Illegal water use will be prosecuted

I, AS Provincial Head of the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), phoned and contacted the alleged illegal water purveyors to stop their illegal activities without delay. Licence application as stated by the City of Cape Town needs to be issued to permit any use or reuse of water during this drought.

Lawful water users are hereby directed not to loan or sell their water on a temporary basis as there is no such a thing as a temporary licence. Only our minister of water and sanitation can therefore permit such a use with proper applications.

The authorisation for the issue or refusal of water-use licences has been delegated to the acting director-general of the department of water and sanitation for expedition of water authorisations.

I wish to reiterate that lawful use of water is subject to the provisions of the National Water Act, and in this regard where water is being sold without the necessary authorisation is deemed unlawful and not permissible for temporary use by any other body or any other water use type.

The aspect of change of owner and type of water use must be considered when embarking on any type of water use.

The only authorities that are permitted to allocate their water to water users are the local government authorities, where a municipality that is a water services authority is permitted to allocate water for its own use to its householders, its commercial and or industrial users within its area of jurisdiction.

I wish to emphasise in ending that any unlawful use of water would be pursued and prosecuted by the Blue Scorpions, which is the inspectorate and prosecution arm of this department.

“Water is life, sanitation is dignity.” RASHID KHAN Regional Head Department of Water and Sanitation Western Cape