Strategic water source areas: Management framework and implementation guidelines for planners and managers

Abstract

Strategic Water Source Areas (SWSAs) are areas of land that either: (a) supply a disproportionate amount of mean annual surface water runoff in relation to their size and are considered nationally important; or (b) have high groundwater recharge or where the groundwater forms a nationally important resource or both; or (c) areas that meet both criteria (a) and (b). They are vital for water and food security in South Africa and also provide the water used in generating most of the electricity. We estimate that the surface water SWSAs produce just over 50% of the mean annual runoff from just 10% of the land area. The groundwater SWSAs capture 15% of the national recharge but they exclude extensive ar eas with high recharge which are covered by the surface water SWSAs, bringing the total contribution to more than 50% of the recharge. The water from SWSAs sustains people and industry and makes a substantial contribution to the economy: /g120 More than 50% of the population and 64% of the economy is sustained by water from SWSAs.

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