Abstract
M.A.
That South Africa is experiencing a water management crisis, is a fact that cannot be ignored. Although water supply departments and agencies are doing their best under the complex and demanding circumstances and have many examples of successful water projects to show for their efforts, inefficiency, unfairness and unsustainability still characterise much of the use and management of water and resources. This makes satisfying society's growing demand for reliable and legitimate water allocation extremely difficult. Groundwater is usually regarded by consumers as "private" water to be used
as they please. Excessive use by such consumers of a borehole may lower the water table and reduce the amount of useable water for other consumers dependant on the same source. Some farms of land use, utilising a larger portion of available rainfall, for example commercial forestry in mountainous areas, reduce runoff into streams lower down, hampering the development potential of downstream areas. Other activities such as agriculture, mining and domestic uses, lower the quality of surface and underground water, making it unsuitable for use. Being such a scarce commodity, water should
be used in the most efficient and beneficial way possible for every one in South Africa. In essence this means that all water used must be priced in accordance with its real economic value. The Water Act of 1998 is clearly based on an economic approach to bulk
water tariffs. This means allocating water with the aid of water usage rights which are well defined, legitimate and non-discriminatory. The new water Act proposes a water licensing and pricing policy to achieve this goal. In striving for the economic goal, the ideal of sustainability of water management for future generations will become a reality. This study discusses the shortcomings of the previous water legislation as well as the replacement thereof with a more equitable and accessible water act. The study also contains comments on the possible shortcomings with the feasibility of some of the provisions of the new act, such as a conflict of interest that may develop, as well as possible preventive measures that should currently be undertaken to try and eliminate future problems.