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What is meant by Water Quality?

https://www.dwa.gov.za/dir_wqm/wqmframe.htm

Water quality is a term used to describe the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for an intended purpose. These characteristics are controlled of influenced by substances, which are either dissolved or suspended in water.  Although scientific measurements are used to define the quality of water, it’s not a simple thing to say that ” this water is good ,” or ” this water is bad “. The quality of water that is required to wash a car is not the same quality that is required for drinking water. Therefore, when we speak of water quality, we usually want to know if the water is good enough for its intended use, be it for domestic, farming, mining or industrial purposes, or its suitability to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

What is meant by Water Quality Management?

Water quality is changed and affected by both natural processes and human activities. Generally natural water quality varies from place to place, depending on seasonal changes, climatic changes and with the types of soils, rocks and surfaces through which it moves. A variety of human activities e.g. agricultural activities, urban and industrial development, mining and recreation, potentially significantly alter the quality of natural waters, and changes the water use potential. The key to sustainable water resources is, therefore to ensure that the quality of water resources are suitable for their intended uses, while at the same allowing them to be used and developed to a certain extent. Effective management is the tool through which this is achieved. Water quality management, therefore involves the maintenance of the fitness for use of water resources on a sustained basis, by achieving a balance between socio-economic development and environmental protection. From a regulatory point of view the “business” of water quality management entails the ongoing process of planning, development, implementation and administration of water quality management policy, the authorisation of water uses that may have, or may potentially have, an impact on water quality, as well as the monitoring and auditing of the aforementioned.

Why the need to manage Ware Quality?

The effects of polluted water on human health, on the aquatic ecosystem (aquatic biota, and in-stream and riparian habitats) and on various sectors of the economy, including agriculture, industry and recreation, can be disastrous. Deteriorating water quality leads to increased treatment costs of potable and industrial process water, and decreased agricultural yields due to increased salinity of irrigation water. On the other hand not all health, productivity and ecological problems associated with deteriorating water quality are ascribed to man’s activities. Many water quality related problems are inherent in the geological characteristics of the source area. The occurrence, transport and fate in the aquatic environment of numerous persistent and toxic metals and organic compounds (e.g. pesticides) have given cause for serious concern. Contamination of groundwater resources, or of sediments deposited in riverbeds, impoundment’s and estuaries by toxic and persistent compounds can cause irreversible pollution, sometimes long after the original release to the environment has ceased.

Salination A persistent water quality problem is salination, which has two major causes, natural and anthropogenic. The origin of natural salination of river water is geological. Man-made causes are multiple. A wide variety of man’s activities are associated with increased releases of salts, some in the short and others in the long term. Immediate increases in salt concentrations result from point sources of pollution, such as the discharging of water containing waste by industries. Diffuse pollution, resulting inter alia from poorly managed urban settlements, waste disposal on land and mine residue deposits pose even a bigger problem, as it impacts over a larger area on the water resource. The effect of diffuse pollution on groundwater is also often problematic in terms of remediation.

Eutrophication Another major water quality problem is eutrophication which is the enrichment of water with the plant nutrients nitrate and phosphate. These encourages the growth of microscopic green plants termed algae. As nutrients are present in sewage effluent, the problem is accentuated wherever there is a concentration of humans or animals. The algae cause problems in water purification, e.g. undesirable tastes and odours, and the possible production of trihalomethanes or other potentially carcinogenic products in water that is treated with chlorine for potable purposes.

Micro-pollutants A water quality issue which is receiving increasing attention among industrialised nations, is pollution by metals and man-made organic compounds, such as pesticides. Serious incidents of health impacts to man and animals have occurred at places throughout the world through uncontrolled exposure to these micro-pollutants. Pollution of this type tends to be highly localised and associated with specific industries or activities. Mining activities often expose pyrite containing rock formations to air and water to produce acid rock drainage. Due to the low pH of acid rock drainage heavy metals are mobilised. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has recently established a water pollution control works in the Brugspruit catchment, at huge cost, to treat acid rock drainage emanating from abandoned coal mines.

Microbiological pollutants Water contamination by fecal matter is the medium for the spread of diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid.

Erosion and sedimentation Average sediment yields for South African catchments range from less than 10 to more than 1 000 tonnes/km2/annum. In some parts of the country erosion has increased by as much as tenfold as a result of human impacts. Apart from the loss of fertile agricultural soil, off-site damage like loss of valuable reservoir storage, sediment damage during floods and increased water treatment costs, have been largely ignored even though these are estimated to be in excess of R 100 million per year.

Who is responsible for Water Quality Management?

Water Resource Management, including water quality management, is an exclusive National competency. As such, water quality management is the responsibility of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s Water Quality Management function, which consists of the-

    • Department’s Directorate Water Quality Management, which provides policy development, capacity building, specialist support, authorization and audit services at a strategic level;
    • Department’s nine Regional Offices, which provide policy implementation, operation, control and monitoring services at an operational level; and
    • Department’s Institute for Water Quality Studies, which provides a scientific support service.

The capacity of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s Water Quality Management Function will be extended with the establishment of Water Management Institutions, such as the establishment of Catchment Management Agencies within the water management areas of South Africa.

Due to the extent and multiplicity of the management functions associated with water quality management, it is no longer considered to be the sole obligation of a single authority, but is now becoming the responsibility of all levels of the community, including industry, local government as well as individual water users. The most effective “vehicle” for facilitating participatory management, is the Catchment Forum. Through such forums, the public can also be involved in water quality management.

Who is water quality being managed for?

Being the public trustee of the Nation’s water resources, the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry and his Department, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, has to manage South Africa’s water resources to ensure continued adequate water supplies of acceptable quality to all recognised users. From a water quality management point of view these recognised users consist of, five water user sectors; these being the domestic, agricultural, industrial and recreational water user sectors , as well as the aquatic ecosystem, also constituting the water resource base.

Prominent legislation applicable to Water Quality Management

Water quality management is governed and/ or influenced by a hierarchical suite of environmental legislation, which ranges from-

    • South Africa’s water resource management related international obligations, of which Agenda 21 is a prominent example;
    • to the Constitution, 1996 (Act No.108 of 1996), constituting the supreme law of the Country and guaranteeing the rights of all people in South Africa;
    • to framework environmental legislation, such as the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No.107 of 1998) [NEMA 107:1998], which had principally been promulgated to enact Sections 24, (environmental rights) and 41 (containing provisions on co-operative governance) of the Constitution;
    • through to sectoral environmental legislation, of which the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No.36 of 1998) [NWA 36:1998] is the most prominent example.

Evolution of Water Quality in South Africa

South Africa started experiencing environmental pollution problems during the first half of the 19th century, with the development of towns and industries and associated accumulation of wastes in built-up areas. Initially, control of water pollution in South Africa focussed on the development of acceptable sewage disposal methods. Water quality management, however, dates from the promulgation of the Public Health Act of the Union of South Africa, 1919 (Act No.36 of 1919). This Act gave the Chief Health Officer of the Public Health Department the responsibility of controlling pollution by ensuring that the “best known or the only or the most practical methods” for sewage disposal were being used. This allowed the Chief Health Officer to prevent effluent from sewage treatment works from being discharged into water courses. It was a requirement that sewage or sewage effluent had to be disposed on land.

In moving from the pre-1950 to the post-1950 era, South Africa underwent a change from an agriculturally based economy to one in which industry and mining played a major role. These changes coincided with the evolution from its early beginnings as the Department of Irrigation to the present-day Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. The next major milestone was the promulgation of the Water Act, 1956 (Act No.54 of 1956). The 1956 Water Act aimed at the control of industrial use of water and the treatment and disposal of effluent. By 1956 it was becoming apparent that reconciling water supply with water demand would be increasingly difficult and that re-use of effluent would have to play a major role in the management of the country’s scarce water resources. After 1956 the earlier requirement of the health authorities that prohibited the disposal of effluent to natural water courses had to fall away. The 1956 Act, in fact required that all effluent be returned to the water body from which the water was originally abstracted. Later amendments, notably the Water Amendment Act, 1984 (Act No.96 of 1984) broadened water quality management, and the uniform effluent standards, the General and Special Standards and the Special Standards for Phosphate, were made. The uniform effluent standards approach, however, did not cater for variable circumstances, such as those associated with seasonal changes, or with the different natural and/ or and anthropogenic conditions associated with different catchments.

In order to ensure fitness for use of the country’s water resources, the users’ requirements had to be brought into consideration. This principle resulted in the Receiving Water Quality Objectives (RWQO) approach, which essentially dictates the nature and extent of Source Directed Controls (SDCs) that are required within a catchment context. The South African Water Quality Guidelines, which constitute the primary reference when determining the water quality requirements of water users, were produced as part of the RWQO approach. The water quality requirements of the aquatic ecosystem form part of these.

With the signing into law of the current Act, the NWA 36:1998, in August 1998, the RWQO approach was broadened, introducing the concepts of Resource Quality and Resource Quality Objectives (RQOs). Resource Quality means the quality of all the aspects of the water resource, which includes water quality, water quantity, as well as the aquatic ecosystem quality (quality of the aquatic biota and in-stream and riparian habitat). RQOs are regarded as a Resource Directed Measure (RDM), which are aimed at the requirements of the water resource. Inherent to this approach, are SDCs that must be established in order to ensure that the requirements that were set during the RDM process, are not violated. The RQOs approach embodies an approach that strives towards a sustainable balance between protection, on the one side, and water use and development, on the other side.

The underlying principles of Water Quality Management

Sustainability, equity and efficiency are recognised as the central guiding principles in the protection, use, development, conservation, management and control of water resources. These guiding principles are inherent to the management of water quality. Water resources must therefore be judiciously managed and equitably shared by all water users in the most optional manner. In water quality management, sustainability means that the protection of water resources must be balanced with its development and use. This “balance” is attained through a process of resource classification, the determination of an associated Reserve and the determination of Resource Quality Objectives. Resource Quality Objectives, inter alia, stipulate in-stream water quality objectives aimed at meeting the water quality requirements of the five water user sectors, and are aimed at ensuring fitness for use of South Africa’s surface water, groundwater and coastal estuaries. The concepts of Resource Quality Objectives and Resource Quality that were introduced by the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998), necessitate that water quality management, now, also takes responsibility for the management of the aquatic ecosystem quality (in-stream and riparian habitat, and aquatic biota quality). The following prominent principles form the basis of water quality management policies and practices in South Africa.

    • The management of water quality must be carried out in an integrated and holistic manner, acknowledging that all elements of the environment are interrelated.
    • Decision-making must ensure that the best practicable environmental option is adopted by taking account of all aspects of the environment including all the people in the environment.
    • The precautionary approach to water quality management applies, in which active measures are taken to avert or minimise potential risk of undesirable impacts on the environment.
    • In general the principle of Polluter Pays, applies. In accordance with this principle, the cost of remedying pollution, degradation of resource quality and consequent adverse health effects, and of preventing, minimising or controlling pollution, is the responsibility of the polluter.
    • Participative management in the management of water quality must be advocated, ensuring that all interested and affected parties, and previously disadvantaged persons have an equal opportunity to participate.
    • Transparency and openness must underlie all decision-making processes, and all information must be made accessible in accordance with the law.

Approaches to Water Quality Manaement

Water quality management, in South Africa, has evolved from a pollution control approach, which essentially concentrated on source directed management measures, to the current approach where water quality management consists of an integrated source, remediation and resource directed management approach which recognises the receiving water users’, as well as the aquatic ecosystem’s water quality requirements. This water quality management approach is actualised through a combination of measures and arrangements provided for in the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998); these provisions including:

    • The protection of water resources;
    • the establishment of Water Management Strategies and Water Management Institutions;
    • the licensing of water use. (Which includes the licensing of discharges through coastal marine out-fall pipelines to the marine environment);
    • the implementation of a National Pricing Strategy containing a system of Waste Discharge Charges; and
    • the establishment of a National monitoring system and a National information system.

Resource directed water quality management

In order to counter the continuing deterioration of water quality and to meet the challenges of the future, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has adopted a Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach, consisting of a Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach for non-hazardous substances and a Pollution Minimisation and Prevention approach for hazardous substances.

The Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach for non-hazardous substances accepts that the receiving water environment has a certain, usually quantifiable, capacity to assimilate waste without serious detriment to the quality requirements of its recognised users. However, if applied without the necessary precaution, the Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach for non-hazardous substances will inevitably lead to the deterioration of water resources to the point where they will be less fit for use by the recognised water user sectors. To counter the limitations of this approach, a precautionary approach was accepted to avert danger and minimise uncertainty and potential risk of undesirable impacts on the environment.

For those wastes that are hazardous and a threat to the environment due of their toxicity, persistence and extent of bio-accumulation, a precautionary approach aimed at minimising or preventing their entry into the water environment, was adopted.

Hierarchy of water quality management decision-taking  Decisions in regard to water quality management are made in terms of a hierarchy of principles, which is specifically aimed at marrying the protection, and use and development of water resources. The hierarchy of decision-taking is as follows:

Source directed water quality management

Without efficient and effective source directed controls, the water quality objectives set through resource directed water quality management will, in most cases, not be met. Prior to authorising a license application for a wateruse   that may potentially impact on water quality, the applicant must conduct an impact assessment. Such an impact assessment has to demonstrate that the source directed controls proposed, are sufficient to ensure that the water resource remain fit for use by the recognised water user sectors, in accordance with the Receiving Water Quality Objectives approach. Impact assessments must also consider the cumulative effects of actions that in itself may not be significant, but may be significant when added to the impact of other similar actions.

Catchment Water Quality Management

The basic geographical unit of water quality management is the catchment. Water quality management at a catchment scale must integrate land use effects with the physical characteristics of the catchment, and with external factors, such as economics, to manage water quality. Many of these factors have boundaries that are different from the catchment boundaries. Therefore, successful water quality management relies on the integration of these diverse factors into a holistic management system. The aim is continuous improvement of water quality management over time.

Water quality catchment assessment studies

A catchment assessment study entails the assessment of the entire catchment, in which the natural environment and all human activities and impacts on the water resources are investigated. The current status of physical environment, the hydrology, the land-use activities, the demands and the various impacts, impacting on water resources are determined during the study. In addition, to the investigation of prevailing conditions, future developments as well as projected growth and the increase in impacts on the water resources within the catchment are determined. In this way management options that best suit the specific catchment can be developed to ensure sustainable development. Catchment assessment studies contribute to the process of integrated water resources management. The catchment assessment study process requires the engagement and participation of the various stakeholders and institutions in the area, who are interested in water quality, or affected by water quality and the way it might be managed. It follows that one of the best ways of understanding water quality issues in catchments is by engaging the people and institutions who perceive them, or who are affected by them. Such involvement is very often gained through the use of Catchment Forums, which are participatory bodies representing the interests and needs of the stakeholders.

Water quality component of the Catchment Management Strategy

The Catchment Management Strategy (CMS) is a framework strategy for managing water resources within a water management area (WMA) that takes into account all matters relevant to the protection, use, development, conservation, management and control of water resources; and at the same time promotes integrated water resources management. In terms of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998), a CMS must be established for each of the nineteen WMAs in accordance with the requirements of the National Water Resources Strategy (NWRS). The CMS pulls together the water quality, water quantity and aquatic ecosystem components of the water resource into a coherent management approach that aims to secure the beneficial, equitable and sustainable use of water resources. However, while it is important to integrate the management of these, the complexities of the water environment usually demand that they managed somewhat independently at the catchment level. With respect to the water quality component of the CMS, the framework for management is based on identifying the stakeholders’ needs with respect to use of the water resource over and above the requirements necessary for protection, basic human needs and strategic important uses.  This framework comprises the following:

    • establishment of resource water quality objectives for use of the resource, based on the needs of the stakeholders;
    • determination of source management objectives to meet these needs;
    • formulation of sectoral water quality management plan indicating the management requirements and responsibilities to achieve these objectives;
    • development of single source and sector specific water quality management plans to give effect to this framework, and the
    • introduction of single source interventions e.g. water use licenses to ensure that resource water quality objectives are met.

Before the framework of the CMS can be developed a catchment assessment study (CAS) is required, as the CAS provides the input information requirements for the CMS. The CAS provides an information and knowledge system suitable for support of development of a CMS, to sustain implementation of a CMS for the catchment and to support source specific management interventions.

Water Quality Management Instruments

Essentially, water quality management employs a combination of the four environmental management instruments, viz.: the regulatory, market-based, self-regulatory and civil management instruments.

Regulatory management instruments Water use, and impacts on water quality are regulated through a range of authorisations, which are either being directly managed by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, or in co-operation with other government departments, e.g.:

 

    • Licensing of water use that may have, or may potentially have an impact on water quality in terms of Section 40 of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998);
    • issuing of disposal site permits in term of Section 20 of the Environment Conservation Act, 1989 (Act No. 73 of 1989);
    • recommendation for approval of Environmental Management Programs (EMPs) in terms of Section 39 of the Minerals Act, 1991 (Act No. 50 of 1991) to the Department of Minerals and Energy; and
    • recommendation for approval of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in terms of Sections 21, 26 and 28 of the Environment Conservation Act, 1989 (Act No. 73 of 1989) to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

 

Market-based management instruments In water quality management the Pricing Strategy, which includes a system of waste discharge charges, makes provision for certain incentives which has as its aim-

 

    • the introduction of new technologies or management practices;
    • the conservation and the economically efficient allocation of scarce water resources;
    • the removal of elements of waste streams

 

Self-regulatory management instruments The ISO 14000 series of environmental standards provides a range of self-regulatory management instruments, which can be utilised by industry to improve their environmental performance. The only component of the ISO 14000 series of environmental standards that is required for certification at the moment, is ISO 14001. Before an organisation can obtain ISO 14001 certification, it must, amongst others, have considered all legal requirements. In promoting ISO 14001 certification, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry will be able to extend its water quality management capacity.

 

Civil management instruments The National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998) requires where appropriate the delegation of management functions to a regional or catchment level so as to enable everyone to participate. The importance of public participation is further emphasised by the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act 108 of 108) which lays down the principle of transparent and participative management for co-operative environmental management. A consequence of this decentralisation of decision-making requires the establishment of catchment based institutions such as Water User Associations and Catchment Management Agencies to ensure public participation. Within water quality management, catchment forums have provided an ideal mechanism to facilitate the involvement of stakeholders in decisions affecting their water quality. Catchment forums serve as suitable platforms for efficient and coherent participation of stakeholders with diverse interests.

Co-operative Governance and participative management is central to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s water quality management approach, and provides for integration across a number of dimensions. In its management of water quality, the Department advocates the principle of participative management by involving other government departments and local interested and affected parties in decisions affecting the use, development and protection of water resources. By means of such integration the socio-economic needs and that of the environment are accounted for, allowing for sound and holistic decision making that ensures minimal impact on water quality. Such co-operative environmental governance is facilitated by means of catchment forums, which serve as institutionalised mechanisms to involve stakeholders in decisions about water resources management.