Heritage Cases

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS, hereafter) is a state organ that exists to ensure equitable access to water for all South Africans as well as to protect, use, develop, conserve, manage and control water resources. In 2017, DWS undertook a feasibility study to assess five (5) potential dam sites for the Algoa Water Supply System (AWSS). The Lower Coerney site was eventually found to be the most feasible and most viable for the construction of the required balancing dam. Subsequently, GA Environment (Pty) Ltd was appointed by DWS, as independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to undertake the Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and the Water Use License Application (WULA) process for the proposed construction of the Lower Coerney Balancing Dam, as part of the AWSS. It must be noted that the WULA process was discontinued in October 2022 due to the exemption for DWS from undertaking WULA processes as confirmed with the DWS Licensing Officials. The proposed dam will require approximately 77 hectares of land, have a dam wall of 20.5 m high and have a capacity of 4.69 million m3. The objectives of the balancing dam are to: • Limit risks of shortfall in supply to the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBM) and the Lower Sundays River Government Water Scheme (LSRGWS); • Remove potential operating system constraints for sustainable delivery of bulk Orange River water supply to the LSRGWS and NMBM, for water requirements up to 2040; and • Limit operational risks to acceptable levels. The existing Scheepersvlakte Dam is a balancing facility for water supply to the Lower Sundays River Water User Association (LSRWUA) and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBM) for emergency supply of up to 21 days. The need for a new balancing dam on the Scheepersvlakte Farm is due to the inadequate water supply owing to the smaller capacity of the existing Scheepersvlakte Dam to provide water supply to NMBM, during an emergency. The main purpose of the proposed new balancing dam at the Coerney site is to eliminate the operational and balancing storage limitations imposed by the Scheepersvlakte Dam.