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dam-l Asmal to build another dam/LS
>05 June 1999 Financial Mail
>WATER AFFAIRS
>KADER ASMAL DECIDES IT'S TIME TO BUILD A DAM
>
>
>Skuifraam a model of international best practice
>
>
>There was a valedictory quality to Kader Asmal's media conference last
>week, his last as Minister of Water Affairs & Forestry before the
>election. He may return to the same job under Thabo Mbeki; or he may go
>elsewhere. "We'll have to see," he remarked cryptically.
>The occasion marked Asmal's decision to proceed with the building of a new
>dam - the Skuifraam, on the upper Berg River in the La Motte Forest, 5 km
>west of Franschhoek in the Western Cape. It will be the first structure of
>its size and scale under the new government, and with associated water
>schemes the capital cost is put at R780m, to be funded on the "user pays"
>principle, which could mean borrowings by utilities such as affected local
>water authorities.
>
>Consultation has been of the essence: the environmental impact has been
>assessed, and Environmental Affairs Minister Pallo Jordan has given the
>go-ahead though there is a two-month window for appeal. Local communities,
>Cape Nature Conservation and various metropolitan, farming and industrial
>bodies were drawn into the process, which has gone on for years.
>
>Asmal delayed the announcement for 18 months, contemplating it from
>various angles. He is known as an intellectual and humanist - not without
>a tendency to inflated rhetoric ameliorated by humour - and must be taken
>seriously when he says things like: "Water is the essence of life. Without
>sufficient water in adequate quantities and acceptable quality, there will
>be none of the prosperity and human dignity we all aspire to; a full and
>healthy future will escape us and our children, and our childrens'
>children."
>
>Yet the building of dams is a controversial matter. In SA's past, their
>construction has frequently been a political statement - like that of the
>Hendrik Verwoerd Dam after Sharpeville - with less than full consideration
>of their human and environmental costs. In SA, that dam, now the Gariep,
>led to population removals.
>
>Worldwide, the building of a dam is considered as but one in a range of
>options for securing water. So while Asmal may once have dreamed of being
>our only Water Minister never to build a dam, the go-ahead for the
>Skuifraam project - the dam will be 60 m high, about a km across, store
>126m m" of water, and add 56m m" to current supply - forms part of an
>integrated approach to water use in SA.
>
>The blunt facts are that SA is water-scarce and cash-strapped. With the
>new National Water Act, conservation and value for money become paramount.
>Through a variety of means, the Cape Metropolitan Council has accepted a
>10% reduction in projected water demand by 2010. Asmal believes the figure
>will be closer to 20% and would like to see it even higher.
>
>The reduction in usage is achieved in several ways: tracking down and
>repairing leaks; improved metering and billing; more accurate accounting
>systems for water use and wastage; and a differentiated tariff system. "It
>is quite clear that it would be inappropriate to spend large sums of money
>on building a dam while water is being used wastefully and excessively,"
>Asmal says. "It is interesting to note that only five years ago, the idea
>of saving water instead of building new dams was seen by many as a
>whimsical idea . . . This idea has since gained much greater acceptance
>along with the pressing need to protect our rivers."
>
>A now-famous contribution to conservation has been Asmal's Working for
>Water programme, whereby previously unemployed workers are enlisted to
>clear out invasive plants from catchment areas - where they consume more
>water than indigenous plants. So far 100 000 ha have been cleared in the
>Western Cape; 4 000 jobs have been created to do so; and the estimate is
>that clearing increases runoff in rivers by 3,5m l/ha/year.
>
>The feasibility study for the Skuifraam Dam pointed to some adverse
>effects. About 10% of the La Motte Forest plantations would be lost; heavy
>construction traffic could affect Franschhoek's viability as a tourist
>destination; rising water would cover the Dewdale trout farm; and there
>were fears that reduced flow, or flooding, in the Berg River estuary could
>degrade its importance as a bird habitat.
>
>That situation will now be monitored, but the other drawbacks should be
>offset by new economic and recreational opportunities.
>
>However, one overriding factor is that the Western Cape in the
>post-apartheid era has become a magnet for those now free of influx
>control seeking work and a better life. Industrial developments up the
>West Coast - which draw water from the same system as Cape Town - also
>have their demands. Soon in the next century, demand would exceed supply.
>
>The intensity with which the situation was considered was representative
>of the new approach to water use, Asmal emphasised, and was predicated on
>widespread, long-term consultation.
>
>Asmal boasts: "Not only is (the project) a first for SA, but it is also a
>model for other countries on how major decisions that involve vast
>expenditure of money and enormous environmental and social aspects, should
>be taken. I will be submitting this process to the World Commission on
>Dams to consider in the process of developing best international
>practices."
>
>If nothing else, Asmal has succeeded in transforming a Ministry previously
>considered little more than an adjunct to politically-inspired public
>works programmes. He has done the unexpected, and made water use policy
>crucial to industrial, urban and environmental planning.
>
>
>By: Peter Wilhelm
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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