Synopsis

South Africa's water resources are vital to the economic development of our country, the health and prosperity of our people, and the sustenance of our natural heritage.

This report provides a first-level overview of South Africa's available water resources for 1996 and current patterns of utilisation.

Based on present trends in water use and population growth, available and utilisation have been projected to the year 2030, revealing that South Africa will reach the limits of its economically usable, land-based fresh water resources during the first half of next century.

This will occur irre-spective of where development takes place in the country. However, trends can be changed by means of strategic intervention to ensure the secure and adequate supply of water, and to sustain the prosperity and natural environ-ment of South Afrrica in the foreseeable furure.

Key recommendations are that water allocation priorities should be coordinated with national development ogjectives and strategies for the ciountry as a whole, and that a greater emphasis be placed on water conservation coupled to the most beneficial of this scarce resource.

This should be combined with a comprehensive programme to instill in the public a new appreciation of the true value of water and the importance of a changed approach to water utilisation countrywide. The report serves as a macro-level guide for developing a national water Resource management strategy or master-plan. It also recommends further investigations of possible water importation, as well as appropriate steps to keep abreast of tech-nological developments such as desalinating seawater, weather modification, and the use of icebergs. As a desk study, the report makes use of information that varies in level of accuracy.

Further work is, required to ensure a consistently high level of accuracy for all the relevant data.