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Call For Urgent Rethink On Skuifraam Dam

by John Yeld , The Cape Argus, South Africa - 21 November 2000

The entire motivation for the proposed Skuifraam Dam on the Berg River near Franschhoek in Cape Town needs to be reassessed urgently, a wide-ranging group of organisations and individuals has told Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Ronnie Kasrils.

Their call comes just days after the World Commission on Dams released its final report which states, among other things, that while large dams have made an important and significant contribution to human development, their social and environmental costs have been unacceptable and often unnecessary.

Kasrils recently gave the go-ahead for the controversial dam which has been years in the planning, after it was provisionally blocked by his predecessor Kader Asmal, who also chaired the World Commission on Dams. The Berg River is the last major free-flowing river in the region. Prof Asmal declined to approve the new dam until the Cape Metropolitan Council had an effective water demand management programme in place, arguing that the current system allowed the rich to use water wastefully while being subsidised by the poor.

One of the highlights of the commission's report is a new framework for decision-making about large dams. It moves beyond simple cost-benefit trade-offs, introducing instead an inclusive, "rights and risks" approach which recognises all stakeholders in negotiating development choices. After meeting Kasrils last week, group spokesperon John Taylor said water use in the Western Cape had always been managed by the authorities in terms of the "classic equation" of increasing demand leading to increasing supply. "However, the supply side of the equation has never factored in the true and long-term costs to the environment and the costs to marginalised and directly affected communities and businesses," he said. "This has led to a false sense of security regarding the continued supply of water and, as a result, to delays in implementation of comprehensive and effective water demand management regimes."

The government needed to ensure that residents understood the true cost of reticulated purified water and the need to manage and conserve the region's water resources. "The problems anticipated as a result of water shortages of the new unicity can by and large be avoided and minimised if all water consumers in the region follow the simple precaution of becoming water-wise and managing their consumption."

Citing growing concern worldwide about the effects of dams, the group is asking for an independent and objective review or assessment of:

- the motivation and selection of Skuifraam Dam, against the criteria for such dams by the world commission;

- the approval process, including all environmental impact assessments, and water conservation and demand management evaluation reports;

- the final construction and environmental costs, including the impacts on affected communities, economies and ecosystems along the Berg River;

- all alternatives to the construction of Skuifraam - including aquifers, eradication of leakages, alien vegetation removal and recycling; and

- the financial implications of the cost of Skuifraam, particularly the direct and indirect cost to individual consumers, compared to the alternatives.

Those calling for the review include the Environmental Monitoring Group; Earthlife Africa (Cape Town); Wildlife and Environment Society of SA; International Rivers Network; the World-Wide Fund for Nature - South Africa; SA Water Crisis; Environmental Justice Networking Forum (Water Caucus); Peninsula Mountain Forum; Environmental Law Association; Cape Bird Club; Water Rhapsody; Birdlife SA; Professors Les Underhill and JP Hattingh; and Dr Bryan Jagoe-Davies.

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