Centre for Environmental Rights – Advancing Environmental Rights in South Africa

• The National Water Amendment Act No. 45 of 1999
• The Water Amendment Act, No. 27 of 2014

• The Water Amendment Bill, 2014 (passed into law on 2 June 2014)

• National Water Resource Strategy (published on 16 August 2013)
• Pricing Strategy for Water Use Charges (16 March 2007)

• Regulations on Use of Water for Mining and Related Activities Aimed at the Protection of Water Resources (GN 704 in GG 20119 of 4 June 1999)
• Water Use Registration Regulations (12 November 1999)
• Regulations on Financial Assistance to Resource Poor Farmers, 2007 (31 October 2007)
• Regulations for the Establishment of the Classification System (17 September 2010)
• Regulations regarding the safety of dams (24 February 2012)
• Regulations requiring the taking of water for irrigation purposes be measures, recorded and reported (17 February 2017)
• Regulations regarding the procedural requirements for water use licence applications and appeals (24 March 2017)

Regulations made under the Water Act, 1956 that are still applicable (despite the repeal of that Act) 

• Regulations for the Erection, Enlargement, Operation and Registration of Water Care Works (27 December 1985)
• Regulations in terms of section 9C (6) of the Water Act, 1956, relating to dams with a safety risk (25 July 1986)
• Regulations made under section 26D of the Water Act, 1956 (12 July 1995)

• Declaration of of the exploration for and the production of onshore unconventional oil and gas resources and any activities incidental thereto including but not limited to hydraulic fracturing as a controlled activity (16 October 2015)

• General authorisation for the rehabilitation of wetlands (18 December 2009)
• Revision of general authorisations (6 September 2013); see also a notice authorising the continued application of this general authorisation until a new general authorisation relating to waste related activities is published (12 July 2019)
• General authorisation for water uses defined in section 21(c) and 21(i) (26 August 2016)
• General authorisation for taking and storing of a water resource (as contemplated in section 21(a) and (b)) (2 September 2016; came into effect on 2 March 2017)

• Determination of the nine water management areas in South Africa (16 September 2016)

Catchment Management Agencies

• Establishment of the Breede-Olifants Catchment Management Agency through extending the boundary and area of operation of the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency in the Western Cape Province (GN 2795 in GG 47559 of 25 November 2022)
• Establishment of the Breede-Olifants Catchment Management Agency through extending the boundary and area of operation of the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency in Western Cape Province (GN 2793 in GG 47559 of 25 November 2022)
• Establishment of the Vaal Orange Catchment Management Agency through extension of Boundaries and Area Operational of the Vaal River Catchment Management Agency to include Orange Water Management Area in terms of the National Water Act (25 November 2022)
• Disestablishment of the Olifants-Doorn Catchment Management Agency established under Government Gazette Notice No. 29205 on September 2006 in the Western Cape (25 November 2022)
• Establishment of the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (4 May 2014)
• Establishment of the Limpopo-North West Catchment Management Agency (23 May 2014)
• Establishment of the Pongola-Umzimkulu Catchment Management Agency (23 May 2014)
• Establishment of the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency through the extending of the boundary and area of operation of the Breede-Overberg Catchment Management Agency (23 May 2014)
• Establishment of the Olifants River Catchment Management Agency (27 February 2015)
• Establishment of the Vaal River Catchment Management Agency (29 January 2016)

Classes of water resources and water resource quality objectives

• Olifants catchment (22 April 2016)
• Olifants-Doorn catchments (22 April 2016)
• Upper Vaal catchment (22 April 2016)
• Middle Vaal catchment (22 April 2016)
• Lower Vaal catchment (22 April 2016)
• Inkomati catchment (30 December 2016)
• Letaba catchment (30 December 2016)
• Mvoti to Umzimkulu (8 December 2017)
• Mokolo, Matlabas, Crocodile (West) and Marico (18 October 2019)

Reserve determinations 

• Reserve Determination for Water Resources of the Mzimvubu Catchment (18 November 2022)
• Reserve determination for Water Resources of the Breede-Gouritz Water Management Area (26 August 2022)
• Reserve Determination for Water Resources of the Mokolo and Matlabas Catchments (GN 1669 in GG 45735 of 14 January 2022)
• Olifants-Doorn catchment (2 March 2018)
• Olifants and Letaba catchments (7 September 2018)
• Mvoti to Umzimkulu (12 October 2018)
• Inkomati catchment (19 July 2019)

• Irrigation boards and water user associations to install water measuring devices for water taken for irrigation purposes and to monitor compliance regulations requiring that the taking of water for irrigation purposes be measured, recorded and reported (23 February 2018)

• Draft revised strategy for water use charges (13 November 2015)
• Draft Policy on Sustainable Hydropower Generation (15 July 2016) (see also the publication on 8 July 2016
• Notice relating to the proposed Mzimvubu Water Project (22 July 2016)
• Notice of intention to disestablish the Lebolelo Water User Association and to incorporate it under Lepelle Northern Water in terms of section 96(2) of the Act (28 October 2016)
• Proposed reserve determination for the Olifants-Doorn catchment (13 April 2017)
• Proposed reserve determination for the Olifants and Letaba Catchments (22 September 2017)
• Proposed reserve determination of water resources for the Inkomati Catchment (10 November 2017)
• Notice of intention to adopt a catchment management strategy for the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Area (1 December 2017) and the Proposed Catchment Management Strategy for the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Area
• Proposed classes of water resources and resource quality objectives for the Mokolo, Matlabas, Crocodile (West) and Marico catchments (8 December 2017)
• Proposed establishment of a single catchment management agency and the business plan for a single catchment management agency (15 December 2017)
• Proposed reserve determination of water resources for the Mvoti to Umzimkhulu catchments (16 February 2018)
• Call for nominations for the Chairperson of the Water Tribunal (17 August 2018)
• Proposed resource classes and resource quality objectives for the Mzimvubu catchment (23 November 2018)
• Proposed resource classes and resource quality objectives for the Breede-Gourtiz catchment (23 November 2018)
• Proposed reserve determination for the Vaal Catchment (21 December 2018)
• Proposed resource classes and resource quality objectives for the Berg Catchment (10 May 2019)