The ins and outs of water-use regulations and legislation: Part 3

In continuation of our series on water use in South Africa, Integrated Water Use License Application Management goes into more detail about what farmers must do to apply for a water-use licence.

The water-use-licence application process in South Africa is complicated and often confusing. In this article, Johan Enslin and SJ Jansen van Rensburg, directors of Integrated Water Use License Application Management (IWULA), explain what farmers need to do to apply for such licences, and how IWULA can help.

WHERE IT ALL STARTS 

A farmer will usually approach IWULA for assistance with applying for a water-use licence. We start by collecting background information in order to identify the farm’s type of water-use activities as they pertain to Section 21 of the National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998). At the same time, we determine the application components required so that we can work out a budget for the applicant.

We also conduct a regulatory assessment of the farmer’s water uses and advise him or her on the legal aspects and processes that must be followed.

In this regard, we use a series of general authorisation regulations for Section 21 water uses, published in the Government Gazette, as a benchmark for managing the client’s application.

PRE-APPLICATION CONSULTATION

Once we have established the farmer’s Section 21 water uses, a pre-application consultation discussion is held with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). This can be done over the phone, virtually, by email, or on site. The purpose of this consultation is to confirm the Section 21 water uses on the farm and, more importantly, to determine which specialist investigation requirements, if any, are needed.

Only once this is done can we obtain quotations for the investigations.