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dam-l Skuifraam Dam Press Release/LS



July 15, 1999

For more information, contact Liane Greeff, Environmental Monitoring Group,
liane@kingsley.co.za Tel: +27 +21 7610549/788 2473 Fax: 762 2238


PRESS RELEASE
SKUIFRAAM DAM

Environmental organisations, including the Environmental Monitoring Group,
Earthlife Africa Cape Town Branch and the South African Rivers Association,
and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa: Western Cape
Region, are opposed to the recent decision to go ahead with the Skuifraam
Dam in the Franschhoek
Valley.

This decision was previously put on hold by the Minister of Water Affairs
and Forestry, Professor Kader Asmal, on the basis that the Cape Authorities
had no effective water demand side management programme in place, and that
the rich are using water wastefully, whilst this wastage is being
subsidised by those who can least afford it. Whilst we agree with Professor
Asmal's position that the era of supply-side tunnel vision is over, it is
not clear how this has been translated into action in the Western Cape.

Whilst most of the Cape Metropolitan Council staff are looking at ways of
building more dams, some recent initiatives are looking at fixing leaking
pipes and introducing metering into previously unmetered areas. These are
applauded as making steps in the right direction. However, it is too
little, and too late, and now Skuifraam Dam is being imposed on us as
blackmail, as insurance against low rainfall years. But if the situation is
so bad, where are the water restrictions?
Why isn't Cape Town's daily 400 million litres of treated sewage water
being used for golf
courses and municipal gardens, instead of going out to sea? Why not
introduce a water tariff that actually reflects the social and ecological
value of the water that runs down our drains? Why not focus more on
supporting the Working for Water programme by removing the alien vegetation
in the Cape Catchments, which are heavily infested, and which, according to
Professor Asmal, once cleared of alien plants would yield comparable water
quantities at one seventh of the price.

Why not replicate the successes of local authorities like Hermanus who have
introduced a 12-point water demand management programme and achieved over
30% reductions in peak water demands. Alternatively, why not look at the
Durban Metro which have undertaken to keep domestic and industrial water
consumption at 1997 levels as part of their water demand management
strategy, by balancing the annual increase in demand with a corresponding
reduction in the water lost in the infrastructure. Why not replicate
Windhoek which has undertaken a rigorous water demand management programme,
including sliding tariff charges to cut demand, water use restrictions,
water recycling, installing water-efficient equipment in all new buildings,
and water metering for residential blocks?

These methods are tried and tested and do work, and results are often
immediate. And yet in the Cape, rising demands are mistaken for needs, and
are thus treated as inevitable with every effort being made to fulfil them.
The system is driven for short term political goals, whilst the
environmental costs of destroying our river ecosystems are negated or
worse, denigrated by such descriptions as "slight to moderate” as found in
the Western Cape Systems Analysis Report. According to Professor Bryan
Davies of the University of Cape Town’s Department of
Freshwater Ecology, the Berg River cannot afford more water being diverted
as it is already under stress, and recent studies indicate that one out of
every four years, the river flow is lower than previously recorded history.
Additionally, the Berg River Estuary represents the most biologically
diverse wetland on the west coast of Southern Africa, south of Northern
Angola, with more bird species than either St Lucia or the Langabaan Lagoon
which are both either declared or about to be declared Ramsar Sites of
international significance. Additionally, the Berg River estuary is reputed
to be the only estuary between Angolan and St Lucia that is still
functioning as a major sea fisheries nursery.

In addition to these ecological costs, Skuifraam Dam and its associated
supplementary scheme will amount to an estimated cost of R780 million. And
every cent will be paid for by the Cape Town water users. This principle in
itself is a good one, but in the case of large dams, it lends itself to the
poor subsidising the rich, the frugal subsidising the wasteful. This is why
the communities of Alexandra and Soweto are so opposed to the Lesotho
Highlands Dams, especially when half the water entering their townships is
lost through leakage. Once the money is spent, demand side management is
placed on the back burner as the water authorities and dam builders sell as
much as they can to make their profits and recapture their losses.

Further to the above, a call has already been made by the South African
Rivers Association, together with a number of other organisations, to the
South African Government to place a moratorium on all dam decisions pending
the outcome and recommendations of the World Commission on Dam. These
recommendations are due to be released in June 2000, and as the purpose is
to guide future dam planning and construction, it would be appropriate for
all local dam decisions to be put on hold, in order to benefit from the
global experiences.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the proposed Skuifraam Dam is that it
is only seen as a short term solution, providing enough water to meet
increased demands in Cape Town for five years before another dam will be
demanded, and another ecosystem destroyed. And only when all the rivers
have been degraded beyond repair will other more sustainable options be
looked at more seriously.

We therefore call upon the Cape Metropolitan Council and the Department of
Water Affairs and Forestry to retract from their decision to go ahead with
the building of Skuifraam Dam and to instigate a full demand management
study in Greater Cape Town.



This letter is endorsed by Environmental Monitoring Group, the South
African Rivers Association and the Cape Town Branch of Earthlife Africa.

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Liane Greeff, Project Manager: NGO Liaison with, and Monitoring of the WCD
Environmental Monitoring Group, PO Box 18977, Wynberg, South Africa, 7824
E-mail: liane@kingsley.co.za Tel: +27 +21 7610549/788 2473 Fax: 762 2238
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