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THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER RESOURCES
CLASSIFICATION
SYSTEM AND DETERMINATION OF THE RESOURCE
QUALITY OBJECTIVES FOR THE SIGNIFICANT WATER
RESOURCES IN THE LETABA CATCHMENT (WP 10640)
BRIEFING SESSION
Date: 20 March 2012
Time: 10:00
Venue: Sedibeng 640
PRESENTATION STRUCTURE
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Purpose
Objectives of the Project
Legal Mandate
Water Resource Classification System
(WRCS) regulation
Classification and Resource Quality
Objectives (RQOs) process in the Letaba
Catchment
PURPOSE
 To provide background to the determination of the
Management Class (MC) and the RQOs in the Letaba
catchment.
 To provide a brief overview of the Water Resources
Classification System (WRCS) and Procedures to
develop Resource Quality Objectives (RQOs)
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
 The main aim of this study is to co-ordinate the
implementation of the WRCS (7 step process) in
order to determine a suitable MC for the relevant
water resources; and
 To determine RQOs using the Departmental
Procedures to Develop and Implement RQOs.
LEGAL MANDATE
• The classification of South African water resources is
required by the National Water Act (NWA) (No. 36 of
1998) (Chapter 3 regarding the protection of water
resources)
• Regulation 810 published in Government Gazette No.
33541 dated 17 September 2010 defined water resource
management classes and the procedure to determine a
management class and RQOs.
• According to the NWA, once the WRCS has been
gazetted all significant water resources must be
classified and RQOs be determined.
THE WATER RESOURCE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
• The WRCS places water resources into different
categories referred to as Management Class.
• The WRCS is a set of guidelines and procedures for
determining the MCs of water resources.
• MC facilitates the balance between protection and use of
the water resources.
• MC describes the desired condition of the water
resource and the extent to which it can be utilized.
• The process requires cooperation & transparency with all
stakeholders.
MANAGEMENT CLASSES DEFINITIONS
Three classes:
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Class I
minimally used - The Configuration of ecological categories of the water
resources within a catchment results in an overall water resource condition that is
minimally altered from its pre-development condition.
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Class II
moderately used - The configuration of ecological categories of the water
resources within a catchment results in an overall water resource condition that is
moderately altered from its pre-development condition.
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Class III
heavily used - the configuration of ecological categories of the water resources in
a catchment results in an overall water resource that is significantly altered from
its predevelopment condition.
RESOURCE QUALITY OBJECTIVES (RQOS)
 The NWA states that the purpose of RQOs is to establish
clear goals relating to the quality of the relevant water
resources; and
 Stipulates that in determining RQOs a balance must be
sought between the need to protect and sustain water
resources and the need to use them.
 The RQOs can be numeric or descriptive statements.
THE LINK OF RQOS WITH WATER
RESOURCE CLASSIFICATION
Vision for the Resource
Classification of Water
Resources
Ecological
Requirements
User Requirements
Management Class for
each resource unit
Resource Quality
Objectives
(Quantity, quality,
habitat, biota)
Develop Implementation
& monitoring plan
Implementation of
Ecological Requirements
through Source Directed
Controls
Implementation of User
Requirements through
Source Directed Controls
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
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Coordination and integration
Capacity building and skills transfer
Depend on the existing work and current studies
Transparency and Stakeholder engagement
Consultative and collaborations
STUDY AREA
 Letaba catchment is located in the Letaba and
Luvuvhu Water Management area: WMA 2 (Figure 1)
 The Shingwedzi and Luvuvhu catchments are not
included in this study
 Letaba Catchment is divided into 3 tertiary
catchments (Figure 2):
 Upper Letaba (B81)
 Middle Letaba (B82)
 Lower Letaba (B83)
• The locality map of the study area
The Locality of the Letaba
Catchment
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THIS STUDY
The following information is required in order to classify and
determine the RQOs for Letaba Catchment:
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EWR data (from Resource Directed Measures)
Land-use data (from ARC, department of agriculture, etc)
Socio-economic data (from municipality, STASSA, chamber of mines, etc)
Infrastructure and existing allocations (DWA, municipalities etc
Conservation information (SANParks)
Stakeholders database
WORK COMPLETED BY THE DEPARTMENT
 The department has complied a gap analysis report.
 The Comprehensive Reserve determination (2006)
 Development and the Implementation of a Framework to
operationalise the Reserve: Pilot Studies (Letaba, Luvuvhu, Kat
and Upper Komati River): (2010)
 The Development of a Reconciliation Strategy for the Luvuvhu
and Letaba Water Supply System (current)
 Update on PES and EIS Project (ongoing)
STUDY TASKS: LETABA CATCHMENT
 The duration of this study is 24 months with six main tasks.
 Task 1: Project inception
 Task 2: Water resource information and data gathering
 Task 3: Determination of the Management Class and RQOs
 Task 4: Communication and Liaison
 Task 5: Capacity Building
 Task 6: Study Management and coordination
TASK 1: PROJECT INCEPTION
Purpose:
• Provide opportunity to identify, assess and interpret the nature and
scope of the project
• Define role players, interface with other initiatives, study budget
• Identify potential IUAs, nodes, Resource Units (RU) and significant
water resources
• To plan and coordinate a site visits
Outcome:
• Inception Report
• Work programme
• Capacity building and mentorship programme
TASK 2: WATER RESOURCE INFORMATION AND DATA GATHERING
Purpose:
• Review literature, reports, models and any other
relevant information supportive to the
classification process
• List available water resources models
• Undertake information and data gap analysis
Outcome:
Information/Gap Analysis Report
TASK 3: DETERMINATION OF THE MC AND RQOs
Purpose:
 To implement the 7-step WRCS procedure in order to
classify significant water resources; and
 To determine the RQOS
 The Regulations and Guidelines, as well as the
Procedures to Develop and Implement RQOs can be
found on this links:
http://www.dwa.gov.za/rdm/Documents.aspx
 Table and slides below indicates activities and
associated deliverables of this task.
TASK 3: DETERMINATION OF THE MC AND RQOS (cont)
Classification Procedure
1.
Delineate the Integrated Units of Analysis
2.
Link the value and condition of the water resources
3.
Quantify the EWR and changes in non-water quality EGSAs
4.
Determine the ESBC and establish starter configuration scenarios
5.
Evaluate the scenarios within the IWRM process
6.
Evaluate the scenarios with stakeholders
7.
Gazette the class configuration
DELINEATION OF INTEGRATED UNITS OF ANALYSIS,
NODES AND RESOURCE UNITS (STEP 1: WRCS and
RQOs)
The PSP will need to:
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Identify significant water resources and infrastructure
Define Socio-economic Zones and identify significant land use
Identify and analyse Hydrological and Geohydrological data
Define the biophysical and allocation nodes as well as Resource
Units.
 Analyse the PES, EIS as well as NFEPA map.
 Outcome: Proposed IUA, Nodes and RU
LINK THE VALUE AND CONDITION OF THE WATER
RESOURCES (STEP 2: WRCS)
 The decision analysis framework and scoring system will need to be
defined
 To determine the relationship between economic value, social well
being and ecosystem characteristics
• The outcome of this steps is to understand how water users are
influenced by the availability of water resources
QUANTIFICATION OF ECOLOGICAL WATER
REQUIREMENTS (EWRs) (STEP 3: WRCS)
To analysis the following:
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Historic PES and EIS,
Comprehensive reserve study (2006),
Results from updated PES study which is currently underway,
NFEPA(Conservation targets)
Extrapolation of existing and new EWRs results to all identified nodes
To undertake additional Rapid Reserve determination when necessary.
The outcome: To have an indication of the current state of the water resources
in terms of flow and quality
DETERMINE THE ECOLOGICAL BASE
CONFIGURATION SCENARIO (ESBC) AND STARTER
CONFIGURATION SCENARIOS (STEP 4: WRCS)
 The ESBC is define as the lowest (theoretical) level of
protection
 The PSP will be required to do the following
 Is to developed the ESBC scenarios
 To test the ESBC scenarios in terms of hydrology and
ecologically sustainability using water resources models.
 Outcome: A number of possible ESBC scenarios for
stakeholder evaluation
EVALUATE SCENARIOS WITHIN IWRM PROCESS
(STEP 5: WRCS)
 Objective: to establish a manageable number of configuration scenarios
 The PSP will be required to do the following:
 To set and run the water resource models
 To evaluate and measure planning as well as other scenarios against
the ESBC
Outcome: number of possible starter configuration scenarios for stakeholder
evaluation
EVALUATE THE SCENARIOS (STEP 6),
AGREE RESOURCE UNITS, RQO AND NUMERICAL LIMITS WITH
STAKEHOLDERS
The PSP will be required to do the following
• To arrange public or sector specific workshops
• Stakeholders to evaluate scenarios and provide comments and inputs to a
possible number of short-listed scenarios
• DWA and project team to consider and refine the economic, ecological
and social information for the short listed scenarios (options);
• To populate a template for recommending the proposed Classes, ROQs
and numerical limits for each IUA to the Minister of DWA for gazetting;
• Proposed Classes and RQOS gazetted for a period of 60 days for public
comment.
• To address all comment/s raised during the commenting period
GAZETTE AND IMPLEMENT THE MANAGEMENT CLASS AND
RQOS (STEP 7 BOTH WRCS AND RQOS)
 This step entails the gazetting of the proposed Classes, Reserve and RQOs
in the Government Gazette.
 To develop a plan for implementation/operationalisation of the class,
Reserve and RQOs
TASK 3: DETERMINATION OF THE MC AND RQOS (cont)
RQO Procedure
1
Delineate the Integrated Units of Analysis and Resource Units
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Establish the catchment vision (the Management Class is used here) and key elements
for each IUA
3
Prioritize Resource Units using the Tool
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Prioritize sub-components, select indicators and propose direction of change using
Tool
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Develop draft RQOs and numerical limits
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Agree Resource Units, RQOs and numerical limits with stakeholders
7
Finalize and Gazette RQOs
ESTABLISH A CATCHMENT VISION AND KEY
ELEMENTS FOR EACH IUA (STEP 2: RQOS)
Visioning is a consensus-building process which articulates
society’s aspirations into a common future purpose. Multiple
stakeholders are involved in this process in a workshop
format.
The PSP will need to:
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To prepare baseline situation assessment
Invite stakeholders to the workshop
To select a facilitator and plan the workshop
The outcome: Catchment and IUA Vision
PRIORITIZE AND SELECT PRELIMINARY RESOURCE
UNITS FOR RQO DETERMINATION USING TOOL
(STEP 3: RQOs)
• The PSP will need to prioritize and select preliminary
Resource Units which will be discussed and agreed with
stakeholder in Step 6.
• The Resource Units Prioritization Tool has been
developed to assist in the selection of RUs which should
be considered as important for monitoring. The tool is
developed for rivers, wetlands and estuaries.
• At least one RU should be selected in each IUA
PRIORITIZE SUB-COMPONENTS, SELECT INDICATORS AND
PROPOSE DIRECTION OF CHANGE (STEP 4: RQOs)
 Resource Unit Evaluation Tool guides the RQO determination through a
number of decisions in order to produce a prioritised short-list of
indicators that can be used for monitoring of a particular Resource Unit
The PSP will need to:
 Identify and prioritize sub-components that may be important
to either users or the environment.
 Select key sub-components for RQO determination and
identify appropriate indictors to monitor them.
 Establish the desired direction of change for selected subcomponents
 The Resource Unit Evaluation Tool will be used for different
water resources (Rivers, Wetlands and Estuaries)
DEVELOP DRAFT RQOS AND NUMERICAL
LIMITS (STEP 5: RQOs)
• Carry over the list of sub-components and indicators selected
for monitoring, identifying whether they have been selected
as an Ecospec, Userspec or Integrated measure and detailing
the rationale for considering these
• Extract available data to determine the present state for
selected sub-components and indicators
• Assess the suitability of the data
• Determine the level at which to set RQOs
• Set appropriate draft RQOs
• Set appropriate draft numerical limits in line with the draft
RQOs
EVALUATE THE SCENARIOS (STEP 6),
AGREE RESOURCE UNITS, RQO AND NUMERICAL LIMITS WITH
STAKEHOLDERS
The PSP will be required to do the following
• To present the scenarios, RQOS and numerical limits to the stakeholders
• To populate a template for recommending the proposed Classes, ROQs
and numerical limits for each IUA to the Minister of DWA for gazetting;
• Proposed Classes and RQOS gazetted for a period of 60 days for public
comment.
• To address all comment/s raised during the commenting period
TASK 4: COMMUNICATION AND LIAISON
Purpose:
• To establish appropriate institutional arrangements to facilitate the
progress of the project and coordinate stakeholder meetings
Outcome:
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Stakeholder database and schedule of meetings
Meetings documentation
Issues and responses register
Stakeholder consultation report
To prepare adverts and announcements in the print media
TASK 5: CAPACITY BUILDING
• Capacity building will be realised through stakeholder participation
• To ensure skills transfer to the DWA, the following are proposed
o Workshops with DWA officials
o Mentorship through secondment of DWA officials as a mentee
Purpose:
Enhancing and broadening of skills base required to implement the
WRCS and to determine RQOS
Outcome:
• Capacity building programme (including mentorship)
• Progress reports
TASK 6: STUDY MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION
Purpose:
To ensure that the project progresses successfully
Outcome:
• Progress reports presented during the Project
Management Committee (PMC ) Meetings
• Recording of the minutes
• Main report
• Monthly invoices supported by progress report
• Close-out report
Team Composition
 The PSP team must consists of individuals that are qualified
and experienced in IWRM and water resource protection.
 Expertise is needed in each of the following:
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Aquatic ecology
Hydrology
Water quality
Groundwater/geohydrology
Water resource economics
Water resource modeling and decision analysis
Stakeholder involvement and public participation
Geographical Information System (GIS)
Legal
THANK YOU