The country is
facing one of the fallouts of
the racist laws of the
apartheid regime in the form
of severe water shortage. The
government is planning to
reform obsolete water laws
which gave exclusive rights
to private landowners and
industrialists with the result
that today, the greater
portion of the nation's
usable water is controlled
by a small number of
landowners.
More than 65 per cent of
the nation's usable water is
either privately-owned or
used under rights guaranteed
by outdated laws, some of
which date back 300 years.
Increased pumping of
groundwater, dryland and
rainfed farming and mushrooming of small dams on
farms, have resulted in a
huge decrease in the water
that reaches South Africa's
rivers.
The government is now
undertaking a review of laws
that allow 'private water' and
'riparian' rights to commercial farmers. Experts feel that
even if the farmers reduce one per cent of water
wastage, it would meet the
basic needs of nine million
people.
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