LAC wants water regulations improved

INCREASING mining activities, a growing population and the effects of climate change will have an impact on Namibian water resources, which require careful monitoring and more transparency on processes regarding water extraction and the implementation of the 2004 Water Resources Management Act, a new report reveals.

Applying the amount of value added to the economy per cubic metre of water used shows that the transport sector in Namibia adds N$1 771 of value to the local economy, while mining only adds N$127, according to the report’s findings, referring to statistics released in the third National Development Plan (NDP3) of 2008.Breaking down the economic value of water usage between diamond mining and non-diamond mining, diamonds add N$891.40 per cubic metre while all other mining only adds N$39.58. According to the latest statistics available, which are from 2006, the total mining sector uses 9,13 million cubic metres or 3,3 per cent of the total water consumption in Namibia a year and agriculture – including the communal sector – 202 million cubic metres or 73.6 per cent. Namibia’s total water usage was 274,6 million cubic metres in 2006. The report was published last week and is titled ‘Not coming up dry: regulating the use of Namibia’s scarce water resources by mining operations’ and was compiled by the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) and the Stanford Law School in the United States. Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa and has scarce water resources. Over-exploitation by certain industrial sectors such as mining, could easily lead to depletion of this valuable resource, according to the LAC report.Referring to a lawsuit filed by farmers against the Forsys uranium mining company, which intends to develop the Valencia uranium site near Usakos in the Erongo Region and had received Government permits to abstract abut 1 000 cubic metres of underground water per day, the report says the present domestic water law falls short of obtaining input about all possible potential risks for water abstraction.Forsys had obtained the water permits before informing the public and nearby farmers about the huge volumes of water it would use. Two farmers took Forsys to court and the judge cancelled the water permits in 2008, but found that that there was no legal proclamation that the underground water at Valencia was a ‘designated subterranean water control area’.The two farmers launched an appeal in the Supreme Court in late 2008, which was heard in March 2009 and the ruling is still being awaited.’The Valencia case starkly illustrates the fact that the current water management laws allow a result that privileges a foreign corporation over long-term economic sustainability,’ the LCA report concluded.