The Minister of Water and Sanitation has, under section 69(1)(a) of the NWA, published draft regulations pertaining to the procedural requirements for water use licence applications, as set out in the schedule to this notice.
The regulations stipulate the process to be followed in respect of water use licence applications, which process is similar to the process currently stipulated in the relevant guidelines published by the then Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.
An apparent welcome addition to the regulations is the stipulation of “timeframes” within which a water use licence application must be processed. However, when the regulations are closely scrutinised, it appears that there is more than one way in which significant deviation from deadlines can be manipulated. It follows that clients who do not actively pursue applications in terms of administrative legislation, may still get the run around.
Members of the public are invited to submit written comments within 60 days of publication of this notice (i.e. on or before 13 April 2015).
