Case Study #86

Lower Olifants sub-basin - below the Olifants-Steelport confluence

In the lower Olifants, water stress and water quality issues due to the variety of different water uses affect water users downstream, amongst them the Kruger National Park (photo by Jens Hilbig).

Governance Level

local

Water management topics addressed

Water abstraction for irrigation and other economic activities; Water quality issues: Other reasons

#86: Lower Olifants sub-basin - below the Olifants-Steelport confluence

Description

The lack of a responsible agency (CMA) in the catchment is a main problem in the area. Due to the lack of through the responsible department (lack of funds and capacity), local actors try to manage the water resources (and literally try to keep the river flowing) as best as they can through informal agreements and committees. Main actors are SANParks (Kruger National Park), AWARD (local NGO funded by USAid until the end of 2019), and big local mining companies amongst others. Several fora have been established, e.g. LOROC (Lower Olifants River Operation Committee), OLLI (Olifants, Levuvhu, Letaba, Inkomati Technical Operation Committee), ORF (Olifants River Forum) consisting of different actors and stakeholders including representatives of the department of water and sanitation.

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