Water Wheel Nov/Dec 2022: Water Policy

Abstract

Cover feature How research helped break the deadlock in updating SA’s outdated raw water pricing strategy Instead, the pricing strategy for raw water – untreated water extracted from water resources, such as rivers and groundwater, water supplied from government waterworks, and the discharge of water into a water resource or onto land – is benefiting select users, while not generating enough income to cover the costs of managing the resource. A new strategy has been in the works since 2015, but its implementation has been stalled because of disagreements on the finer details. As a result, the outdated strategy of 2007 that it must replace, still stands. The impact on raw water users has been “huge” , says John Dini, Research Manager at the Water Research Commission (WRC). “The 15-year-old strategy has become completely stale since so much has changed in the meantime,” he notes. The WRC recently commissioned four research projects tailor-made to help move the impasse forward, proving the value of research as a mutual broker to bring different people and groups together.

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