrigated agriculture makes a relatively small contribution to South Africa's
gross domestic product (primary agriculture: 4%), it provides socioeconomic stability to
rural society (DWAF, 2004). Much of the socioeconomic stability provided by agriculture
in rural areas comes from providing employment to rural communities. National
employment in agriculture is 11 per cent, and of this only 10-15 per cent is in irrigated
agriculture. However, agriculture provides much of the country's food security. Market
gardening initiatives are one of the most viable ways of securing a better life for the rural
poor.
Currently, irrigation water is still primarily in the hands of a few white farmers.
Clearly, this pattern must shift. Many of the existing irrigation water users feel
disenfranchised by the new dispensation and may not willingly cooperate with the
reallocation process, which may slow down reallocation. Willing cooperation from this
sector is also important to ensure adequate cost recovery for water use, and will be critical
to the sustainability of future catchment management agencies. The manner in which the
programme will engage these existing water users, and the way it shifts water use
patterns, is therefore critical to successful water use reform and for maintaining economic
growth and investor confidence.
Current water use patterns in South Africa show not only a racial bias, but also a
gender bias. Even though in many rural households women are the primary decision-
makers and have the responsibility for raising crops to feed the family, land ownership is
often in the hands of the male members of the household. Gender inequality may
therefore be further entrenched by linking water use to property rights over land. The
water reform process must recognise and correct these gender inequities in water use.
The National Water Resources Strategy (NWRS)
The first edition of the NWRS (DWAF, 2004), which outlines South Africa's current
and future water situation and outlines reconciliation interventions to balance water
availability with water requirements, was formally approved in September 2004.