In response to criticism against the Department of Water Affairs (DWAF) and Forestry in the press, the Minister has allayed concerns that water is not going to experience an Eskom-like crisis. She did point out that many issues have been identified and measures are either in place or about to be implemented to address these, and that the Department has a strong long-term planning competency.

South Africa is amongst the few countries that enjoy the best quality of tap water in the world, and DWAF has worked closely with municipalities to maintain a rapid response mechanism using electronic monitoring to ensure availability of high quality tap water.

Problems relating to maintenance of dam infrastructure are being addressed via a R1.25bn Dam Safety Rehabilitation Programme which began in 2005. Mines with acidic waste water run-off are co-operating with DWAF to prevent pollution and there is no threat of ground water being polluted. However, stronger institutional mechanisms are required to deal with Municipalities and companies that allow water resources to become polluted. A pilot programme in eight municipalities is hoped to improve water conservation by 15%. Licenses are being introduced to large-scale water users in an attempt to control the water utilization better. Over and above institutional action, the Minister welcomes public participation to rectify failures and reminds us that water-conservation should be practiced as a matter of course because a drought period in a water-scarce country like South Africa could happen at any stage if we don't get enough rain.