Establishment of a Pricing Strategy for Raw Water Use in Terms of Section 56(1) of the National Water Act, 1998 (G.N. No. 201 of 2007).

This Notice of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, hereby in terms of section 56(1) of the National Water Act (Act No. 36 of 1998), establishes a pricing strategy for raw water use. The National Water Act provides the broad policy framework for measures to finance the provision of water resource management services and the development of water resources, as well as financial and economic measures to support the implementation of strategies aimed at water resource protection, conservation and the beneficial use of water. This document provides a strategy for implementing the pricing of the use of raw water within the mentioned policy framework. It contains the objectives, methodology and implementation strategy for setting water use charges for purposes of, principally, financing works of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF). Objectives of principal importance for the policy are social, equity, ecological sustainability, financial sustainability, and economic efficiency. Water uses subject to this policy include abstraction and water discharge.