national water quality monitoring - biodiversity...

PRESENTATION TITLE

Presented by:

Name Surname

Directorate

Date

National Water Quality Monitoring

Programmes

Mr Elijah Mogakabe

29/06/2017

Brichwood Hotel, Boksburg

https://www.dwa.gov.za/iwqs

Outline

• Legislative Mandates

• Spatial Scales of Monitoring

• Water Quality Monitoring Programmes

• Water Quality Related Projects

- Review, evaluation and optimization of the national water monitoring

Networks

- Revision of SA’s Water Quality Guidelines

- Revision of SA’s Water Quality Management Policies and Strategies

- Data Acquisition Management (DAM) Strategy

Legislative Mandate

• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Section 32, 1996)

“Everyone has right to access to any information held by the state”

• White Paper on the National Water Policy (1996) of SA

“Adequate information is essential for the effective resource management and protectionincluding monitoring of climatic conditions”

• National Water Act (36 of 1998) of SA

Chapter 14: Requires the Minister to establish national monitoring systems for the collection ofappropriate data and information that is adequate and responsive to the present and futurechallenges of efficient management of the country's water resources

• National Water Resource Strategy (Chapter 13, 2013)

Collection of data and interpretation of information on water and (sanitation) are critical to allaspects of water and (sanitation) management, as without accurate information the correctpicture of the situation cannot be determined and policy formulation could be compromised

• Promotion of Access to Information Act (2 of 2000)

Allows access to any information held by the State required for the exercise and protection ofany rights

Spatial Scales of Monitoring

Water Qual ity Monitoring

Programmes

The DWS Directorate Resource Quality Information Services (RQIS) oversees a number

of monitoring programmes on a national level to provide:

• Information required for performing its custodian role e.g. information to the public,

NGOs, WUAs, Tertiary & Research Institutions on status of, and trends in water

resources quality etc.

• Information to Local, Provincial and National government levels e.g. local

municipalities, provincial and other national departments

• Information in terms of International/Regional/Trans-boundary agreements and

national level water resources strategic and development planning e.g. UNEP

GEMS/Water, ORASECOM, Limpopo River Basin, KOBWA etc.

Nat ional Water Qual i ty Monitor ing

Programmes

Nat ional Water Qual i ty Monitor ing

ProgrammesNational Ecosystem Health Monitoring Programme (NAEHMP)

It has three components:

• River Ecosystem Monitoring Programme (REMP) /formerly River Health Programme (RHP)

� a source of information regarding the ecological state of river ecosystems in South Africa, inorder to support the rational management of these natural resources.

� The programme uses biological indicators, including fish, riparian vegetation andinvertebrates to assess the health of river systems.

• National Wetlands Monitoring Programme (NWMP) – development completed (WRCProject)

• National Estuaries Monitoring Programme (NESMP) –

� biotic and abiotic components

� Tiered monitoring programme with extensive collaboration – municipalities, conservationbodies, other national departments and public

Internat ional Water Qual i ty Network

UNEP GEMS


UNEP GEMS • GEMS/Water was established in 1978 in response to a recommendation made at the 1972

Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment as an interagency programme under the

auspices of the United Nations through the United Nations Environment Programme

(UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization

(WMO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

• GEMS/Water is a unique global water quality monitoring network operating in 125

countries around the world and providing water quality data to a central database known

as GEMStat.

� Global Program Coordination Unit, UNEP, Nairobi

� GEMS/Water Data Centre- Koblenz, Germany

� GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre, University College Cork in Ireland

• Supporting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for water and sanitation (SDG 6) withdata management indicator calculation and capacity development


UNEP GEMS

Chal lenges & Recommendat ions

• High staff turnover at DWS Regional Offices/Lack of personnel/samplers in

some water management areas

• Budget constraint of running the programmes i.e. cost associated have

increased

• Continual pressure to expand the networks due to increase in demand for

more reliable data or information

Water Qual i ty Related Projects

Review, evaluation & optimization of national water monitoring networks

Realign the monitoring networks with DWS’s & country’s strategic and management

requirements (2015 - 2017)

� Integrated water resource monitoring system - needs of the clients

� Network that meet the current & future requirements

� Development of specialized monitoring programme i.e. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)

� Development of integrated resource monitoring system strategy


The SA Water Quality Guidelines comprise one of the most widely-used tools in waterquality management. However, they are now significantly out of date (1998).

A Phase 1 DWS project completed in 2008 that performed a needs assessment,developed a general philosophy and described the general specifications of a decisionsupport system (DSS) for revised water quality guidelines for South Africa.

The new guidelines will be risk-based, allow for much greater specificity & madeavailable primarily in a software-based decision support system (DSS)

Revision of the 1998 SA’s Water Quality Guidelines in collaboration with WRC

� Irrigated Agricultural Use – completed (2014-2016);

� Recreational Use - (2015-2017)

� Domestic Use – Ongoing (2016-2018)


Revision of SA’s Water Quality Management Policies and Strategies

• In response to the country's need to take an improved integrated approach to Water

Quality Management, the Department of Water and Sanitation has initiated a project to

revise its current Water Quality Management (WQM) Policies and Strategies

• Factors necessitating the need include;

� Lack of effective implementation of the current IWQM

� Emergence of new water quality challenges

� Increase in non-compliance to water quality objectives (RQOs)

• Examples of existing WQ Policies and Strategies in SA that will form the basis for a revised

policy and strategy:


Data Acquisition and Management (DAM) Strategy for Water and Sanitation in South Africa

(2016 – 2018)

In order to improve the availability, integrity, accessibility and security of water and sanitation

data

� Review the Data Governance Programs

� Review the Data Life Cycle Management

� Review Data Management Systems (DMS)

� Review collaborations with external institutions for data sharing

THANKS

E n q u i r i e s

M r . E l i j a h M o g a k a b e

R e s o u r c e Q u a l i t y I n f o r m a t i o n S e r v i c e s

D e p a r t m e n t o f W a t e r a n d S a n i t a t i o n

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T e l e p h o n e + 2 7 8 0 8 9 5 9 6

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