Have a say on your water

The South African water act enshrines public participation in the management of its water resources. It has done this by decentralising water management and decision making right down to the local level – the level of water users on the ground. The Department of Water and Sanitation realises that in order to manage all South Africa's different catchments (area that captures and drains water), we need to understand what is going on at a local level and involveeveryone in the process. This has led to a new integrated way of managing water resources. 

 

In order to manage water in a way that is equitable, sustainable and efficient the country has been divided into 9 Water Management Areas (WMAs). Management of water resources in each WMA is the responsibility of a Catchment Management Agency (CMA). A CMA relies on numerous Catchment Management Forums as the interface between the CMA and water stakeholders. So CMFs are essentially the building blocks of CMAs and function as, among other things, a legitimate vehicle for communication of water user needs and contributions to the CMA. 

 

The Upper Kowie CMF provides the opportunity to: 

• discuss water problems and opportunities and feed these into the CMA for action,
• interact with a spectrum of water stakeholders,
• ensure that the vision and objectives of the water management in the area are inclusive. 
• enable stakeholder engagement and capacity building in the CMF, which ensures that alternative options are considered, 
• assist in data gathering and gap identification, 
• promote transparency for co-operation and support of decisions, 
• promote accountability and implementation, 
• and familiarise stakeholders of trade-offs in attaining sustainability.

The CMF will be supported by the Department of Water and Sanitation and the CMA, but should ultimately be run and owned by the stakeholder participants.

 

Dear water stakeholder

You are cordially invited to the Upper Kowie River Water, Sanitation and Catchment Management Forum which will be held on the 4th of October 2016 at 15:00, City Hall. 

The purpose of the meeting is to establish the Forum and elect a Committee. Please find attached the invitation, minutes of the previous meeting and the new draft Terms of

Reference which were combined from the Water & Sanitation and Catchment Management ToR’s.  

Here's your invitation:

Participants are encouraged to invite water stakeholders, anyone whom has an interest in the management of water in Makana, or simply has an interest in catchment care and protection. 

To read the minutes from the previous forum meeting go to http://bit.ly/GrocCMF1.

For terms of reference see below.

For further inquiries please contact the Makana Local Municipality Communications Officer Yoliswa Ramakolo yramokolo@makana.gov.za, or Matthew Weaver at the Institute for Water Research, mjtweaver@gmail.com.

Your presence and participation will be highly appreciated.