Economic Opportunities
Whether his Department has plans in place to assist farmers and towns to optimise the storage of excess water and exploit the expected above-average rainfall caused by the La Niña weather pattern; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Optimising water use and availability is also one of the action items identified by role players at the recently held Drought Dialogue at Elsenburg.
The procedure to get authorisation to increase on-farm storage of water is a lengthy process that involves the Department of Water and Sanitation and Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. Following the Drought Dialogue, a task team is being put together to work towards streamlining the process of obtaining the required authorisations.
In addition, we issue early warnings to farmers on how to manage the expected higher flow, by amongst others, preventative maintenance on river sections, canals and storm water furrows. These measures will assist in increasing the volume of water in farm dams.
