Pressures affecting freshwater systems and resources
in South Africa: # 3

Previous legislation and policy: 

Hydrological and pollution pressures on water resources (see Pressure 2) have, in the past, been exacerbated by legislation and policy.

Hydrological pressures: 

Development of the country's water resources to ensure a constant and adequate supply of water was the dominant policy pressure from the 1950s to the 1980s (DWAF, 1986). This led to the regulation of South Africa's rivers through dams and inter-basin transfers (see Impact for impacts).

For many years, water was considered a plentiful and free resource. It was available to commercial farmers for free and other users paid nominal amounts. Because of this, there has been no ethic of conservation or economic value of water instilled into the population. Only those people not supplied with reticulated water, due to inequitable distribution, appreciated the true value of the resource.

Pollution pressure: 

In terms of pollutants, the Water Act (Act 54 of 1956), required that treated effluent be returned to the stream or water course from which it came. Additionally, for almost 40 years, South Africa subscribed to the policy of managing water quality through setting effluent standards, rather than the receiving water quality objectives (see Response).

Thus, even though industries adhered to the standards required, the quality of receiving water bodies deteriorated (see Figures 3.17, 3.18, 3.19).

Figure 3.17 Total dissolved solids concentrations
Figure 3.18 Nitrate concentrations	Figure 3.19 Phosphorus concentrations

Land use change: 

A major pressure impacting water resources in South Africa is land use change see Terrestrial Ecosystems

>     Freshwater: State

There is also information about Freshwater Systems and Resources in the following reports:
Metropolitan reports:
	Cape Metropolitan Council (1998 edition)		Durban Pilot Study
	Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (1999 edition)		Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council (1999 edition)