Service Contract No 2007 / 147-446 Strategic ... - Swaziland

5.2 Key aspect 1: Water availability / Climatechange (High Priority)5.2.1 Current stateWater is essential for life, yet its quantity is limited and its distribution varies seasonally andwith drought and flood cycles and spatially over the different climatic regions of the country.Water is also essential for development and economic progress while minimum quantitiesare required to maintain the ecological health of river systems. Thus it is imperative thatavailable water resources are developed, managed and utilized to derive maximum benefit.Swaziland lies in the Inkomati, Mbuluzi and Maputo River Basins. Water flows into theserivers via several streams and tributaries from the eastern highlands of Swaziland and SouthAfrica, which then discharges into the Indian Ocean along the Mozambique coastline.5.2.1.1 Policy, regulatory and institutional frameworkSwaziland has a comprehensive legislative and policy framework for water management 7 .The Water Act of 2003 is the law governing the use and management of water resources. Itseeks to integrate and decentralise water management and to consolidate its administrationunder one ministry. It established the National Water Authority (NWA) that is composed ofrepresentatives from key government ministries, from industry, from Water UsersAssociations (WUAs) and individuals on Swazi Nation Land. The NWA advises the ministerresponsible for water affairs and it also provides direction on water issues such as policydevelopment and other related issues in the land.The Department of Water Affairs (DWA) is secretariat for the NWA. The Act alsoestablishes five River Basin Authorities (RBAs) through which basin-specific watermanagement processes will evolve. The establishment of the River Basin Authorities in 2009has passed down water management responsibilities to the basin level. Each authority is tobecome self-sustaining through the imposition of fees and levies for water supplied andservices provided. The Water Act empowers each RBA to develop its own pricing structurefor the water that they allocate and manage. In terms of the 2003 Water Act, RBAs have avariety of responsibilities for monitoring water quantities and qualities within their basins.Supporting the Act is a draft Water Policy and a draft Integrated Water ResourcesManagement (IWRM) Plan. The policy provides the long-term vision for water managementwhilst the IWRM Plan provides the strategies for achieving the vision.The Water Policy is still in a draft stage pending national validation at a soon to be organisednational validation workshop. An important element of the policy is improvement of wateravailability for both socio-economic and economic productivity. The policy also provides cleardemarcation of the responsibilities of the various stakeholders and institutions involved in theintegrated development and management of water resources in the country.The Integrated Water Resources Master Plan, still a working draft, seeks to combineessential IWRM principles and procedures (namely stakeholder consultation, capacitybuilding, training and research in water development and management) as well as integratingsustainability issues. The IWRM Plan seeks to “promote the co-ordinated development andmanagement of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant7 See Annex 3 and 5 of the Scoping Report for detailed descriptions of the legislative and policy framework.RDMU (Strategic Environmental Assessment of the National Adaptation Strategy) - Page 34