DWS hosts 7th RBOs workshop

The Department of Water and Sanitation is from this morning hosting the 7^th SADC River Basins Organisation (RBOs) and Water-Energy-Food Nexus Workshop. The Workshop will run from the 22^nd through to the 24^th May, and is held at the Riverside Sun in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng.

The theme for the Workshop is “Improved Regional Integration Through River Health and Nexus Approaches”.

Delivering the SADC Secretariat remarks, Mr Phera Ramoedi indicated that the workshop was about the state of the river basins in the region, about ensuring the right unit exists for the management of common water resources.

Mr Ramoedi further said, “We need to be cognisant of the SADC Master Plan: compendium of projects in the region put together at the direction of the members states, to see how they can be actualized. Infrastructure demands need to step up to deal with issues of river health, with particular emphasis on sediment loading.

“The workshop’s theme is therefore opportune; it drives us to make the quality of our water assured. This is even more critical in order to support the approved SADC industrialisation strategy. As such the Water-Energy-Food Nexus demands improvement of river basins and must remain top of mind in order to attain the current SDGs”.

Mr Trevor Shongwe, representing the Kingdom of Swaziland, as Chair of SADC impressed upon how the Water-Energy-Food NEXUS gives credence to how water drives economies. According to Mr Shongwe, “The region’s current water availability and quality challenges due to drought are well documented. As such as technocrats and officials we need to bring hope around improvements in the water quality and availability, thus giving impetus to the SADC industrialisation strategy. It is also significant for pronouncements on groundwater be appreciated. In this regard the work currently underway at the University Of the Free State for SADC is truly critical.”

As South Africa through DWS is hosting the workshop in association with Orange-Senqu River Basin Commission, the department delivered a welcoming message. South Africa is also the Deputy Chair of SADC and will follow from Swaziland tenure in the chair. The Director-General of the DWS was represented in this regard by Ms. Dudu Twayi, the Chief Director, Trans-Boundary Water Resources, made the point that “The example of our SADC cooperation is most pronounced through South Africa accessing water from Lesotho. It is also critical to continue more aggressively our joint monitoring programmes, in order to ensure collaborations”.

In delivering the keynote address, Mr. Gavin Quibell shared the experience of the European Union in terms of member states’ first responsibility being that of water quality monitoring programmes being in place.

The EU water framework directive directs all water quality in Europe, ensuring good quality status. This also includes the question of affordability and why each member state signed up. This is primarily driven by the opportunity to be part of EU, with funding availed from more affluent countries and the creation of common standards.

“One take home for the team was the issue of no requirement to use the same methodology; the need was to find compatibility rather. The question that arises therefore is: can the same be true for SADC? It shouldn’t matter; what is more important is to share data. Monitoring is then consistent and the water is checked every 5 years.

“SADC adopted the idea and this was done as a joint effort. A joint basin survey was done in September 2010, and repeated in 2015. This looked at different sources and checked trends; it would be ideal to repeat in 2020 again, except that it is expensive. Also as river basin organisations are established by governments, can these be given the authority to then be authoritative over the member states?

“For SADC, without a baseline we cannot go through a notification process. The stakes are also higher due to envisaged infrastructure development. In developing countries decisions could be dependent on risks and outcomes of discussions. As we move forward let’s think like Africans and not like Europeans, even though we can look at European examples” said Mr. Quibell.

It is expected that the outcomes, lessons learnt and recommendations out of this workshop will inform how the SADC river basin organisations continue with their business going forward. These will need to be part of the SADC Trans-boundary Watercourses policies and practices.

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