Mahikeng- The North West Provincial Department of Water and Sanitation will from Tuesday, 25- 28 November 2014, raid certain areas in the North West Province to compel industries across all sectors that are abstracting water illegally from the rivers and other water resources to stop their activities or face the might of the law.

Industries that are polluting the country’s rivers will also be visited.

The raids/visits will form part of the Focus Week to mark the Enforcement Month since the beginning of November 2014 to remind all South Africans about the importance of using water legally and sparingly. In terms of the National Water Act of 1998 all water users in South Africa whether for commercial or domestic use must be registered through their municipalities and industries and must be issued with water use licenses.

Provincial Head, North West Department of Water and Sanitation, Chadwick Lobakeng said ‘Enforcement Month marks an important period in the government calendar because of the scarcity of water in South Africa.

“The National Water Act forms part of the pillars of South Africa’s laws as it seeks to enforce good management of water and its conservation. The North West is amongst the driest provinces in terms of water scarcity and if we don’t manage and use our water sparingly, we might face the shortage of water in the near future.

“It is unacceptable that some individuals and industries use our scarce resource for personal benefit without applying for water use licenses”, Regional Head, Chadwick Lobakeng said.

He said that an increase in unlawful water use activities in the North West Province has an impact on the environment as well as negative socio economic factors, called for a need to bring about public awareness regarding compliance. Accelerated enforcement means effective and enforceable control measures against the unlawful water uses as a result of the detrimental impact they have on the environment.

Due to the constitutional obligations of the department, the Directorate: Regulation and Water use in the provincial office is responsible for ensuring that the constitutional mandate is met through different enforcement actions and to ensure compliance by transgressors who unlawfully use water from the province scarce water resources.

The Enforcement month activities will take place as follows:

Date: Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Time: 09h00
Area to be visited: Zendelings Post, Zeerust: Investigation of Illegal Water Use

Date: Friday, 28 November 2014
Time: 09h00
Area to be visited: Hartebeesfontein, Hekpoort, Magalies: To issue directive of notice of intention to cut off illegal water use.
-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_