Heritage Cases

The applicant, Mr. Pieter Louw, has developed four (4) cultivated circular pivot lands (100ha) on the Remaining Extent of the Farm New Waterford no. 229 and Portion 2 of the Farm New Waterford no. 229 near Hopetown, as well as two water extraction points in the Orange River for which environmental authorisation was not previously obtained from the Northern Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation (DENC). The applicant has become aware of this transgression and has opted to follow a Section 24G rectification process in accordance with the National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998) (NEMA). Two of the pivots (pivots number 7 and 8) are 20 hectares and the remaining two pivots (pivots number 11 and 12) are 30 hectares. These pivots are primarily being utilised for the planting of maize during the months of December until June and Wheat from July to November. Cotton seed and Soya seeds are also planted on these pivots on a crop rotation cycle in order to maintain soil fertility quality. Also established are two water pipelines extracting water from the Orange river for irrigation purposes. The first pipeline (as per coordinates above) is for irrigation of the four pivots being applied for in this impact assessment report. The pipeline is currently 300mm in diameter and stretch a total distance of 1.3km to the existing dam. The applicant will however upgrade the current pipeline to a 500mm diameter pipeline in order to accommodate for the additional water which is being purchased at the moment. From the dam, water is being extracted and fed to the respective pivot areas for irrigation. The second pipeline (as per coordinates above) is an existing 500mm pipeline extracting water from the orange river to the onsite settling dam over a distance of 500 meters. The pivots for whish this water is extracted are not being applied for as they were established prior to the environmental legislation being put in place. However, the pipeline is a new pipeline and therefore being applied for. Already established farm roads are already in place which link up with the pivots.