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Chapter 1: Water Reprehenderit Resources
The Ecological Reserve: the quantity and quality of water required to protect
aquatic ecosystems in order to secure ecologically sustainable development and
the use of the relevant water resource (National Water Act, 1998).
Water Source Areas (WSAs) – where our water comes from
South Africa’s WSAs can be grouped into 21 areas (see Figure 1.2 on pages 10 & 11).
The dominant land cover within the WSAs is natural vegetation, often because slope
and altitude have prevented more intense development.
16%
OF SOUTH AFRICA’S
WATER SOURCE AREAS
ARE PROTECTED
The overlap of coal deposits and WSAs is less than 1%, but it is nevertheless
significant in WSAs such as the Enkangala Drakensberg and the Mfolozi headwaters
(the upper tributaries, close to or forming part of its source) where 30% of these
water source areas overlap with coalfields. An added concern is that more than 50%
of Mpumalanga is under either a prospecting or mining licence for coal. This could
result in widespread acid mine drainage pollution.
What should be raising a national red flag is that these areas need to be secured and
well-managed for South Africa’s long term water security. Only 16% of South Africa’s
Water Source Areas (WSAs) are formally protected as nature reserves or parks. The
highest protection is found in the Western Cape. WSAs in the Eastern Cape have very
low or no protection.
LAND COVER IN WATER SOURCE AREAS
63%
NATURAL
VEGETATION
28%
FARMING AND
FORESTRY
3%
DEGRADED LAND
1%
MINING FOR
FOSSIL FUEL
Groundwater
resources will play
an increasingly
strategic role in
Africa
The water security challenge
Understanding and unlocking South Africa’s groundwater potential is crucial
to addressing the national water security challenges. Currently only 15% of the
country’s total water consumption is obtained from groundwater sources. Very often
the communities that depend on groundwater have no other viable sources. In 2008,
the African Ministers Council on Water highlighted that groundwater resources
will have to play an increasingly strategic role in Africa, particularly for the most
vulnerable and neglected rural communities.
Water Facts & Futures: Rethinking South Africa’s Water Future | Page
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