Mr. Chairman, I claim the privilege of the half hour. We come today to the consideration of this Vote at a time when—and I do not think I am exaggerating when I say this—our water is becoming more precious than gold. Water is an inexhaustible commodity which is self-renewing, up to a point, whereas gold is far from being inexhaustible. We shall have to look forward to the day when we shall no longer be able to rely on gold. When that time comes, we may find that our civilization is dependent upon a pure water supply, and that the way in which we handle that resource will determine our future. Let me come at once, then, to some of the problems which we see at the present time with the vast development that is taking place in our country. All these developments require not only water, but a pure water supply. We on this side of the House would like to urge the hon. the Minister to see that a series of surveys on a regional basis is undertaken in order to present in fairly readable form the vital statistics regarding water supplies in the various regions of the Republic. It may be that those reports are already available in some form or other although they are not readily available. I have here a report of the Natal Town and Regional Planning Commission, dated 1971, which deals with the water resources of the coastal areas of Northern Natal and Zululand. This is a pretty thick volume, especially for a layman like myself, to wade through, but it gives a concise view of the water resources in that area. It is not necessarily along these lines that we ask for these regional surveys to be conducted. There is one area that has been dealt with by the Department of Water Affairs under the hon. the Minister and that report, which deals with the Berg River, its associated catchment areas and the rivers associated with it in that regional plan, is a very good one indeed. If that kind of planning could be adopted to cover the various regions, I think we would then get a fairly clear picture, overall, not only as regards the resources, but also as regards the dangers we have to anticipate regarding any shortage of water.

Recently, Sir, the Vote of the hon. the Minister of Planning and the Environment was discussed. He had with him a booklet which he had obtained from the British Government, a booklet which was prepared particularly for the occasion of the United Nations conference on the human environment in Stockholm in 1972. I may say that it is extremely worthwhile reading. The hon. the Minister did me the kindness of letting me have it while he is away. It is really worthwhile reading, because it shows what the British Government, with its vast resources, is doing in regard not only to the human environment in so many different ways, but also in this particular case, in regard to water. According to this report, the Secretary of State in charge of the Environment in Britain, said the following—

He goes on to say the following—

Here, Sir, we could substitute “to ensure the wisest use of South Africa’s scarce water”. He continues—

This all simply tends to stress the value of the water that we have and the steps which should be taken to keep it in a pure state. The first question I should like to put to the hon. the Minister this afternoon is whether he will consider, with his technical advisers, the possibility of having regional plans, rather on the lines of the programme for the Berg River scheme, extended over the other parts of the country.

In dealing with pollution, one of the points raised by this British pamphlet, I would like to ask the hon. the Minister please to tell us in words of one syllable, so that I as a simple farmer can understand and pass it on to other people, just what the position is in regard to pollution of water other than sea water. He must please explain to us who the appropriate authority is, and how people should go about complaining of such pollution. He must explain to us how people should report such pollution, what machinery there is for handling such reports, and what actually takes place in this regard. In other words, whom should the ordinary man in the street contact so that the question of the pollution of our water supplies can be adequately dealt with? This is another of those cases where a matter of such importance is ill-understood by the ordinary citizen. Because I want to say that it is quite inadequate that erudite and highly intelligent and educated White people shall know what to do about it. [Interjections.]

Order! Hon. members must not converse so loudly.

I wonder whether they would not go and put a little more water with it, Mr. Chairman.

Order! The hon. member for South Coast must not make insinuations like that.

Mr. Chairman I beg your pardon, but I am dealing with water and it is a matter that naturally comes uppermost to my mind. Sir, what is needed is publicity as to what should be done. The people, not only the White folk but the Coloureds, the Indians and the Bantu should know what has to be done. It is no good our trying to keep pure the water supplies in the White areas; that is not saving South Africa’s water supplies. Sir, that leads me directly to the next question: Will the hon. the Minister tell us, if he is able to do so at this stage of development, what is to be the future of the big rivers that are flowing through the so-called Bantu homelands now in process of consolidation? What is to happen to the water in those rivers? Under whose control will that water fall, from the point of view of the purification of water already polluted and from the point of view of the care of that water so that it shall not be polluted in the first place? Who is to take the necessary action if pollution takes place, and under what circumstances? All this, Sir, is something in which we are all deeply involved, because let me repeat that our water supply is like disease; it knows no racial boundaries. Polluted waters coming from a Bantu homeland into a White industrial area, into a White urban area or into a White town, carries that pollution with it into whatever area it may go; and while it is true that provision is being made for us to purify water hereafter when it has become polluted, that can be an extremely costly business. Sir, what we are concerned with much more than the curing of the evil, is to see that it does not arise; we want to prevent it. Here then, Sir, are three of the questions that I want to put to the hon. the Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I now come to another point which concerns the use of our water. It is already clear from talks that we have with technical people that we are reaching the stage in South Africa when there will be no more large dams built for irrigation purposes alone. I do not want to be misunderstood, Mr. Chairman; I say “built” for irrigation purposes alone, built only for the purpose of providing water for irrigation. I believe that those days are gone in South Africa, and I believe that the authorities recognize it. In other words, dams that are built hereafter will be used for the purpose of urban communities, industrial communities, and then, lastly, irrigation settlements and so forth. The irrigation settlements are probably the most prodigal users of water, and they have been put down at the bottom of the list, inevitably, because there is inadequate water. If dams are built in future, the first people to get that water will be the urban communities, our towns, our cities, and then from there the water will go to your big industrialists, who by and large are probably the people who make the best economic use of water, and thereafter it will go to the rural community. It follows, Sir, that if we get a stretch of two or three very bad drought years and supplies drop very badly, then the people at the end of the udder are the people who are going to get left out, with less milk than anybody else, and that means, Sir, that the urban communities and the industrialists will get it and the irrigator will be the last to get what is left.

Sir, while we have got bad drought years, we have also got flood years, and I do not want to trespass now on to another matter altogether, and that is the question of soil conservation or anti-soil erosion measures and the question of our veld and veld preservation. But, Sir, here we are dealing with one of those things where, as in the past, before the hon. the Prime Minister arranged for the hon. the Minister of Water Affairs to be the Minister of Forestry also, we were continually clashing because these two concepts continually came together in real life, in practice; and similarly, Sir, in the case of soil erosion and the protection of the grass—the vegetable covering of our land—water supply continually impinges on that concept, I am going to try therefore to draw a narrow line, Mr. Chairman, and I am sure you will be sympathetic towards my efforts to keep off the grass, shall I say, and to keep in the water.

The hon. member must keep to the furrows.

Keep the narrow furrows? I will do my best, Mr. Chairman. I am sure you will correct me if I go wrong.

Sir, I want to say something now on the question of flood water. We have a phenomenon in our country which is becoming a greater and greater menace to many aspects of our economic life, and that is the spread of the Karoo eastwards. I think today it is a matter of 400 miles long and about 200 miles wide. Sir, I believe it is worthwhile in the national interest for the Government to pay attention to the possible use of floodwater in that area to see whether we can do something to return the vegetation cycle in that area, a cycle which now seems to have reached its maximum effect in the eastward stretch of the Karoo through lack of water. The vegetation itself has changed; the character of the climate itself is changing; the very substance of the soil is changing because of the lack of water. Sir, just think how that situation could change if we could have an increase in the natural rainfall. As was pointed out the other day by my hon. friend, the member for Walmer, with his interest in weather modification, here is a vast field in which those experiments could be carried out. We have flood-water at the present time which runs to waste, and even in a limited sphere, to start with, it may be possible for us to reverse that trend in the overall interests of South Africa, because if we can succeed in one limited area, then surely we can learn the lesson and we can then see what we can do to set back the vegetative time-table in order, first of all, to stop this spread to the east and then to recover what has happened and to do it through water. Do you know, Sir, in my part of the country we have one plant which we call the “critical” plant— the sedge—and if anybody down there, who has studied vegetation, water supply, soil erosion and so forth, sees that plant, he says at once, “You will have soil water for 11 months in the year.” Sedge won’t grow if you have a dry period lasting for more than 30 days; it dies. That is the critical plant. If you see sedge, you can say that there is soil water there for 11 months in the year. Your cultivation and your farming can be dictated then by the knowledge that you are safe in that particular area so long as you have that plant growing there. Sir, we want “critical” plants for the Karoo, critical plants which are going to show whether we can put into reverse this very long-established change which has taken place in the actual physical properties of the soil as a result of the encroachment of the Karoo system. We want a long-term plan costing a lot of money, requiring scientists to go into the whole thing, not only scientists for the one discipline, but probably scientists representing many disciplines, to have a good look at it and to decide which is the best way, if it is possible, for us to use floodwater for the purpose of trying to reclaim at any rate a portion of the Karoo: to see, on an experimental basis, whether it will work or not.

Sir, I would like to finish on this note with regard to the Karoo. There does seem to be a feeling in some quarters that we must abandon it; that we must throw up our hands and say that it is too big; that we can do nothing about it. Sir, I hope that we will not do that. Let us try to re-establish it. Let us have faith in our own efforts and the efforts of our scientists—soil scientists and others—and see whether it is not possible for us to bring redemption to that area by setting back the vegetative timetable for that area.

Sir, if I may, I want to deal for a moment or two with the question of dams. There was a time when we advocated the building of dams and many people have got them; I am one of those who took this advice to heart. We built our dams and conserved our water and so on. But, Sir, I wonder whether that is really the best place to conserve our water when all is said and done, good as those dams may be. They are very valuable and in fact invaluable; we cannot do without them. They are absolutely essential. Part of the way that we live in South Africa is to have our water stored in dams. But I still believe that the proper place for our water to be stored is in the soil, in terms of the vegetation. The hon. the Minister as Minister of Forestry will of course be dealing with this in another context and we can then also deal with this. But the fact of the matter is that as Minister of Water Affairs I think here is a very good opportunity for the hon. the Minister to get together with the Minister of Agriculture with a view to seeing how far an agricultural policy can be devised which will assist him in storing water. I know the Minister is interested in saving our water supplies and that I am talking to the converted. I know it is not necessary to tell the Minister how necessary it is to conserve water. I know it is close to his heart but I do not think he can do it alone. I do not think the Minister of Water Affairs, without the help of his colleague, can take the necessary steps that are desirable and necessary for South Africa to conserve our water where it should be conserved, which is under the vegetation in the soil. It is only when we get our springs running again and get our small streams, which now run only at times of thunderstorms and floods and heavy downpours and then they dry up again—if we can get them running again as perennial streams we will be doing the best to conserve the true water supplies of South Africa. But I do not think the Minister of Water Affairs car do it except in certain areas under his control, his as Minister of Forestry. There he has the matter in hand. I accept that. Rome was not built in a day and this will not be done in a day. I repeat that I believe the hon. the Minister is entitled to ask his colleague for help, and I believe that we as Parliament are entitled to say that the time is now fast approaching when water will be more precious than gold. Let us take this renewable resource and see that it becomes renewable, and see that it is not wasted or polluted or allowed to run away, but that it comes back to us and is conserved. Sir, I leave it at that and I appeal to the hon. the Minister to see whether he can get the co-operation of his colleague in regard to this matter of water conservation in the soil.

The hon. member for South Coast will pardon me if I do not reply to his argument. The hon. the Minister will probably respond to it. I just want to tell the hon. member that I have the greatest respect for him for pleading as wonderful a case as water affairs over a period of so many years. All I am sorry about is that the hon. member is still, after so many years, sitting on that side of the House instead of having come over to this side of the House.

I would like to congratulate the hon. the Minister on the achievements accomplished in the past year. I would like to congratulate the Minister together with the head of the department and the members of the staff, on the wonderful progress which has again been made in this sphere and on which a report will be prepared. This department is undoubtedly facing a tremendous challenge. Arnold Toynbee once said that the greater the challenge, the greater man’s response. Indeed, it can be said of this Department that the greater the challenge, the better is the response from the hon. the Minister and his department and staff. The challenge facing the Republic is contained in the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the water affairs of the Republic, which states that in the year 2000 the demand for water will exceed the supply by 33%. You will therefore realize that this challenge with which the Department of Water Affairs is faced, is a major one, particularly if seen in the light of the fact that we are a young country which is still developing at a rapid pace. It is in this very respect that I want to congratulate the hon. the Minister and his department on the increase in the number of staff, particularly technicians, in this department. I believe we owe this to attempts on the part of the department to have technicians trained for itself, and for that it enjoys the highest, greatest appreciation of our country and its people. But something which is also striking is the fact that Prof. Midgeley of the University of the Witwatersrand once said that we should stop bewailing the limited water supply of the Republic; we should rather apply ourselves to its better utilization. This is a truth which we should really not lose sight of, but should exploit in order better to utilize the existing supplies. Langenhoven once said that it is not talents that make man, but that it is the way those talents are applied that makes a person gifted. I believe that this department has had signal success in utilizing correctly the talents allocated to it, because we have in this department a vitality which fills one with envy. I am reminded of the various professorships which, with the aid of the department, have been established at various universities in the Republic. I am reminded of two in particular, namely irrigational engineering at the University of Stellenbosch and water utilization engineering at the University of Pretoria. Perhaps the hon. the Minister could tell us something about the development of these professorships.

Often, too, one is struck by decisions of the department, decisions which, in one’s ignorance, one does not always find so easy to follow, for example the rumours which are doing the rounds in my constituency that the canal system at the mouth of the Cookhouse tunnel is to be changed and that there will be a possible saving of about R8 million. Perhaps the hon. the Minister could expand on this a little for the information of our voters, because those rumours have caused a lot of confusion in my constituency.

In the words of Prof. Midgeley which I have already quoted, I want to put it that there should be better utilization of existing supplies. To me this is associated with a better distribution of the existing supplies. I am reminded of the supply of water to smaller municipalities, municipalities which have remained small precisely because of a lack of water supply. In my constituency for example there are the villages of Riebeeck East, Patterson, Alicedale and those further down the Bushman River to the coastal resorts, places where those small town councils are really being impeded because of a lack of water distribution. I would like to ask whether the hon. the Minister could not perhaps consider a comprehensive plan for water distribution to those smaller town councils below the Orange-Fish River project.

I would very much like to thank the hon. the Minister and the members of his department for what they have already done; I want to congratulate them on the achievements accomplished and wish them every success for the year ahead. As I have said, the activities of this department are associated with the scope of the challenge put to them. To me it has always been an exceptional experience to see how this department faces up to this challenge.

Mr. Chairman, it is the water policy of the hon. the Minister of Water Affairs that South Africa be divided into planning regions for the development of water resources in South Africa. A report of the Water Commission states—

This is an admirable and a commendable concept, and as the Minister knows, we agree with water planning regions as have been visualized by the hon. the Minister. Where water planning regions are established we will certainly support the concept, but I can find no reference in the report of the Department of Water Affairs to any such regions having been established. I see that mention is made of certain organizations—I think there are eight in all—but they appear to have administrative objects but I see no reference to these water planning regions. Were these water planning regions ever established? Were water planning boards ever appointed or elected? I do not see any reference to this whatsoever in the report. The greater Boland water plan was so dramatically announced by the hon. the Minister at Goudini, and I believe that he made a two-hour speech which was dramatized by a slide show and further advertised with a big map and flashing lights to bring this scheme home to the various farmers living in that area. I know that the plan has since been considerably amended and in the report on the Boland plan I see that the Slanghoek dam, and also the Witrivier diversion as announced with such fanfare, have since been scrapped. I believe that a well-planned Boland water scheme will certainly be needed to meet the challenges of the future, since we will certainly have an enormous development in this area. There will be enormous urbanization and urban development along the east coast, as well as along the west coast, with Saldanha as a bigger harbour in the offing. Therefore, I think it would perhaps be essential that we should now plan for the year 2000. During the last drought we saw how enormous losses were incurred by fruit farmers and grape farmers in the Over-Hex as well as in the Hex River valley. To mention but one area, at De Dooms, like in the Hex River valley, we see that in a normal year about five million boxes of grapes can be produced on about 3 000 ha of land. At an average price of about R1-50 per box, it will mean an income of about R7½ million in foreign exchange for South Africa in a year. Last year’s drought caused a loss in that one particular area of an assessed amount of about 1,3 million boxes of export grapes and in this year the value of that was about R1,95 million. This means a loss of about R2 million for that one particular area alone.

The Minister has those particulars.

What are you doing about it?

But he can always be reminded of the position.

In spite of the objections raised by that hon. member, we have seen how numerous farmers in that area had to leave their farms and find employment elsewhere. I wonder what the hon. member for Worcester has been doing in this regard. Other farmers had to pump water from boreholes, and we saw those boreholes ultimately yielding brackish water. Other farmers in the Over-Hex area had to pump water from dams, and even those dams were eventually yielding brackish water. This brackish water was not only harmful to their crop last year, but even the plants and the vines as such were damaged by it. According to reports, Press farmers had to take out their vineyards in some places. It has become imperative for the water supplies of that area to be supplemented, specially as that area is such a high production area. The Sand River Government water scheme was able to produce only 0,8 inches of water, i.e. approximately 22 mm, during the past year. We know the scheme is not completed yet, but we and the farmers in the vicinity believe that the Roode Elsberg Dam and the Lakenvallei Dam will not supplement the requirements of that area adequately, particularly when they first have to provide 155 cusecs to the Over-Hex/Nuy complex regularly before, as I was told, being able to store water in the Rhoode Elsberg Dam and in the Lakenvallei Dam. In addition they also have to allow 54% of the water through the Sesbek division for the Over-Hex/Nuy area. There are farmers in the Hex River valley who are looking with envious eyes and anticipation at the water which is being diverted through the Inverdooren canal above the Lakenvallei Dam in the Matroos Mountain. This water is being taken approximately 20 to 25 miles in a completely opposite direction to supply water to a small group of farmers. Unfortunately these farmers have no alternative water supply. The farmers in the Hex River valley feel, perhaps quite rightly, that the water is really theirs by right. The only possible solution with regard to this Inverdooren canal is to buy out those few farmers who receive water from the Inverdooren canal and make the water available to the Hex River valley. Another possible solution for the Hex River irrigation farmers is, of course the diversion of the water, as is explained in White Paper no. J72, from the Greater Brandvlei Dam into the Bree River so that it can be pumped from there to the Sesbek division for distribution to the high-lying canal system which is to serve the Nuy / Nonna / Nooitgedacht / Over-Hex area. However, this will only help the Hex River farmers if they no longer have to allow the 155 cusecs at the Roode Elsberg Dam or the 54% of water to go through before they are allowed to use that water. I would like to hear from the Minister what his solution for that particular area is, what their planning for the future of that area is and when these plans can be expected to be finally implemented.

These plans will fit in quite well with the policy of the United Party, namely, in the first place, for established communities to be assured of their water supplies, and, in the second place, for a water network to be planned in the high catchment areas, the mountains, with a fair distribution and allocation of water to the various communities. The United Party also believes that there should be advance planning as a matter of urgency, such as the planning which has already to a certain extent been undertaken by the Minister in respect of the Greater Boland scheme, and also that consideration should be given well in advance to the future requirements and distribution of water over the next 25 years. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, if there is one person I can understand being a U.P. supporter, it is the hon. member for Benoni.

Thank you!

The Lord knows, he is a real heel snapper who is continually, for each …

Order! I do not think that the hon. member should use that description.

He is continually prying into every other constituency except his own and into those other constituencies from which he has fled. If he were to keep himself properly informed about what is happening in those constituencies, I would have no objection, but he is continually busy, like an old woman, with some piece of gossip or another. He scratches here and scratches there and really does not know what is going on. He does not even know in whose constituency it falls. The Hex River Valley has nothing to do with the Worcester constituency and the hon. member must realize that. He is dealing with the wrong person.

It has a great deal to do with South Africa.

What U.P. supporter ever did anything for South Africa? I would like to bring a few matters to the attention of the hon. the Minister, matters which are not really of local importance, but of more general importance. These matters concern the price of water in the first instance and the conservation of water in the second instance. The Minister laid down as a policy that the price of irrigation water be adjusted so that the water eventually covers at least the administration cost of the specific scheme. I would not like to create the impression with the hon. the Minister that I am opposed to that policy; definitely not, but because of the ever escalating costs associated with farming and irrigation practices in particular, I want to ask the hon. the Minister to slow down the increase in these prices a little. Just give farmers a chance so that the prices of that water may be adjusted.

On an earlier occasion I brought this to the attention of the Minister, and I should like to address another appeal to the hon. the Minister, to do away in his department with this practice of calling this a water tax. To me this can never be a tax: this is water one buys for irrigation purposes. Let us talk about the cost of water or the water tariff, and I think the farmers will then have a much better understanding of the matter.

The second matter I should like to bring to the attention of the hon. the Minister is the saving of water. The practice, too, of increasing the price of water as consumption increases, is aimed at saving water. I find no fault with that, but now we are continually pleading with the farmers to save water and it may happen that a farmer, at the end of the season, has really made a substantial saving on the quota allocated to him and which he can buy. But as the position stands today, that water is lost to the farmer; he is unable to use that water the following season. I think that it would be a good thing if the hon. the Minister were to change his regulations in such a way—and I really think that this is practically possible—that if the farmer has a certain amount of water left which he has saved, that water can remain behind the dam wall for him so that he can use it again the following season. I see the Minister is smiling and I think he will accommodate us in this respect. Of course it is quite clear that that water cannot be stored behind the dam wall year after year, but after that dam has overflowed for the first time, that water will have disappeared. Another practice in accordance with the Water Act—I think that this is essential— is the scheduling of irrigation plots. However, I think the Act reads that scheduled land may only be irrigated by means of gravity. I can appreciate that this is essential for scheduling. However, I think that after that scheduling has been completed, a farmer may discover that he has far more suitable land above the canal than below. With most irrigation schemes today the situation is that after the water has been diverted from the canal a farmer is not allowed to pump that water to above the canal where there is likely to be far better irrigable land. To me the point at issue is the saving of water, in that a farmer is able to achieve a higher production with the same quantity of water after it has been diverted from the canal on the more suitable land. After all, water saving is not an absolute term, but a relative one. There are also cases where irrigation farmers have scheduled more than one piece of ground for irrigation. Now I know that under the new irrigation schemes, a piece of land is not scheduled unless it is an A I type of land. Under the older irrigation schemes, however, there is still plenty of ground which is scheduled and which is not an A I type of irrigable land. Now it may be that a farmer has some excellent land on another farm which is also scheduled, but in accordance with the present dispensation he is forbidden to pump the water he uses on one farm, to another farm to utilize the better land in this way. I realize that all kinds of problems could arise in this connection, but I really do not think that these problems are insurmountable. Unfortunately my time has expired, but I just want to add that the regulations with regard to the practical utilization of water, could profitably be revised with a view to the better utilization of water on better land and with a view to more modern irrigation practices.

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Benoni, when he was dealing with the Berg River scheme, was quoting from a publication by the Department of Water Affairs called “The Boland Project”. The hon. member for Fauresmith took the hon. member for Benoni to task for not knowing that the scheme is not in the constituency of the hon. member for Worcester. But this is a scheme which covers the whole of the south-western Cape, from Saldanha Bay to Cape Town, to the Theewaterskloof Dam, to Caledon. It is quite obvious that the hon. member for Fauresmith has not even read this publication. He cannot possibly have had even a most cursory glance at this publication, and then he has the nerve to criticize the hon. member for Benoni for having taken an ordinary, common-sense interest in the publications issued by the Department of Water Affairs. But if that hon. member is as good a doctor as he is a member of Parliament, I wonder where he has buried all his patients! This must be terribly disappointing to the hon. the Minister and his department, after having published a well-thought-out document which contains a list of all the White Papers dealing with the subject, and which members can read to inform themselves about what is going on. I want to say to the hon. the Minister that I hope we are going to see more of this kind of publication, because water affairs as such have expanded tremendously since the old days, when it was merely a matter of dams and schemes in certain localized areas.

Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, I think the hon. member for Mooirivier has cast very serious reflections on me as a medical practitioner in that he posed the question: “I wonder where he has buried all his patients?” [Interjections.]

Order! The hon. member may proceed.

Mr. Chairman, the point I want to make is that the development of water affairs is going to take place to an increasing extent on a regional basis. If you look at the development of the Tugela River in Natal, for instance, there is a plan afoot, drawn up by Prof. Matthews, which deals in considerable detail with the projected development of the Tugela Basin. If the Department of Water Affairs can find the time to bring out a detailed plan such as this one on the Tugela River—and I hope I shall have a chance to speak about this later on—I am sure that it will arouse considerable interest in the minds of the public.

To come to the point I wish to make in relation to the Department of Water Affairs, I wonder whether people realize quite how much money is spent by this department. In this current year this department is spending R114 million. They spent R90 million-odd last year, and last year was a year of great shortage of money. In the year before that they spent something like R100 million, and if you look at Loan Vote E, you will find that the total cost of work to which South Africa is today committed is of the order of R874½ million; this is the amount being spent by the Department of Water Affairs. Of that amount some R526 million has been spent. We are spending R114 million this year, and then there is R241 million left, merely to complete the works on which we are now engaged. That is the amount on Loan Vote alone.

Now my problem is that we as Members of Parliament who are interested in water affairs have, during the discussion of the Budget, only some four or four and a half hours to discuss a department which has committed South Africa to the expenditure of R874 million. I wish to renew an appeal I have made before to the hon. the Minister, namely that consideration should be given to broadening the powers of the Select Committee of which the hon. member for Piketberg is the chairman, in order that that Select Committee will be able constantly to keep in review and in mind the projects on which we are engaged. As far as I am concerned, for Members of Parliament to have a total time of only four hours—that is the time allocated to both sides of the House—to debate a matter of this magnitude, embracing this colossal sum of money, is absolutely inadequate. I just do not think that hon. members on either side of this House can give the necessary attention to the spending of a sum of money of that nature that this matter deserves.

Every year we have White Papers submitted to members of this House. They are also referred to the Select Committee, but having once been given such a White Paper, the matter is lost sight of. We had a case last year before the Select Committee where a dam had been planned for a certain place on a river, at a cost of R1½ million. A new White Paper was then produced, according to which that very same dam was moved seven kilometres down-river at a cost of R4½ million. I believe that this is something that this Parliament ought to take a far closer look at, so that it can stay in closer contact with projects which are in the hands of the Department of Water Affairs. It is becoming more and more serious because every single year, as State dams get bigger and bigger, you are finding that the tentacles of the Water Affairs Department—and I do not use the word “tentacles” in a derogatory fashion—in the shape of canals are expanding further and further and taking over more and more areas which have been run by irrigation boards and other organizations of that sort, which have been essentially private before and which have borrowed money from the department to finance loans and that kind of thing. They are being taken over simply because the State is now providing them with a certain guaranteed flow of water which they have never had before. Sir, I believe that the Select Committee on Irrigation Matters should be expanded. I think that this Select Committee should have a far closer look at this development. I think we should be able to sit down with officials from the department to review the whole sweep of developments inside the Water Affairs Department.

Sir, I have one particular problem. I asked a question the other day in relation to water works which had been taken over by the State in terms of section 95(a) of the Water Act, as amended by us in the Select Committee in 1971. There the hon. the Minister has the right to write off loans which have been entered into by irrigation boards, for various reasons, usually because the board is not able to meet its obligations, or because of inefficient management or something of that nature. I attempted to establish with the department that where an amount of money is written off, there is no corresponding obligation incurred on the other side of the ledger. Where a sum of money owing by a board to the State is written off, and where the State levies a rate on irrigators who are now acquiring a guaranteed supply of water from the State, I believe that they should take into account some capital amount which would be recovered by means of a yearly rate levied by the Department of Water Affairs. I think that this is something which would certainly have a salutary effect in that people would then not be striving, as they often do, to have considerable sums of money written off in the way of capital loans in order to get the benefit of a guaranteed supply of water and the whole amount of that capital simply disappears down the drain. I do not think that is a satisfactory situation at all.

Sir, in the very few minutes left to me, I would like to ask the hon. the Minister to give us some information—if I may refer again to this Boland project—on the question of the supply of water to Durban. The Umgeni River …

But Durban’s water does not come from here.

No Durban’s water does not come from the Boland. I am glad that the hon. member for Stellenbosch has come to that conclusion. It is a very deep thought, and very original. [Time expired.]

Sir, I shall not attempt to reply to the final point raised by the hon. member for Mooi River, namely the writing off of capital owed by irrigation boards. I am sure that the hon. the Minister will reply to that. However, I just want to say this to the hon. member: He is a Whip of this House and he knows the procedure which is followed in determining the time set aside for the discussion of each Vote. He expressed his misgivings here in this Committee, but I do not think that the amount of money which appears on the Budget for a particular department or a particular Vote, is the decisive factor in determining the time set aside for the discussion of the department or Vote concerned. Nor do I want to go any further into the function and the task of a Standing Committee on Water Affairs. Perhaps it would serve a useful purpose, as was suggested by the hon. member, to refer certain of these matters to a Standing Committee.

Sir, I rise here in order to say in public, in the hearing of the whole world, that if ever there was reason for the inhabitants of any country in the world to pay tribute to a person in that country for national service rendered to the inhabitants of that country, then the people of South Africa certainly have reason to pay tribute, justly and with pride, to the hon. the Minister of Water Affairs, the hon. Mr. Fanie Botha, for the national service which he has rendered to South Africa, and for the fact that the year before last, by means of the Water Year which we celebrated with so much success, he caused the inhabitants of South Africa to be water conscious. I think that we are all aware of the fact that water definitely is the most limiting factor in South Africa, the factor which determines our growth in South Africa, our growth in the industrial sphere, the agricultural sphere and the population sphere.

Now we can do no more but express our heartfelt thanks to a dedicated Minister with a dedicated department and dedicated officials for the way in which they have conserved this precious possession of South Africa, namely our water, and have utilized and exploited it in the service of South Africa and its entire population. When I say this, I am not referring to a part of the population only, but to every inhabitant of South Africa. All of us in this country are dependent on water. I am talking on behalf of agriculture and on behalf of industry, everyone who must use water in South Africa. It is for that very reason that it is so necessary and imperative for us in South Africa to utilize our water to the best effect. It is disturbing to say that it has come to my notice that 50% or more of the water allocated to agriculture, is lost in transit—not intentionally, but because at present we do not have the funds to line all the canals carrying water to the fields.

On this occasion, therefore, I want to address a very strong plea and make an appeal to the bodies responsible for this, to ensure that the funds are made available to enable the Department of Water Affairs to line these canals. South Africa cannot afford the loss of that water. Those canals must be lined, or cemented, or lined with some other material in order to bring the maximum amount of that water to the point where we can utilize it to produce food for the growing population of the country.

I want to avail myself of this opportunity to extend my hearty thanks to the hon. the Minister and his department for seeing also to water for domestic use, for human consumption in towns and cities, and also in the smaller towns; because we shall have to expedite our thinking with regard to the decentralization of industries and the decentralization of people. Therefore it is necessary to give some thought also to the smaller towns where water must be supplied. Particularly in this regard I want to express my hearty thanks to the hon. the Minister for the attention which is being given to the Balkfontein Scheme, that scheme which is at present serving the gold fields of the Orange Free State, but which is now to supply towns in my constituency in the Western Transvaal with water, too. We had an interview with the hon. the Minister and his officials and we are grateful for the work which has already been done and which is still being done. We want to thank him heartily for the provision of water for human consumption, in the smaller, more remote places such as Wolmaransstad and other smaller towns. While we are unable to reach the smaller towns with schemes such as these, we want to ask the exploitation of subterranean water for such towns be continued. If it should then be necessary for us to sink boreholes on the farms of private farmers to supply water to a town, we want to say to the hon. the Minister that he must continue with those negotiations, because we cannot allow any community in a town to be lost because there is no water for human consumption.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the hon. members who have so far participated in the debate for what I think were very fruitful contributions. I want to begin at once with the hon. member for Walmer. He spoke last Friday and raised a matter which is of great importance to us, especially because a great deal of attention has recently been focused on it in South Africa and because it also ties in with what is happening in other parts of the world. I am referring to the entire question of supplementing our resources through weather modification.

The hon. member will recall that there was a Bill before Parliament some time ago which made it possible for the Department of Water Affairs, in co-operation with the Department of Transport, to exercise control over this matter. On the one hand the hon. member expressed concern at the possibility that many organizations might mislead the public, and that vast sums might be involved, and that it might have extremely harmful effects. The hon. member also asked whether there was no authority which could exercise control over this matter.

T think we said at the time, when the Bill was before Parliament, that we had reached a stage in South Africa where our country should investigate that source as well as a possible supplementary source for the future. For every drop of water flowing into a river in South Africa. 200 drops are lost by way of evaporation. The question of supplementation from the water vapour in the air is therefore important, and one of the aspects of this is the possibility of weather modification, which includes on the one hand the possibility of increasing rainfall, and on the other the possibility of preventing hail. In South Africa, as in the rest of the world, there are two conflicting interests. One group is interested more in hail prevention, and the other more in rain stimulation.

I agree and want to say at once that we cannot afford that anything so highly technical, so extremely dangerous but so very important to ourselves and to the world in general, should be left in the hands of people who do not know precisely what they are doing. It is extremely dangerous for we know that it is very possible to start a chain reaction in that way since we do not know everything—no one in the world does—about the principles of atmospheric dynamics or the physical laws this involves. We know more now than we did 10 years ago, but we cannot allow this to happen, for any chain reaction which may be started, may have the opposite effect. This is of great importance to us.

We investigated 23 projects which could be regarded as being among the world’s best piloted projects. Eight of these projects resulted in a small increase of up to 25% in the rainfall, seven of them had the opposite effect—in fact a reduction in the rainfall— and as far as the rest are concerned, it was impossible, after careful correlation, to indicate any difference. We must therefore be very careful with this. If there are perhaps hon. members who want to discuss this matter further, I shall subsequently, without taking up too much of the Committee’s time at this stage, give an account of what else we ourselves can do in regard to this matter.

In response to the speech made by the hon. member I should like to say that the control which we ought to exercise is in fact important. His question to me was whether there is any authority. The way in which we should exercise control is in the first place to appoint a committee of scientists. Consequently the Act makes provision for that. This committee has to form an opinion of the people who wish to operate in this field. The first question which has to be put to them has as its object to ascertain who they are and what their qualifications are. It means therefore that the committee should be able to judge whether the persons in question dealing with this matter, are in the first place competent to make an interpretation in advance of the conditions which are to be influenced, and are then able to take the proper action. What is very important is that it has to be established whether they will then be able to arrive at conclusions which are scientifically correct, for if that does not happen nothing further can of course happen, and people may come into conflict with one another. I want to say at once that such a committee has been appointed for this purpose. This committee consists of officials of the interested parties. The Department of Water Affairs as well as the Department of Transport, the C.S.I.R. and various other bodies have an interest in this matter, and we are trying to co-ordinate all the scientists who are available in this field so that we may have an authoritative body which is able to form an assessment in regard to this matter. Both my colleague, the hon. the Minister of Transport, and I have to assemble this committee, and if disputes should emanate from it it is his and my joint task to go into them. The hon. member for Walmer also issued a warning. In regard to it I want to say that we cannot allow what appeared to me to be happening, as I had to infer from what certain people said, to happen. A promise was made to me in my own office that it was possible to convert the Karoo into a great paradise; in fact, certain people even went so far as to indicate how much water could be guaranteed per ha. That may not happen; we cannot allow such extravagant offers to be made, and I can say that even at this early stage we have obtained reasonably good control over such activities in South Africa. Action is already being taken in this connection. I did not want to spend too much time on this subject, but I did want to reply in the first place to the hon. member’s request that I should make a statement on the important question of whether there is proper control. The hon. member also asked whether we should not establish a separate body to take care of this matter. In my opinion that is not necessary. After all, the available people in South Africa who are competent to do so are those people who are either working for the State, or serving in other bodies. Technically, therefore, it makes no difference. We feel that this matter should be controlled by a committee over which the two Ministers have proper control.

In his speech the hon. member for Heidelberg referred to various aspects of the water-saving discipline, if I may call it that. I want to inform the hon. member that I think that we have reached a stage in South Africa where we have, through what we have done and what is still being done on the one hand with the holding of a “Water Year”, and on the other through the great awareness which has developed among the public in regard to our water position, achieved a discernible discipline in so far as water consumption in South Africa is concerned, something which did not exist a few years ago. I think that the credit for that should go not only to the Department of Water Affairs; the credit should go to the people of South Africa for the awareness and the earnestness with which they are considering the entire problem.

†The hon. member for South Coast advanced the idea of a series of surveys and he referred to what was being done in connection with the environment in Great Britain. He referred to the way in which the British Government and other authorities were participating in an endeavour to gain control over the situation and how they tried to formulate a policy that would be to the co-ordinated benefit of the various bodies. I may tell the hon. gentleman that I had the pleasure and the honour last year to visit Europe and Britain with the Secretary for Water Affairs, Mr. J. P. Kriel. We are aware of all the problems which they have in Europe and in Great Britain. I think that the general problem in Europe, and especially in Great Britain, is that no attempt was made in the past to co-ordinate all these problems which are cropping up now. We came across the very fundamental problem, which we fortunately do not have in South Africa, namely that about 49 different bodies have to be co-ordinated in order to deal with an important matter such as water control and pollution control. We feel that we in South Africa are in the very fortunate position of being able to handle this situation much better than those bodies overseas, which actually cannot come to a decision because there are too many of them. In any case, the point raised by the hon. member was in connection with the feasibility of the report we have about the Boland water scheme from which the giant Boland project emanated. The hon. gentleman and also the hon. member for Mooi River referred to the possibility of having a series of investigations in other parts of the country. Hon. members will remember that I said a few years ago that the report of the Planning Commission which we have before us is actually aimed at giving us a guideline for the future development of South Africa’s water affairs and what we should have is a master-plan for the development of the different water complexes and the major water systems. We have a large number of major water systems in the country. In the Boland, for example, we have this three-river system which will utilize the water of the three important rivers which have their source in the Boland mountains. We also have the Vaal system and the Tugela system. The first committee which was appointed was a committee for the Boland, and as a result we have the vast Boland scheme. The second one which was appointed was for the Lower Orange River. At the moment we are looking into the report of this committee, which I have here with me. May I say these are departmental committees, not public committees or commissions. Consequently these reports are not for publication. We do not want to have them published because we consider them to be part and parcel of the work of the department. The third committee was appointed, and for a very good reason, for the north-western Transvaal; the reason being that that is a part of South Africa which has very little water. We must timeously plan the whole development of the north-western Transvaal. The fourth committee was appointed for the north-eastern Transvaal, for the lowveld region. I may add that the fifth committee will be appointed for the Natal region, although not immediately. The hon. gentleman will bear with me when I say there is no point in appointing two, three or four committees at the same time with the same people being on those committees. We must give them a chance to complete the work with regard to one committee before they go over to another. I think and hope that we will reach the stage when we can appoint a committee for Natal before the end of the year. As far as Natal is concerned, quite a lot of work is being done there by the provincial authorities. The hon. gentleman referred to the very good work that is being done there. I know of the report to which the hon. gentleman referred. I must say that if we do appoint this committee, it will not start with the work in Natal all over again. What we will do is co-operate with the existing bodies and will try to co-ordinate all the existing work that is being done because we think that the work of the committee that will be appointed, must be of great importance.

*I now want to proceed. The hon. member also referred to pollution. May I say at once—and I hope that we will understand this thoroughly and that it will be heeded—that the question of pollution is an exceptionally important matter for South Africa. Water pollution is a matter of importance to us. As hon. members know, pollution control is the task of this department in terms of the Water Act. It is my responsibility to ensure that it is exercised properly. However, we must be very careful in regard to over-emphasizing the matter of pollution, although I do not in the least want to detract from the concern which people are feeling. As far as pollution is concerned, we can very easily proceed in a certain direction and discuss matters which many people do not know much about. What I mean by that, is that it is not something which is all that visible; it is not an ordinary thing; it is not like a dam which one builds, and which one sees standing there. Pollution control is the kind of control which continues to be exercised from one year to another under people’s very eyes. May I inform the hon. member that we have recently succeeded in building up within the Department of Water Affairs an organization for pollution control which is of great importance. For pollution control one needs outstanding and well-trained chemical engineers. We do not have many such people in South Africa; these people must still be found. In other words, one does not have such staff readily available which one can utilize for such an important task. I want to tell the hon. member what progress we have made in this respect—and I am very grateful and proud of this. With a view to pollution control we have divided South Africa into a number of regions. We are controlling these regions from various offices. Let me refer to the Pretoria area, where a few years ago we had almost no control. In that particular office for the Northern Transvaal we now have the following staff members: One assistant chief engineer, one principal engineer, four mining engineers, four chemical engineers, one chemist, five technicians, typists and so on. That takes some doing.

Are those posts filled?

Yes; I am talking about the posts which are filled. In Cape Town we now have two engineers and two technical assistants. Not all the posts are filled, but we are hoping that as more people become available we will be able to expand this service. As the hon. member knows we made a start in Durban not long ago, but I am very grateful to be able to reassure the hon. member today that we now have one principal engineer there, and then another engineer and two technicians. In Port Elizabeth we have as yet only two technicians, and in Bloemfontein as yet only one chemical engineer. Not long ago we did not yet have these people. I also want to inform the hon. member that we already have several students who are taking chemical engineering courses at our universities. However, it is not easy to find them; they are very scarce. I regret that it is not possible to discuss the work and the break-throughs of this department all day long. So, for example, we are experiencing very serious problems in regard to coal mines, such as the mines the hon. member knows about at Dundee, and those at Witbank. We experienced serious problems in regard to pollution from those coal mines, from the effluent from those mines. Today we have already made such progress and already have a reasonable measure of control over that. Sometimes the matter is a very difficult one. When pollution occurs one cannot merely say, do this or do that. Sometimes it is a very serious problem. I may just mention that at the moment 400 new chemical combinations are being developed annually by scientists throughout the world. Some of these are extremely noxious, and all of them are quite new. We must now begin to do research from scratch to control this and to prevent pollution. For example, the hon. member will know how many problems a paper mill can cause, and how difficult it can be when one is dealing with aluminium for example The hon. the Minister of Transport is dealing with this, in particular with the development of Richards Bay. I do not want to refer to all the problems, but one problem is the control over the by-products of aluminium, which are extremely noxious. In this sphere we have already made great progress. I want the hon. member to take cognizance of the fact that we are today exercising full control over the effluent from 1 000 factories in South Africa. These factories are situated throughout the country. I have here in my hand an application and a permit. In this permit the conditions under which certain actions may be taken are laid down for such a factory. The Minister has to sign such a permit, and before he does that, he has to ensure that certain requirements have been met.

†It must have been submitted to the Director-General of the South African Bureau of Standards, the regional director of State health services in Durban, or in whatever area the factory is situated, the Director of Sea Fisheries, Cape Town, it being a permit in connection with the pollution of the sea, and the Secretary for the Lower South Coast Regional Water Supply Corporation, Margate, Natal. For this permit 17 conditions are laid down. I will not read them all, but amongst others, it is stated that “this permit shall cover the daily average flow of raw sewage not exceeding …” and further “the council shall as soon as possible take the necessary steps to proceed with the construction of activated sludge plant”, and so on. We therefore issue a permit to keep full control. We have the co-operation of various departments to help us in keeping control over the whole situation.

*The fact remains that it is no easy task to exercise control over pollution in South Africa, for one has to do so in every town and in every locality. Every new factory creates this kind of problem. Sometimes development has to be held back because, after all the other Ministers and departments have given their approval, the Minister has to hold back the application for such development until he is satisfied that the effluent will not cause any pollution. I want to mention an example. Some time ago a company approached me for a permit to exploit a certain material in the Western Transvaal. I do not think it will be taken amiss of me if I mention this as an example here. After we had investigated the matter very carefully I found out that the effluent did not change with time and was not destructible. It remains there and is so noxious that it could easily pollute the entire subterranean water area of the Western Transvaal. I was then told that it was costing South Africa several million rand every day we withheld such a permit. I was told that it would mean that we were losing a great deal of capital, and a host of other reasons were advanced. I then said: “Look, no matter how many millions it is costing, the fact remains that incorrect action in this regard could mean that the entire subterranean water area of the Western Transvaal could be destroyed for all time.” We then laid down very strict conditions, after the assistance of the C.S.I.R. and the Bureau of Standards had been called in, in terms of which the effluent could be controlled by a thick cement layer, so strong that there is no possibility of any risk factor, and covered by an impenetrable layer of rubber. In addition a daily check has to be carried out to establish precisely what is happening. I want to mention to the hon. member that this is the kind of measure which is being adopted every day in regard to pollution, and to which the department is giving attention. I therefore want to tell him that, no matter how important it may be, people are not always aware of what is happening. Recently we have accomplished an enourmous task. Initially we had no staff, and these first had to be recruited. We then had to formulate the matter and introduce control, after which the permits had to be issued. This is no small task. I am telling the hon. member at this early stage —I know that he is going to be in complete agreement with me—that we are going to modernize our legislation further next year to make pollution control possible.

†The hon. member for South Coast also referred to what I had said on a previous occasion, namely that I do not think we are in a position in South Africa to build many more dams for irrigation purposes only. As I have stated before, we have come to the stage—I agree with the hon. gentleman—that from now on we will have to build multi-purpose dams, since it is so expensive to build more dams, and we have to protect the rights of people still to be born and industries still to be established. We have to keep our reserves for future development. Therefore we have switched to the idea of building multipurpose dams. One of these multi-purpose dam schemes, of course, is the Boland scheme. We plan for a certain percentage of the water to go to Cape Town, a certain percentage for agriculture and a certain percentage for future developments in the field of industry. We have embarked upon and are busy with this policy, as I have said to people before. But I do agree with the hon. gentleman that we cannot build any more dams for irrigation purposes only; although I must say that there are still places where we can build irrigation dams in the future.

*I shall not spend much time on the hon. member’s speculations concerning the Karoo. Concerning the Karoo the hon. member said that great changes could be effected. I agree with him but, Sir, that is really a tall order. To bring about a very great change with water is, I think, beyond our means. I do think however that we can change the structure to prevent such a rapid run off of this water. It is a long story. We are working on this. I think the Department of Agriculture realizes this. The old view was that we should keep water where it fell. I want to say at once that that is true, and also untrue; it is a good thing and also a bad thing. We cannot say that we should keep the water where it falls; for if we keep back all the water where it falls, there will not be a drop of water in the Vaal Dam, or in fact in any other dam. I think, however, that the golden rule ought to be that we should keep back enough to conserve the ecology and replenish the subterranean water resources, so that our streams keep flowing. That is a point in regard to which I agree with the hon. member. The important point is the restoration of the ecology and the restoration of the streams themselves so that there is no downflow of vast mud and sludge deposits after the slightest rains.

The hon. member for Somerset East referred to the increase in staff, and to the co-operation of the various universities. That is quite correct. The hon. member also referred to the fact that in his part of the world stories in regard to the Cookhouse tunnel and what is happening there are circulating. I now want to inform the House of the situation there. When the principal canal, which begins at the Verwoerd Dam and runs through to the Fish River, goes through the tunnel at Cookhouse it is on its way to Port Elizabeth, but that is a tremendous distance and it is a very big canal; it is going to take us several years to get there. We have now decided to postpone part of the work temporarily so that we can get the water to its destination much quicker, and in that way save the State quite a few million rand. We calculated that if we divert the water in the canal approximately three kilometres further down from the point where the Somerset East canal branches off, instead of taking it miles further on the way to Port Elizabeth, and then allow that water to flow into the Little Fish River over a distance of less than one kilometre, the following advantages may be attained: Firstly it will be possible to place an additional 567 ha of land under irrigation. Secondly, we will be able to bring the water to its destination two years sooner. In other words, two full harvests will benefit from this. Thirdly, we will in interest alone, as a result of this plan, be able to save almost R8 million. Fourthly, we shall as a result of this, gain the necessary time to take the second step which the hon. member asked for. The hon. member asked whether we could consider expanding the scheme to the Bushman River area, and the surrounding areas. This will now give us time to consider doing that, too. Once we have investigated the position there, and we find that we are able to do so, we would very much like to do so. In other words, this delay will mean a very great saving, and in the case of all the farmers they will be assured of water for two additional harvests, water which they would not otherwise have had. What we are doing here is to rearrange matters slightly; we shall proceed with this again a little later on. Financially, and also as far as revenue is concerned, this will entail a very great saving. I want to inform the hon. member that the department will look into the position of the Bushman River. At some stage or another I shall also pay a personal visit to that area.

The hon. member for Benoni also discussed the regional committees, but the hon. member, unlike the hon. member for South Coast, spoke as if it was a brand new idea emanating from him. Sir, this is something we have been working on for a long time. The hon. member also discussed the development of the Hex River, and the problems of the farmers there, as if we were unaware of them. He spoke as if he were advocating a matter here which we were hearing about for the first time. Sir, we have already made great progress with the planning in respect of the matter which the hon. member raised. But I want to tell the hon. member to be more careful. He should not simply run across someone over a weekend and believe everything that person tells him. I now want to ask the hon. member this question: Was he being quite serious when he asked me that question in regard to Inverdoorn? Does he still adhere to that?

That is what the farmers there feel, yes.

The hon. member should be very careful, because what he was actually asking me to do was to cut a piece off the end of the blanket and sew it back onto the top. Sir, that is not the way we do things in Water Affairs. I know the Inverdoorn case like the back of my hand. I have been there; I know every farm and I know every farmer. I have been over their farms, and went to see what was happening there. In brief I can tell the hon. member this: The farmers of Inverdoorn have a prescriptive right to that water, dating from the previous century. It has never been the standpoint that we should merely take away. But now the hon. member is saying: “Let us buy them out.” Sir, we want to do far better than that. We do not merely want to buy a person out somewhere, and give it to someone else. Before we start expropriating and buying people out, we want to try to devise additional plans, not to take this away from the Inverdoorn people and give it to others, but so that they can retain what they have, and so that we can provide the others with water as well. We have a far better plan. The plan is a highly technical one. I do not think the hon. member will expect me to explain it here. If he wants me to do so I can indicate to him on the basis of statistics what is happening, but I think the hon. member will take my word for it; I know what I am talking about when I say that we are taking care of this matter. A complete deputation came to see me last year. The hon. member for Worcester was with me, and we thrashed the matter out. My department’s people have been working on this for months, but it is a major task involving millions. It requires protracted planning. We have made great progress, but it would serve no useful purpose to state, across the floor of the House here, precisely what is going to happen until such time as I have the final plans, but the hon. member need not be concerned. We know what is happening there; we also know to what extent those people have pumped water there. It is true that they have pumped the water out from great depths, but when it is very dry, as it was then, people are inclined to exceed their resources, and then what happened there happens; they went down to a depth of 1 000 feet, and they are developing saline chlorosis in the upper regions of the Hex River. I also want to inform the hon. member that when the White Paper was published and the dam was built we told these people in advance that we were not going to solve their problems with it; that we were merely going to give them supplementary water; that the Department of Water Affairs could not give them a guarantee that water from the atmosphere would in fact be available; it was not capable of doing that. Therefore, when conditions such as those in the Hex River occur, one simply tries to do one’s best. I said a moment ago that we are ascertaining whether we can obtain supplementary water through weather modification, but, Sir, we are still far from achieving that goal. As far as the Boland scheme is concerned, it is a big scheme; it is a good scheme, and I think everyone will understand that we cannot proceed with it more rapidly than we are doing at present, with the handful of people we have at our disposal.

Sir, I come to the hon. member for Fauresmith. The hon. member said that we should not be in any hurry to increase the tariffs. Sir, we simply have to ensure that the maintenance and administrative costs of water schemes are covered by the tariffs. The hon. member said that he did not like the word “tax”; I do not like it either. Therefore we shall not talk about “water tax”. It is really a tariff which is paid for the provision of water. All of us should therefore be careful not to use the word “tax” in this connection, for “tax” is not a nice word. As regards the request that we should not be in any hurry to increase the tariffs, I just want to inform the hon. member that until recently only a third of those costs were being recovered. We raised the tariff, but at the request of the hon. member I now want to give him the assurance across the floor of the House that we will proceed very carefully in future, and that we will constantly bear the interests of the farmers in this connection in mind.

The hon. member then discussed the scheduling of water above a canal. We are very careful about simply saying “yes”, for if you are going to allow people to take water across canals, just as they please, then they could eventually cause a vlei to develop above a canal, and then we could have problems. We are in fact doing this, after consultation with Agricultural Technical Services and when there is a good reason for transferring water for utilization elsewhere; it can be done and we have done it in the past, but then there has to be a definite advantage attached to doing so, and then the department has to be careful about the conditions on which this has to be done. The reply is therefore “yes”. As regards the transference of water from one unit to another, it cannot simply be done without the consent of the Minister. We always go into the merits of each case and we have never been unwilling to be of assistance in deserving cases. That will continue to be our policy in future. As regards the question of the storage of water during one season for use in the next, I have received representations in this regard from various quarters, even from my own constituency. Sir, we are going into this matter. It will have to be done in cases where there is sound control and when it is practicable for us to do so. We cannot state in general that we shall do so in all cases, but the hon. member may safely leave it in the hands of the department to find a formula in terms of which this could be done.

The hon. member for Mooi River requested that the Select Committee should in future be afforded an opportunity of considering these matters on a wider basis. I think I must inform the hon. member that the problem is really that we have up to now not been able to bring out these White Papers in time. To submit such a White Paper to Parliament is no small task. It is something which requires an enormous amount of work. It is the work of many months. Recently, because we want do so as carefully and comprehensively as possible, the department has not been able to succeed, with the officials at its disposal, to come up with the work. But the Secretary has given me the assurance that from next year the White Papers will probably have been completed by the beginning of the session so that the Select Committee may consider them in time. I think that is what the hon. member wants

The hon. member for Wolmaransstad made a few very kind remarks about the department, and I want to thank him very cordially for doing so. In particular I must also inform the hon. member that the officials of my department are working with very great dedication and that they are really, in some cases, trying to achieve the impossible, and succeeding. The hon. member referred to water lost in transmission. What he said is true. These losses are tremendous, particularly where a river bed is being used and where there are unlined canals, but it is our policy to eliminate the backlog in due course. There are a number which we now intend lining. But the hon. member may rest assured that that is the policy. It is a question of the physical means, but we are hoping to overcome this problem. The hon. member also referred to smaller towns which require water provision and are dependent on subterranean water to supplement their water supplies, and which then experience problems. I agree with the hon. member, and I also want to thank him for supporting the department when it states that the greater interest, the interest of the community, should be given preference above the interests of individuals. I want to give the hon. member the assurance that whenever we find it necessary to expropriate, we shall do so very carefully and will always bear in mind that a person’s private property is sacred to him. But in the meantime we shall try, with co-operation, to accomplish as much as we can. Then, as far as the Balkfontein scheme is concerned, this is one of the many schemes we have to introduce to bring water to small towns over long distances at great expense. But I want to inform the hon. member that the department has instructions, and is indeed planning, to deliver the water to these towns within the planned period.

The hon. member for Wolmaransstad, speaking earlier in the debate, paid tribute to the hon. the Minister of Water Affairs and his staff, for their contribution towards the success of the Water Year. We on this side of the House and those members of the public who were privileged to be at the opening of the Oranjekrag dam and to see the unleashing of the contained waters of the mighty Orange River for the benefit of South Africa, will join the hon. member for Wolmaransstad in those comments.

At the same time the hon. member for South Coast has high-lighted the fact that in this country we will inevitably face a scarcity of water. In fact, this very danger to South Africa has resulted in a determination to conserve water wherever we can. For this reason we in South Africa notice the phenomenon of a mosaic of emerald coloured vleis from the fertile Western Province right through the Karoo and even to Namaqualand, Natal, the Eastern Province and even the Transvaal. For the first time we are becoming conscious of the fact that not only the farmers but the State itself are conserving waters so that we in this country, whose heritage lies in a close proximity with the waters of the sea, from our Dutch ancestry and our English ancestry, and those of us who are now known as “binnelanders” are able once again to re-establish contact with water as a means of healthful recreation. It is a fact today that water sports as a recreation are assuming greater and greater positive influence in our South African forms of recreation. I mention merely as an indication of how important this recreation is throughout the world, that off the French coast in 1972 there were 126 ports with 58 000 berths for deck keel yachts. It is a phenomenon in South Africa that our inland yachting fleet is actually greater than the yachting fleet concentrated round our major harbours. The farmer, his family, the towns-man and the country-dweller, are taking to the roads at weekends to go and enjoy the pleasures of boating in its various forms. Wherever you have a responsibility, you also have an obligation. I understand that the responsibility for the control of inland waters rests solidly and squarely on the shoulders of the hon. the Minister and of his department. I refer regrettably to an incident a few months ago when there was a major boating tragedy on the Vaal Dam involving a collision of powerboats in which lives were lost. I appeal to the hon. the Minister to give more and more attention to the promulgation of adequate and suitable regulations for the control of water sports. Today the waters of our various lakes, vleis and rivers are used not only by yachtsmen, power-boat owners, speed-boat owners, persons addicted to water skiing and even water para-skiing today, but by bathers, skiers and by canoeists. With the increasing growth of persons using these inland waters, it is essential that we give more and more attention to the rules governing or the responsible and orderly use of our waters. This is particularly important, because of the one feature of which the hon. the Minister himself made mention, namely the possibility of pollution. Where you have house-boats using our rivers, where you have deep-keelers with berths for sleeping aboard as you find on the Vaal River, the necessity for control of pollution of waters becomes more and more important.

I should like to mention that in Europe inland water sport is receiving more and more close attention since the entry of Britain into the European Economic Community. I wish to quote from an international yacht-racing union the following comment—

I know that the hon. the Minister and his department are negotiating in collaboration with the Department of Sport for the promulgation of regulations to control our inland waters and the sport facilities which are provided thereon. I would appeal to him to realize that it is a matter of urgency, because there is tremendous public concern about incidents such as the tragedy which happened on the Vaal. At the same time it is desired by the Federation for Yacht-racing and Water Sport Associations throughout South Africa that there should be helpful and friendly collaboration between the yachting fraternity, the speed-boating fraternity and the water-skiing fraternity, the skiers and other users of our waters. I know the hon. the Minister will get all the co-operation for which he calls. I would also ask that before he considers the promulgation of these regulations, to give these sportsmen the opportunity to meet him. He should also take into account the international regulations which are being designed in Europe and which have been designed in America with this aim in purpose. It will be far more sensible if we know that we link up with international thought on this matter, than that we should produce a set of regulations which the moment they are tested against the greater experience of those who administer the sport in Europe, should be found to have loopholes. We shall then only have to amend our regulations.

I should also like to appeal to the hon. the Minister to give his utmost attention to the beautifying of our new lakes and dams. At the moment there are many of them such as the Voëlvlei Dam, which are set amongst arid mountains and where there is hardly a tree or vestige of grass or shrubbery. I believe we can ensure the beneficial use of our water facilities for all our citizens to an increasing degree without a pollution problem. Man does not necessarily pollute his environment wherever he goes if he is disciplined and encouraged by the State to realize what a tremendous heritage and asset he has. I feel that if, by the planting of trees, by the creation of resorts, by the building of chalets and so forth, the individual is given the opportunity to leave the city to which he is bound during the weekdays and to appreciate the benefit of being able to come close to nature along the banks of our rivers, our vleis and our sailing areas, then the hon. the Minister, in the same way that he has promoted the appreciation of water through the Watersports Year, can also promote an appreciation by the public of South Africa of this wonderful asset they have in the newly created dams and vleis throughout South Africa.

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for Cape Town Gardens must excuse me if I do not follow him up in what he said. I think that the matters he raised will be properly dealt with by the hon. the Minister. I should like to devote the time at my disposal to the territory of South-West Africa and the water problems it is experiencing. If we take into account that the territory of South-West Africa covers an area that is two-thirds the surface area of the four provinces of South Africa, that there are no flowing rivers in the interior except for the two on its northern boundary, that South-West Africa has a very low rainfall that varies from 50 mm to 550 mm per year and if we take into account that only a third of the territory has a rainfall of 400 mm, we can understand the kind of problems we are faced with there. If, in addition, we take into consideration the tremendous evaporation we have there, as a result of the large surface area and the warm climate, we are made aware of an additional problem that South-West Africa is faced with. In mentioning these facts, I am doing so because I want to point out what has happened in the last few decades and whether the State has also, everything considered, done its duty towards the territory when it comes to the problems, of which I have only mentioned a few. Let us look at what the State had done since about two decades ago. I want to refer to what the State has done since the year 1951. In 1951 the whole of South-West Africa had a Budget that amounted to only R7 million. A Department of Water Affairs did not yet exist. This means that everything had to be built up from scratch. In looking at where we stand today, I immediately want to say to the hon. the Minister and his department that I have no fears about the department and the State not having done its share. We need only look at how expenditure has increased from 1965-’66 to the present time. In 1965-’66 0,26% of the Republic’s total state expenditure was voted for South-West Africa. In 1971-72 it was already 1,14% of the total budget. One sees, therefore, how the department in South-West Africa has grown and how an attempt has been made to line the position up with the problems that exist. From 1951 up to and including 1972 an amount of more than R90 million was spent in South-West Africa, and if we bear this in mind, I am sure that no one can accuse the Department of Water Affairs or the State of not having held its own.

We can also take a look at the extensive works that have been carried out under difficult circumstances, and I want to confine myself to only two of those because the other schemes are situated in other areas. In the late ’fifties and early ’sixties a start was made on the Hardap project. This was done by the then Administration. When this dam was put into operation it was, at that stage, the third largest dam in South Africa. Subsequently, however, many other larger dams were built. The Hardap dam is situated in one of the largest inland rivers, which is dry for the major part of the year. It is a very fine piece of work and at present also supplies water to the town Mariental. Because no other usable subterranean water is obtainable around Mariental, Mariental obtained its water from sandpits in the Fish River bed. In the concluding years, before the dam had been completed, Mariental had water problems and water restrictions every autumn. Now this is something of the past. In respect of the Hardap scheme below the dam there are still many problems, but since new replanning is taking place there as a result of investigations there by a commission, investigations involving the Department of Water Affairs, I shall not question the hon. the Minister about that today. The whole scheme is being replanned, and in the near future we shall probably know more about that.

I then come to the second scheme which I want to mention in passing. I am referring to what is being done at Windhoek, the centre point of South-West Africa, where the biggest development in the territory is taking place. There they were chiefly dependent upon a few small dams and boreholes. Then there was a big breakthrough; the first purification works were carried out there and water is now being reclaimed there on a considerable scale. Last year a new dam was opened by the hon. the Minister at Okahandja, a dam which now provides Windhoek with water.

When that dam was planned, a survey was carried out which indicated that Windhoek’s water needs were increasing by about 7½% per year. The needs are, however, exceeding this figure. If the demand keeps increasing at this rate—and at present we have no reason to believe that it will not continue to do so at that rate—in 1978 and again in 1986 new subsidiary sources will have to be sought for Windhoek. However, we are not worried about that at present because we know that the Department of Water Affairs is dealing with these matters.

We know that more is already being done in respect of water conservation. The public in a territory like South-West Africa must be made more conscious of water conservation. We also know that in a country like South-West Africa, which has been in the pioneering stage all these years, the people must adapt themselves to these circumstances, which is what they are doing because they know that without water there can be no progress in any country in the world. I also want to ask the hon. the Minister if he could give us as much information as possible about the master water plan which his department is busy with in South-West Africa. We do not want to know any secrets. We do know that they are busy on a master plan which will provide large portions of the White area and the non-White areas with water. We would appreciate it if the hon. the Minister could tell us how far this plan has progressed. I do not now want to say what my colleague, the hon. member for Wolmaransstad, has already said here, but with a Minister like the present Minister at the head of his department, and with the Department of Water Affairs itself, we in South-West Africa have no fears in respect of water problems which we may have in the future. We know that everything is being done to provide for the needs of the country and its people. I also want to congratulate the hon. the Minister and his department on what they have already done. With a view to that territory I also want to wish them every success for the future.

I should like to raise with the hon. the Minister a matter which I think is of importance to the farming community in some parts of Caledon, down to Bredasdorp and parts of Swellendam, Riviersonderend, etc. In 1960, when the White Paper was submitted in connection with the Theewaterskloof Dam, it was proposed that a quantity of water would be let through from time to time in order to help the farmers, in the area I have mentioned, to get sufficient water for their livestock supplies. Recently there have apparently been some doubts amongst the farmers in that area about whether the department and the hon. the Minister will still continue with the original plan. If those people are under a misapprehension, I hope the hon. the Minister will take the present opportunity to put matters straight for them. I have heard from certain leading farmers that they now have doubts about whether provision will, in fact, be made in this scheme to ensure that they will in future have a good water supply in this respect. Anyone, who is familiar with those parts, knows that it is one of the best grain areas in the country. At the same time, however, it is also one of those areas that suffers tremendously from a lack of sufficient water for livestock supplies. It is specifically during the summer months that these people have a tremendous problem. The majority have to fall back on their water supply from man-made earth dams, and if a farmer does not have one of those, he usually has to resort to boreholes. Frequently those boreholes are deep and the water supply is a tremendously meagre one. Secondly, borehole water is not as good either, for humans and livestock, as one thinks. Therefore those farmers have a tremendous problem. I think the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, the hon. member for Swellendam, the hon. member for Caledon and others will agree with me wholeheartedly when I say these things. From time to time representations have been made to the hon. the Minister and his department in this connection. Thus in 1969 this White Paper made provision, according to page 3, for the fact that if the Theewaterskloof Dam were to be completed, provision would be made from time to time so that about 3 800 morgen-feet, or six million gallons per day, would be released for those areas for municipal use and for use by the farmers. As the White Paper also announced, there are about 674 farms involved in this project. As I have said, I hope the hon. the Minister will tell us today what the true position is, because these farmers must either know whether this scheme is going to be completed and whether they can obtain water from this scheme, or whether they must make efforts to provide themselves with the necessary water supply, particularly in the dry summer months when it does not rain. This is a very important area. In recent times, as a result of the poorer wool prices and also the fact that meat prices were not so very good, I think the animal factor in that area has decreased somewhat. But lately there has again been an improvement as far as the meat and wool prices are concerned. I think it is to the advantage of that area for the animal factor to increase in importance. There are several reasons for that. In the first instance we have a meat shortage and we can still do quite a bit to help our wool production along. Secondly, the animal factor and grain production in that area complement each other very well. But if there is a shortage of watering places for livestock and an insufficient water supply for those difficult months, one can expect this to restrict production. It is an area which lends itself extremely well to meat and wool production. But these people are being handicapped as far as the water factor is concerned, and I think that the hon. the Minister ought to make use of the present opportunity to take them into his confidence and tell them exactly what the future of that area will be with respect to their water supplies.

There is one more matter I want to discuss with the hon. the Minister, i.e. the question of our general water policy. The hon. member for South Coast has repeatedly stated this side’s approach. But I also want to leave one thought with the hon. the Minister. I believe there are still a tremendous number of deep ravines in our mountain ranges where irrigation schemes cannot be introduced because there is, in all probability, no irrigable land situated lower down. I am thinking, for example, of areas like the Tsitsikama mountains, the Langeberg mountains, etc. I have frequently wondered whether it is not possible for the hon. gentleman and his department to conduct surveys of these areas from time to time and to see whether it is not possible to dam up the water in these ravines and, even if there is no irrigable land nearby, to lead that water to areas where it would, in fact, be necessary. I see the hon. the Deputy Minister of Agriculture has learned from his Minister to indicate with his finger that money is scarce. There are few hon. members in this House who do not realize that money is the determining factor. But one must, however, think of the future. I am considering, for example, an area like Du Toit’s Kloof. One knows that the mountain slopes there make it difficult to build one big scheme. It would perhaps not be worth the trouble. But is it not possible for weirs to be built to dam the water which could then be taken to those areas where we need it. If one views from an aircraft our mountain ranges stretching from here almost to Port Elizabeth, one cannot but be impressed by those deep ravines along which a wonderful supply of water flows. [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, I am rising to say three things only. The first is to associate myself with the words of appreciation and tribute addressed to the hon. the Minister for the dedication and devotion with which he manages his department, and also the vision which he displays in respect of planning as regards water conservation and water supplies for South Africa. This word of tribute and appreciation also applies to all the officials in his department.

Mr. Chairman, the second matter concerns one of the towns in my constituency, one of the pleasant towns in the Northern Transvaal, namely Naboomspruit, a town, however, which has water problems. You are aware of the fact that that town and its surroundings are much sought-after; there are several holiday resorts in the area, but the town itself has water problems. In addition, water must be supplied to mines in the area. Now there is a friendly request to our hon. Minister, i.e. whether he would be so friendly as to give serious consideration to the possibility of increasing the height of the dam wall of the Welgevonden Dam, from which the town gets its water. The need is great and we should be very pleased if he would give serious consideration to that possibility.

The third matter which I want to raise, is in connection with the Mogol Dam. To start with, thank you very much for the prospect that that dam will be built within the foreseeable future. The second point which I want to mention in respect of that dam, concerns its name. I have received representations from my constituency which I should like to pass on to the hon. the Minister, and they are that the dam on the Mogol River be called the “Hans Strijdom dam”. We have heard that there is another dam which may be given this name, and we are simply making inquiries with regard to the matter. However, I do think that it goes without saying that the name of this man who in his time as Minister of Irrigation had first set the ball rolling, and the man who linked his name indissolubly to that of Waterberg, should be given to so important a dam in that constituency. This is a friendly request on behalf of the voters to our hon. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, because of the time arrangement I have a few minutes only, and in these few minutes I should like to touch on the two most important aspects in this debate. Firstly, I should like to make a plea for a water advisory board for the Boland. On 2nd September, 1971, almost two years ago, the hon. the Minister announced the Boland water plan. We Bolanders have now had a reasonable time in which to see how this plan is developing, to reflect on this plan and to investigate its real impact, and to an increasing extent we are forced to the conclusion that as far as water affairs are concerned, what we have here is a real master plan. It is a unique plan which, when it has been fully developed one day, will stand as a monument to the hon. the Minister and his departmental officials who helped to design the plan. But in this process a few other aspects have now become clear to us. The first is that the development of this Boland water plan can take place only with the greatest wisdom and the greatest imagination. Firstly there is the ability of the Cape metropolis to draw water from this Boland water situation. This causes us problems; the people in the outlying areas say that the Cape is drawing all the water away. There is also the new development of growth points within the Boland as a whole. In this regard I have in mind the situation at Mamre and the Saldanha project, about which there is now clarity from the side of the Government. These are new aspects which enter into the picture, after the announcement by the hon. the Minister. In addition there is the specific demand by the agricultural sector in the Boland which is chiefly committed to irrigation. There is the additional aspect of stock-watering and domestic use in certain parts of the Boland. I think it will only be possible to develop this plan further in a thorough and imaginative way, and with great wisdom, if a water advisory board were to be created for the Boland. I am not referring to a water board, but a water advisory board for the Boland which, together with the Department of Water Affairs, could give further attention to the development and the real impact of this plan.

The second aspect which I want to mention here, concerns the list of priorities of this Boland water plan. I want to maintain that the time has now arrived when new priorities will have to be given to the building of a dam on the lower Berg River, in the region of Misverstand. I need not go far to find my motivation. I quote my best motivation from the speech of the hon. the Minister himself. On 2nd September, 1971, at Goudini the hon. the Minister gave his list of priorities. He announced it in phases. In the fourth phase the hon. the Minister quite rightly came to the Berg River or the Misverstand Dam, and then he said the following (translation)—

Now you must remember, Sir, that at that stage there was no finality about this situation. He went further (translation)—

In other words, Sir, I say that I need no better evidence or motivation for what I am asking, and that is that at this stage, on this list of priorities as far as the development of the Boland water plan is concerned, a totally new priority must be allocated to a dam on the lower Berg River. I realize that the situation, particularly at Mamre and Darling, is going to develop gradually, but at this stage it is very clear that the growth is gaining momentum at a much faster rate than we originally thought it would. On the other hand a new momentum of growth has been created at Saldanha as a result of the Sishen-Saldanha plan, and in this situation it is as clear as daylight to me that the first phase, at least, of this proposed Misverstand Dam will have to be tackled and built.

Mr. Chairman, I am very glad the hon. member for Somerset East raised the question of water from the Orange River for the Bushmans River. I am also very glad the hon. the Minister replied to it in such detail. I must say it is gladdening to hear that this matter is still enjoying the sympathetic attention of the department. I am also glad to learn that the Minister is going to pay that area a visit one of these days. Then he will be able to see for himself how essential it is to have the water taken there. I shall be pleased to show him what the position is there, for I am very interested in that area. I live in the area of the Bushmans River, and it borders on my constituency. To my mind this may have excellent results for the whole area.

Sir, what I actually want to deal with is the border area there. Many people think the constituency of Albany consists of Grahamstown alone. Very few people realize that my constituency extends into East London. I also want to refer to the necessity of long-term planning for the border. The growth of the East London/Berlin/King William’s Town industrial complex to its full potential will require more and more water. We cannot do much more with the water from the Buffalo and the Nahoon Rivers. The logical future source of water is the Keiskamma River, a perennial river. But here we are now faced with a problem, because in terms of the consolidation proposals for the Ciskei, virtually the whole of that river is being included in the Bantu area of the Ciskei. I should like to know from the Minister whether attempts are being made, in collaboration with the Minister of Bantu Administration and also with the Government of the Ciskei, to come to an agreement with regard to the Keiskamma River, not only with regard to the building of dams, but also with regard to the application of the Mountain Catchment Areas Act and similar legislation, to protect the sources of these rivers, of both the Buffalo and the Keiskamma Rivers.

Sir, actually it makes no difference which constitutional policy will be followed with regard to that area in the future; the industrial expansion will come and there will, in any event, be some sort of Bantu Government on either side of this industrial area. I think it is very essential to conclude agreements with these embryo areas now, so as to ensure that there will be sufficient, water for the inter-dependent economy of the Eastern Cape. I say “interdependent”, because both the non-White and the White will have to live from that industrial expansion which will take place in East London, King William’s Town and Berlin in the future. Therefore it is imperative for us to have a plan in this regard.

Sir, I was very pleased to hear the hon. the Minister, in his previous reply to hon. members, speaking of these regional planning committees which are being appointed. He mentioned that the fifth would be in Natal. With a view to having further expansion in the Border area, especially in the East London area, I think we have great need of such a committee, and I want to ask the hon. the Minister whether he will not appoint a sixth committee for that area.

†Mr. Chairman, there is another matter which I wish to raise with the hon. the Minister—I believe it has been raised previously in this House—and that is that certain previous members of this House, in the persons of the late Mr. Tom Bowker and Mr. Gerhard Bekker, and another person who has never been a member of this House, Mr. Era Venter, over many years did a great deal of work and maintained interest in the Orange/Fish/Sundays river scheme. I want to appeal to the Minister that somewhere in this scheme some recognition for their years of dedication should be recorded, even if it is in the form of a plaque at the Fish River end of the tunnel, to indicate the service and the dedication of those gentlemen to this scheme over the years when it was shelved, and for the way in which they raised this matter year after year in this House and in other places and maintained public interest in a scheme which means a great deal to South Africa. I would appreciate it if the Minister would indicate whether he will go into this matter and see if something cannot be done for those three gentlemen.

Then, Sir, I want to support the hon. member for Mooi River in his appeal for further powers for the Select Committee, and his idea of Parliament being better informed, through a Select Committee, on all water works. Sir, the last time I mentioned this I must admit there was a slight misunderstanding between myself and the Minister, and he promised me that he would deal with this matter more fully in this debate. I believe that we can work out something together on this, and I would like very much to support the hon. member for Mooi River on this point.

I should like to associate myself with the remarks of the hon. member for Albany concerning the question of the communal possession of water rights, particularly in Bantu and White areas which are adjacent to each other. I want to ask whether at one stage or another a decision could not be given in respect of the rights of transfer where for example, one has a water scheme which runs through a Bantu area. When that Bantu area becomes independent, certain rights in respect of that scheme will have to be retained for the Whites. The same applies, of course, in White areas through which water schemes run, schemes from which water must be supplied to Bantu areas; certain rights there will have to be retained for the non-White areas.

Sir, I want to raise another point in connection with water affairs in South-West Africa. The hon. member for Mariental has already referred to certain grand schemes which have been tackled under Nationalist rule from, one could say, 1950, because prior to 1950, when the United Party was in power there, virtually nothing happened in South-West Africa. It was only after the National Party had come into power there that dynamic development took place in South-West Africa. I want to refer to the grandest scheme, which was put into operation recently on the recommendation of the Odendaal Commission which brought out its report in 1963, and which has now been taken further by a Cabinet decision, namely the extension of the Kunene Scheme, which will supply water and electricity to both White and non-White in South-West Africa. The transmission lines are already reaching far from the thermal power station at Windhoek and when the hydroelectric scheme at the Ruacana Falls is completed, the transmission lines will also cross the non-White areas of Owambo and the Kaokoveld. This is a tremendous physical development of something of which we in South Africa can really be very proud because here we have something which is the communal property of both White and non-White.

I should now like to discuss certain other problems in general, problems in regard to our water affairs. Like the hon. member for Mariental, I should like to know something more about the master-plan for the water affairs of South-West Africa on which, as we know, the department is working. Perhaps it would be a good thing if the Minister were to tell us something about this in advance, because it is important to show the world what we are doing in South-West Africa and what we still intend to do. If I may come back to the Kunene Scheme again, I may just tell you, Sir, that, in view of the criticism from the outside world, it must really have taken courage on the part of the Cabinet to proceed with the scheme. There was opposition from the World Council of Churches in particular, but in spite of world opinion the Cabinet decided to proceed with the scheme.

The big problem which we in South Africa and, in fact, the whole world are facing, is the addition to and the build-up of mineral salts in our water. If we consider all our irrigation schemes—and here I am only thinking of the irrigation scheme at Hardap to which the hon. member for Mariental also referred—then one finds that here one has the situation of an irrigation scheme the drainage channels of which move their outlet in a river. This means that the mineral content of the water which drains into the Fish River is higher than ever before. At this stage this is still only a minor problem, but we foresee greater problems being created at a later stage as the mineral load of the water downstream of the Hardap dam begins to grow heavier. Having the Hardap dam as a control point with the result that the river downstream of the dam does not have its yearly flood with which to wash away that superfluous load of mineral salts, the position will arise of that load becoming progressively heavier. This is a problem everywhere, in all our water schemes including those in the Republic. I am reminded of what the hon. member for Wolmaransstad said in regard to our canals. At all our irrigation schemes one has the phenomenon of the irrigation dams into which superfluous water is diverted because the farmer was unable to be in attendance when it was his turn to receive water, so he saves his water in that irrigation dam. But often the irrigation dams are a source of enrichment of the mineral load carried by the water. Evaporation is another cause of the problem of the mineral content of the water increasing. Now one has the position of the ground on which that dam is situated, becoming more and more choked up and having to absorb more and more salts. The hon. member for Benoni referred to the phenomenon of boreholes in which the water had become brackish, and apparently he cast reflection on the Nationalist Party because they could not prevent the water from becoming brackish. But this is simply a phenomenon in all the low rainfall regions. There one has the situation that if the fresh water is not supplemented by rainfall, the water simply becomes more and more brackish. This, too, is a phenomenon with which we shall have to deal in future, particularly when we want to desalinate sea water. This is a phenomenon which we have already observed in South-West Africa in the operation of the desalination works at Lüderitzbucht. The sea water passes through the installation and leaves a residue of lye enriched with mineral salts. The lye is pumped into the sea water and then one has the phenomenon that it affects the biological life in that region. It is the natural tendency throughout the work to dispose of that enriched mineral water carelessly, thus causing the danger of pollution. I want to ask for serious attention to be given to this matter. About ten years ago we were faced with this problem in S.W.A. and the Water Research Institute of the C.S.I.R. was instructed to ascertain whether it would not be possible to break up those salts to render them harmless. Research work was done on the desalination of brackish water and we have made good progress. At one stage—I believe it was about two years ago—we heard that they were in fact capable of rendering harmless that enriched water which is so harmful to biological life by means of a method they had developed.

The incidence of this kind of water is on the increase. We have the same problem on the Witwatersrand where there are mine-dumps which result in the mineral pollution of rivers. I do not know what happened with regard to that method. We were going to apply that method of desalination in South-West Africa, particularly in those parts where there are large areas, as in Owambo and the salt block in the south of South-West Africa, which are brackish areas. The water to be found there, cannot be used for man or beast. We were going to apply the method there, but I have heard nothing more of this method. I wonder whether the hon. the Minister could furnish us with more information in this regard.

For us in South-West Africa it is very important that that land which cannot be used for agricultural puposes today, be made available to farmers to enable them to make a living from it. What is necessary, is not a grand scheme such as the one recommended by the Water Commission in another context. What I find disappointing in the report of the Water Commission is the fact that what the Commission believes in is precisely big schemes and not small ones. We in South-West Africa, however, believe in small schemes which ought to be distributed throughout the whole of South-West Africa, by means of which one may reach the individual farmer and ensure him of a living [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, Several hon. members on both sides have paid tribute to the hon. the Minister and the officials of the department for the interest roused in, and the honour won for South Africa through the Water Year and the putting into service of the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam. If these tributes had been limited to recognition for services rendered, I believe that they would have been hollow and meaningless, and therefore I am glad to be able to say to the hon. the Minister this afternoon that after looking up the water consumption of three towns in my constituency over the past year, I found that the average water consumption per person had dropped for all months. In addition, in his mayoral report one of the mayors ascribed this reduced water consumption solely and exclusively to the reaction in the attitude of the people towards water consumption which had been caused by the Water Year. For that reason we want to thank the hon. the Minister and we are grateful that our tributes are not just hollow words.

One John Kiernan once said—

I believe that this wisdom also applies to weather modification as found in South Africa today, because—allow me to put it this way—it was perhaps only applicable until immediately prior to the time when the hon. the Minister took up his standpoint on weather modification. Much of this uncertainty on weather modification stems only from the ignorance of persons who do not have sufficient knowledge of this very technical approach to weather modification. We are therefore grateful that the hon. the Minister put his standpoint to us and that he also gave the assurance that a careful watch would always be kept on this new development in South Africa. Nevertheless, there are in the minds of some of our people a number of fears, or rather, a number of unanswered questions, which we would like to bring to the attention of the hon. the Minister. The hon. the Minister has rightly referred to the uncertainties in the minds of, for example, people in irrigation areas who are not interested in an increase in rainfall, but who are only interested in the combating of hail, and are not sure whether the combating of hail will result in a higher rainfall. The hon. the Minister also referred to people who fear that weather modification in one area could adversely affect rainfall in a neighbouring area. In the third place the hon. the Minister referred to the fear of heavy expenses incurred by co-operatives to have research done by commercial bodies. We are grateful for the standpoint of the hon. the Minister in this connection. In the constituency which I represent, Bethlehem in the Eastern Free State, where this research is being done by the Department of Water Affairs and the Department of Transport, our people are quite reassured as far as weather modification is concerned. This is the position because we are fortunate enough to have drawn the people who have undertaken weather modification in our district, into our community to such an extent that the community is fully aware of the possibilities as well as the uncertainties involved. But there are nevertheless a few fears which we would like to bring to the attention of the hon. the Minister. We realize that the primary aim of the research in the Eastern Free State is to effect an increase in the rainfall in the catchment area of the Vaal Dam. In other words, the most important aim is to catch water in the Eastern Free State and then to channel it to the Vaal Triangle, which would then have the benefit of it. No it is feared by our people that when the interests of the Vaal Triangle are being looked after, we may be overlooked.

I just want to mention a few of the problems which have given rise to anxiety among the people. When a start was made with farm planning and contouring in the Free State, normal rainfall, rainfall in exceptional years and the intensity of precipitation were taken into consideration. Planning was then effected in accordance with that. If the objective of a 15% increase in the rainfall should in fact be achieved— we hope that this will in fact be the case— and there is uncertainty about the intensity of that precipitation, there is a danger of the charts of those who apply conservation in our area, being upset. Another point is that the Eastern Free State is an area where large-scale wheat farming is practised. With these grains there is already a risk to the harvesting season which falls in the summer. There is the danger that if we were to have a reasonably good rainy season, it would not be possible for the combines to go into the fields to harvest the crops, or that when ripe wheat has not yet been harvested, the rain will cause a drop in quality. It is also feared that the recommendations relating to fertilization made not only as regards the potential of the soil, but also the rainfall, will become obsolete. The same goes for weed killers and the concentration in which these have to be administered. In order to eliminate this uncertainty we want to address a request to the hon. the Minister. We request the hon. the Minister to consult the Department of Agricultural Technical Services very closely in this research. The Department of Agricultural Technical Services must not only be consulted in the research, but also in the anticipated results. When the Department of Agricultural Technical Services is constantly receiving this information from the department of the hon. the Minister, I believe that it will also be possible for that information to be given timeously, and that will solve many of the unanswered questions.

There is another matter which I would also like to bring to the attention of the hon. the Minister. Warnings are sometimes sounded that people should guard against selfishly regarding the rain which falls on their property, as being their own. I find no fault with this warning, because I believe that we are living in a time in which there is too much selfishness in the world and therefore, also in South Africa. When one’s own area is situated in a catchment area, and the rain which does fall flows to the Vaal Triangle, some jealousy is felt amongst the people when there is an emergency in one’s own region whereas the dams are reasonably full. Now we have a problem at the town of Senekal—the hon. the Minister probably knows the area and the problems there—where the department has already helped us with the construction of the Syferfontein Dam. Now it is unfortunately true that we are living in an area over which no one has control, an area in which one finds a combination of various soil series, on; which lends itself to a tremendously high and rapid rate of erosion. This has resulted in the Syferfontein Dam at Senekal being silted up for approximately 60% of its capacity within five years. In spite of measures taken and in spite of the calculations made by engineers, this silting up has in fact taken place here. We would like to ask very courteously whether ways and means could not be found to give assistance once again to this community, which falls within the catchment area of the Vaal Dam. They are engaged in a pioneer scheme, namely a well dam, which in my opinion may hold a great deal of success for us in the future, but because this is a small community, the lack of funds is once again one of the problems. We want to ask whether ways and means could not be found to come to the assistance of this community once again. I just want to add that I have here in my hand a newspaper in which there is an article …

Just tell me again which community you are referring to.

The community of Senekal and the Syferfontein Dam. In the Volksblad there is an article on the pipeline laid by a unique method, viz. the water pipeline from the Orange River to Okiep. In this article we read with interest about the “open air factory”, as they put it, which is used to lay the 55 mm pipe. What I now want to ask, is not a request; I think that it could rather be regarded as a wish. Will the time not arrive, or, rather, should consideration not be given even at this early stage to research in regard to a water network which could compare with the Escom network, not only for the Orange Free State, but for South Africa as a whole? As far as the open air factory is concerned, one wonders whether it would not be possible to effect a connection between various dams—rapidly and, it is hoped, reasonably cheaply—by means of reinforced polythene pipes, which could also be manufactured on the spot by an open air factory. Here I have in mind a connection between the new Sterkfontein Dam near Harrismith and the Allemanskraal Dam near Senekal. Would it not be possible to come to the aid of these smaller towns situated in this region by way of such a water pipeline? [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, I am sure the hon. member for Bethlehem will pardon me if I do not follow him up in his argument. I would prefer to speak about the Karoo and the Border area. I should like to say that we are looking forward, with gratitude, to the Orange-Fish Tunnel carrying its first supply of water out into the Theebus River at the end of next year. We gratefully consider the fact that the Theebus River, a part of the Fish River and a part of the Sundays River will again become perennial rivers. Because the hon. the Minister is someone who has an intense interest in his portfolio and always does his best as far as his portfolio is concerned, we feel at liberty to discuss things with him which were never discussed in earlier water debates. In that connection I want to come back to the rivers I have just spoken about and which will, in part, become perennial rivers again. I want to tell the Minister that the rainfall pattern has changed to such an extent, particularly as far as the Karoo is concerned, and in part also as far as the Eastern Cape is concerned, that even if we were to get an average annual rainfall, the pattern is so different that we get our rain in storms. When we get storm water, there is so much silt that many of the dams, like Lake Arthur and Lake Mentz, which lie alongside the rivers—and we hope that from 1974 these rivers will always have water— are already half silted up. But there are still further problems. The water also flows away so rapidly and has so little effect on the area that it is of no value at all. I should like to suggest to the hon. the Minister that in this connection we do research on certain rivers—and I am now thinking in particular of rivers like the Sundays River, the Fish River, the Keiskamma River and the Great Brak River—with a view to having not only one or two dams in those rivers, as we do at present, but to have dams built not only for irrigation purposes and to supply industries, but to act as sponges to partly trap the silt, to act as sponges to ensure a constant flow of water in these rivers and thereby also to increase the water level of boreholdes. The Minister knows of the example I now want to refer to, one of the areas which has suffered the most erosion, i.e. the Vlekpoort area at Tarkastad. The Vlekpoort Conservation Scheme was established by the State. Our experience there has been that such a conservation scheme resulted in a sponge being formed, giving rise to a permanent flow of water. Plant growth, like reeds, etc., which has previously been absent, has made its appearance again. Because the sponge is formed there is eventually a constant flow of water. Once one has a constant water-flow, one gets away from the problems of salt, brackish soil and the salinization of soil. I want to suggest to the hon. the Minister that it is, in fact, worth doing research in this connection. This must not be done for irrigation purposes, but simply—where the possibilities exist and the locality makes it possible—to build water sponges which would collect silt that would facilitate plant growth there so that a sponge is formed which could feed the river further down. I am not speaking of big dams now, but of dams that can act as sponges. I am now thinking of the Karoo, in particular, and of the reduced rainfall we have had in the last few years. What we now get is either a flood or nothing. The water runs away over the dam wall and the dams are half silted up. We get nothing out of that. Therefore it is, in fact, worth taking this into consideration. I am thinking, for example, of a river like the Fish River where there is not a single dam below the point where the water is diverted to the Sundays River; the water runs down from there unhindered to the sea. The position in respect of the Keiskamma River is about the same.

The hon. member for Albany dealt with the Keiskamma River, but I want to go even further and deal with the Border area as such. In this respect I can state that in previous debates I have already pointed this out to the hon. the Minister a few times. There we are dealing with tremendously large developments. We are dealing with two large Bantu areas and a large population, with few rivers and little water. There are the Buffels River, the Keiskamma River, the Bashee River and the Kei River. I have already asked the Minister previously whether the Government could not already, at this stage, announce a scheme to be undertaken to bring water from the Kei River to the East London/Berlin complex. The hon. the Minister said he would go into the matter, but without committing myself I want to predict that that is something of the past, that it will no longer be done. Although it is one of the most perennial of rivers flowing eastwards, from which water could still be obtained, the fact that the Bantu area has developed to such an extent and Chief Mantanzima has so much of a say over the area, perhaps makes it impossible to conclude an agreement for having that done. We must therefore leave the Kei River out of consideration. The hon. the Minister and his department know the circumstances there as well as I do. I now want to ask the Minister where, eventually, the additional growth in that area is to take place—growth which the Government is encouraging and which we would like to see taking place—and where the water must come from? If there is any possibility—and it is the Government’s objective—of damming up the Keiskamma River at more than one spot, I see some chance of a possible solution as far as that situation is concerned. The Buffels River has reached its maximum potential. Here we encounter the same problem as that mentioned by the hon. member for Etosha, i.e. that these rivers flow through the Bantu areas, or even have their source there. Previously we discussed the problem that results from rivers originating within a Bantu area, as well as the fact that rivers sometimes run for long distances through the Bantu areas, particularly in the light of the Government’s policy of eventually making the Bantu areas independent. What is our attitude in respect of the upper reaches of these rivers? The cities are dependent upon the water, and the water originates in the Bantu areas. Are we, for all time, certain that the water having its source in the Bantu areas will not be diverted for use within those areas themselves? I would be glad if the Minister would go into the question and tell us what the position is. My constituency is worried about that. On a previous occasion the Minister was asked, in respect of the utilization of the water from the Orange River, whether there are perhaps any future plans to channel the water to East London and the Border area as well. I think the Minister replied that at that stage this was not yet the case. It is a problem, particularly if we consider that it is Government policy that that complex should grow. It is situated between two Bantu areas, both with large populations. I am surely not aiming too high if I say that there are four million people living in that area. Those four million people are dependent on the rivers which run through the Transkei and have their origin in the Ciskei. Everyone must get along with that water. In addition there is a large White area which we surely want to look after as well. I want to lodge a plea with the Minister that special attention be given to the water supplies of the Border area now and for the far-distant future, so that a water supply will be guaranteed to us. If we cannot divert water from the Orange River, if we must be dependent upon the rivers from which we get water at present and which are being fully utilized at this stage, we are concerned about when we shall eventually obtain a plan that will be sufficiently permanent for us to be sure, as far as the Border area is concerned, that we shall have a water supply 25 years from now. After that we shall simply have to make use of desalination or of other methods for obtaining water. But that is the one area for which the Government, i.e. the Department of Water Affairs, has not yet drawn up a permanent plan to ensure a water supply for the next 25 years, particularly in respect of industrial development, which the Government would like to have there and which will, of necessity, take place there. We hear every day about how the industries are developing in the Transkei and how they are expected to develop in future. We hear of the foreign capital that is being invested there to assist with industrial development. I would be grateful if the Minister would reply to this and give us in the Border area the assurance that planning is being done—if the blue-prints are not ready as yet—to make provision for a sufficient water supply for the Border, particularly for East London. [Time expired,.]

Mr. Chairman, scientists call the earth the water planet. It has not yet been proved that there is water on any other planet in space. It is also a scriptural fact because we read in the Story of Creation that before the Great Architect created the cosmos out of chaos, darkness reigned and the spirit of God moved upon the waters. Therefore water already existed, in some form or other, before the Creation. It is calculated that there are 1 360 million cubic kilometres of water on the earth, so much that if the surface of the earth were flat it would cover the whole surface to a depth of 2,65 kilometres. 97,5% of this mass is sea, salt and brackish water which is unusable as far as man is concerned. Only 2,5 % or 35 000 million cubic kilometres are available to man. Thirty thousand million cubic kilometres of that is solid water, i.e. ice, which is found in the Antarctic, on mountain peaks and in Iceland and Greenland, etc., therefore also unusuable as far as man is concerned. Four million cubic kilometres of this is so deep beneath the surface of the earth that only 140 000 million cubic kilometres, or, ,01% is really available to man, i.e. one litre out of every 10 000 litres, to formulate this in more comprehensible terms. Sir, how much of that ,01% is available for South Africa I have not been able to determine, but it would probably be distressingly little. Scientists tell us that because there is no subterranean process whereby water can be formed or manufactured, we are exclusively dependent, for all water supplies, on water from the clouds, i.e. on rain water. Of that South Africa gets, on a yearly average, only a meagre 475 mm, 90% of this evaporates; 8% runs off in small streams and rivers and 2% again penetrates to subterranean sources. Of that 8%, according to calculation, only 40% is caught and used. Mr. Chairman, in 1965 South Africa had 3 507 700 morgen feet of water available, i.e. 5 525 million gallons per day. Its consumption was distributed as follows: 4 561 million gallons per day for irrigation, 35 million gallons per day for livestock and 909 million gallons per day for domestic, municipal and industrial use. At an increase of 7% per year from 1940 to the year 2000, as calculated, the consumption of municipalities and industries will increase to ten million gallons per day, which would mean a calculated shortage for all sectors of about 23% by the end of the century. Sir, it will not be possible to check this trend, because it has been calculated by statisticians that by the year 2000 93% of all Whites, 92% of all Asians, 86% of all Coloureds, and 75% of all Bantu in South Africa will be living in the cities, and that 90% of South Africa’s gross income will then also come from the secondary and tertiary sectors and only 6% from the platteland, i.e. agriculture. Mr. Chairman, from these quoted figures it is clear how little water there is available to man on the whole surface of the globe. It is also true that water is very unevently distributed over the globe. There are regions with an abundance of water, but there are also desert areas, and South Africa lies in the southern belt with a limited amount of water available. That is why the meaning of water appreciation and water conservation, as well as the more efficient and more useful employment of available sources, is so extremely essential. This can never be sufficiently emphasized. As far back as 1967-’68 State costs for schemes alone amounted to R48,7 million and in the next decade this will probably increase to R100 million and more per year. The costs of providing water have increased from 9,38 cents per thousand gallons in 1962 to 13,92 cents in 1968, an increase of 48%. This will, of course, filter through to agriculture, i.e. as far as irrigation is concerned. At present water is still cheap in South Africa. Irrigation water for agriculture, calculated at the production costs, is about 3%, and it is calculated that 20 cents per 1 000 gallons for industrial and municipal use is very cheap. Therefore it is necessary, that the recommendation of the Water Planning Commission in respect of irrigation research and the establishment of an irrigation research institute—I know the Minister is dealing with that—must not only be considered but must also be dealt with quickly. This must come into operation. Urgent attention must be given to investigation and research in connection with the most efficient irrigation methods with a view to obtaining more water for other urgent purposes and at the same time helping the farmer to achieve the optimum production per irrigation unit at the lowest cost. In this connection one could certainly take a hint from Israel, and one could say a great deal about that. Many existing irrigation techniques are out of date. The earth furrow for channelling water into the lands and the irrigation spade with which the water is dammed up and channelled across the fields will definitely have to be replaced by more efficient irrigation methods like pressure irrigation and sprinkler methods, etc. Evaporation and seepage losses from the starting point to the irrigation point must be eliminated. State schemes must never be half finished. In other words, a dam must not be built without canals, as, for example, in my constituency too, with the Koster River Dam where the valuable water is released from the dam into the river bed and then channelled off by the farmers lower down with earth furrows and canals to convey the water to the fields. These canals, I want to ask the Minister, must receive quick attention and be completed. There is room for more studies and surveys on soil in order to determine the viability of soil as far as irrigation is concerned. It is essential. It must also be determined what products react the best to more water or less water. Investigations must also be made into the local and foreign demands for products that are produced under irrigation. The cost of supplying water per unit, etc., are factors that demand investigation. Farmers must continually be able to keep themselves abreast of the very latest and most modern irrigation techniques so as to be able to produce at a profit, always on the basis of applying the minimum water per unit in relation to maximum production. That is indeed a sine qua non for successful irrigation farming. Last but not least, I again want to bring a matter to the Minister’s attention. I know the Minister is giving it attention, and I have already discussed it with him on various occasions. I want to advocate the redistribution of the State controlled subterranean dolomite sources. In my view present allocations are unfair and unrealistic, there are restrictions on farmers, while there are abundant concessions and pliancy in respect of towns, mines and industries. While some of the farmers, and others who extracted water prior to control, are still extracting it on a large scale without restriction, there are farmers who hanker for more water from those sources, which could also be available to them, but who are restricted to as low a minimum as 150 gallons per hour. I want to advocate redistribution of that water more fully. [Time expired.]

I am sure we may deduce from the moving plea by the hon. member for Marico that he is not someone who will allow things to slide and that he will see to it that the Government does its duty with regard to the supply of water. However, I want to return to the hon. the Minister himself. It has been shown beyond doubt that the hon. the Minister in his official capacity has good qualities. However, it has also been shown that he has faults, but I wonder whether we know that this little water angel also has horns, political horns, wicked, pointed, political horns. To bear out my statement, I should like to tell of something.

†I always thought that there was nothing that could surprise me about the members of this Cabinet, but I, and I think most hon. members on my side of the House, had to lift their eyebrows when they saw what had happened in this particular instance. In my hand I hold a facsimile of a letter.

In what paper?

The hon. member asks “In what paper?” The one paper that is helping the Nationalist Party more than any other paper in the whole of the country—what other paper than the Sunday Times? [Interjections.] I hold here a facsimile of a letter. I want to tell the Committee what this letter looks like. At the top there is a letterhead and the letterhead, under the coat-of-arms of the Republic of South Africa, says—

Dit is alles mooi gedruk. At the bottom this letter is signed by a person called “Fanie Botha”. Fanie Water or Fanie Politiek? We shall find out. This was sent out on official stationery. The envelope bore the official stamp of the Department of Water Affairs with the date August, the 22nd, 1972. One would have thought that there should have been a momentus matter of State, connected with water affairs, being discussed in this letter. I think ‘t would be worthwhile if we read the contents. The letter started as follows (translation)—

*This already makes one slightly suspicious. The second paragraph read—

Hear, hear!

All those “hear, hears”, is being uttered by, amongst others, the Chief Whip on the opposite side, with regard to a letter written on paper with an official letterhead.

How does it concern Water Affairs?

That is exactly what I am asking: How does it concern Water Affairs? Let me continue—

Hear, hear!

Just listen to the cries of “hear, hear”, in response to a letter written under an official letterhead.

What do United Party supporters want there?

I read on—

The person was contacted by letter, not as an authority, as someone interested in water affairs, but because “your name appears on the Party List”. The letter continues—

With friendly Nationalist greetings, Fanie Botha.

Hear, hear!

I think that this is more than merely a matter for “hoor, hoor”, for cheers and for vast approval from the other side. I do not know whether the hon. the Minister of Agriculture would do the same or whether the hon. the Minister of National Education would send out a political notice like this, inviting people to attend what appears to be a political gathering. Perhaps they would; perhaps not. But I feel that we on this side of the House are entitled to ask the hon. the Minister how many of these invitations were sent out to the people of the northern Transvaal when they were invited to come and have a discussion with him on what I presume were matters of political importance, or were they matters of water importance? Who paid for the paper on which this letter was printed? Who did the typing; who did the roneoing? Who paid for all this, if it was not the ordinary taxpayer, the ordinary man who pays his taxes for all these expensive letterheads? If the Sunday Times is right, the Minister had no justification for using, for an invitation to what appeared to be a political gathering, these expensive letterheads. Who paid for the postage and in this case, the delivery of the letters? Who did it? Was there a four-cent stamp on any of these letters or did they go under a “Free—Official” stamp? Here you have the answers. These letters bore the official stamp of the Department of Water Affairs. We are entitled to ask furthermore how long this practice has been going on in the department of the hon. the Minister. We are in fact entitled to ask the hon. the Prime Minister how long this practice has been going on in the department of his fellow Ministers.

Ask the Sunday Times.

This appears to be a roneod rather than a signed letter. Perhaps the hon. the Minister will tell me that it was roneoed without his knowledge on this type of paper. If that is the case, I would like to know whether he has taken any steps to discipline the person who did this. Has he taken any steps to pay for the use of these letterheads? Has he taken any steps to reimburse the Post Office department for having made use of these facilities for postal delivery in this way without paying a cent for it?

There is a fine for it.

If he does not know it, is it not rather a case of political impertinence? Is it not a sign of how confusion, deliberate confusion, exists at the moment in the ranks of the Government party in confusing their duties as Ministers of State and servants of the State with their dark duties as party politicians? Is this perhaps a sign of the deterioration of the Nationalist Party, that nowadays they can no longer afford to buy official stationery and that they have to use Government stationery for which we, the taxpayers, pay, in order to get people to their meetings? Is it a sign of how the Nationalist Party is deteriorating that the hon. the Minister has to use official stationery to invite his “mede-nasionaliste” in this letter which says: “net vir u … na hierdie vergadering wat nie oop is vir enige persoon nie … net Nasionaliste mag dit bywoon”? Can the Nationalist Party no longer afford the money for stationery? Can they no longer afford stamps or and—and I think we need a reply from the hon. the Minister as quickly as possible—is this just another example of the fact that the hon. the Minister and many of his colleagues cannot distinguish between their duties as servants of the State and their duties as jittery party politicians?

Mr. Chairman, when one is dealing with water affairs and listens to a frontbencher opposite, one could perhaps expect him to make a positive contribution in the field of water affairs. It would not have been so tragic were it not for the fact that the hon. member who has just spoken, has become the chairman of the education group of the United Party. Now I want to ask hon. members: If that is his contribution as far as water affairs are concerned, can hon. members imagine what a disaster it would be for the country if it should ever happen that the United Party came to power and he was to be their Minister of Education? Can hon. members imagine what a disaster it would be if he were to make a contribution to education such as he ‘has just made? As far as his attack on the hon. the Minister is concerned, I shall not reply to that, because I think that the hon. the Minister will reply to it himself. In the few minutes at my disposal I should prefer to speak to the hon. the Minister in connection with the water requirements of the Southern Cape. Last year I touched on this matter briefly in the course of the debate and the hon. the Minister then said that he would perhaps be in a position to say a great deal more to me this year about the matter. I do not know how far he has progressed with this planning, but I should just like to sketch briefly the requirements of the Southern Cape to him. When referring to the Southern Cape, I am not referring specifically to my constituency but I am thinking of the whole region of the Southern Cape which comprises four or five constituencies. The first requirement there is in respect of the very fruitful and fine soil in the ravines and on the plains which is waiting for irrigation. I do not know whether we will ever be able to have water for all of them, but I am just mentioning this. The second matter which is more serious, concerns the area between the Langeberg and the sea, the plain or the hilly country (“rûens”) as it is also called. In this region which has a winter rainfall, we can sow wheat and keep large herds of cattle. In the summer they have to get along without natural water because during this season there is no rain. The Minister is aware that in the past serious attempts have been made to rectify that serious deficiency in our farming system in time of drought by means of boreholes. But you also know that out of every 20 boreholes we sank there, perhaps 19 were dry, while the 20th was salty. I believe that in this respect there is no other answer for this region but to construct systems of pipelines from the catchment areas along the mountain where the dams of the department are, to give the farmers a supply of water. A few of the farmers have already started their own private schemes which have been subsidized by the Department of Agriculture because such a scheme is too expensive for farmers to manage on their own. They have already had extraordinary success with this. The Stallebrass Commission which was appointed a few years ago to investigate this matter, collected the necessary evidence. I wonder whether the hon. the Minister could tell us what has happened to this matter and what is contained in the report which they submitted.

Then, too, we have the holiday resorts on the South Coast. These holiday resorts draw many visitors who are very valuable to that region. I can just mention that a holiday resort such as Hartenbos handles as many as 60 000 people daily at peak-times. This is an indication of the tremendous water shortage this place must have, and the amount of water which is used there. This also applies to an area such as the fast-developing Mossel Bay area. I believe that in this respect we shall have to have a very wide ranging investigation of the water requirements of this region which, at this stage, must not only provide water for the holiday-makers, but also for many people who go on pension and live there permanently. We must see to them, too.

In the fourth place we must try to save something of the rural areas which can still be saved. I refer to the smaller village communities which are disappearing completely because the people are leaving them. I shall only mention one little village as an example, namely the village of Herbertsdale. A river, the Langtou River, passes that village and if we were ever able to build a dam in that river, we could re-establish that disappearing community as a sound rural community. Those are briefly the requirements of that region. Now I want to tell you what the possibilities are there.

As opposed to other areas in this country, the Southern Cape has no big rivers. There is only one notable river, namely the Gourits River. I now want to say a few words about this river. The Gourits River has its origin on the vast plains of the Karoo. Now it is a fact that a number of storage dams have already been built in the catchment area of the Gourits River. I could just mention the catchment area of Floriskraal, of Gamka, the Stomprug Dam and one which has just been approved, namely Muurtjieskraal. These are four major catchment areas of the Gourits River. It will therefore be realized that the water which would normally flow down that river and which the riparian owners could lay claim to, is being dammed up in these catchment areas. The people along this river are literally being dried out. Between the mountain and the sea the Gourits flows through an area which I should estimate at between 50 and 60 km long, and along its bank is the finest and the deepest soil we could ever wish for. I should estimate that it amounts to about 4 000 to 5 000 ha and it is being made virtually impossible ever to irrigate that area because normal fresh water does not reach that area. The water which is not dammed up in those areas and which flows downstream later, is water which has already been used or which has been standing in the pools for a long time and has become brackish. I want to address and appeal to the hon. the Minister to give attention to this area, to these people who have been deprived of water so that they, too, need not yield their rightful share, their birthright, to others.

Apart from this we have the smaller rivers which we will have to dam up. I do not believe that it is always possible for us to build an economic dam in a small river, but if we look at the matter from a purely economic point of view, we will never build any dams in most of them. I believe that the time has arrived for the hon. the Minister, if it is possible for him, to announce a water-plan for the Southern Cape so that we will at least know what the setup will be there and in what direction he and his department are thinking as far as the Southern Cape is concerned.

Mr. Chairman, I want to discuss the problem of silt carried by our rivers not only to the sea but to many of the main reservoirs in our country today. It is common knowledge that at least 400 million tons of soil washes to the sea every year. In fact, this amount is increasing year by year. We endeavour to combat erosion, but we are losing out. So far we do not seem to have found the solution. I accept that there is no easy solution to this problem. It is indeed a very difficult problem to solve, as is the pollution of water. I have already put it to the simple test. When watching rivers in flood, I have taken tumblers of water from them and stood them overnight to test how much silt they contained. I did this in an area where a large dam is under construction, namely the Spioenkop Dam in Natal. We know that this dam is being built across the Tugela River, the Little Tugela, the Lambonjwa, and many other smaller rivers. When one compares the water that flows in the Tugela River with the water flowing in the Lambonjwa River, which flows from a Bantu homeland area, one can hardly believe that there can be such a difference between the two rivers. I know that all rivers carry silt; even the Tugela carries a certain amount of silt. But when one looks at rivers flowing from the Bantu homeland areas, this is most disturbing indeed.

I want to come closer to my own area, where I see silt being carried to some of our large dams in the Border and Ciskei areas. There we have five large dams which have cost us a lot of money. We have the Maden dam, which is fed from the Amatola range above King William’s Town. Then we have the Rooikrans Dam and on the same river, the Buffalo River, we have the Laing dam and the Bridledrift Dam. These are four large reservoirs, and all the main rivers feeding the flow either from or through Native territory. Then we have the Nahoon Dam on the Nahoon River. What is disturbing us in the Eastern Cape is the consolidation of large tracts of land in that area, to be occupied by Bantu; this is taking place at the moment. I would like to know whether the Minister can tell us what arrangement exists between the Minister’s Department of Water Affairs and the Department of Bantu Administration and Development in this regard. Not only in the Ciskei, but all along the eastern slopes of the Drakensberg, one can virtually say, you find that the rivers are carrying an enormous amount of silt, flowing from the Bantu homelands. We in South Africa have come a long way as regards the construction of dams, and we have spent very large sums of money for this purpose. Indeed, we are proud of our achievements in the construction of our dams. But so far, very little has been done to combat the serious problem of silt, especially in reservoirs which were constructed over the past 50 to 60 years. I think of the Grassridge Dam in the Eastern Cape, Lake Arthur and Lake Mentz. Those dams today are virtually silted up completely. I accept that under the Orange/Fish River scheme, they will serve the purpose of, as we say in Afrikaans “vangdamme”, in order to store water. But today they are virtually silt traps, or sponges, as an hon. colleague of mine mentioned just now.

With the consolidation of large areas for Bantu occupation, what has the hon. the Minister and the department done to ensure that everything possible will be done to combat the silting caused by our rivers which flow from the Bantu homeland areas? I believe the Department of Water affairs and the hon. the Minister will have to work in close consultation with the Department of Bantu Administration and Development. We cannot just hand this land over willy-nilly, without regard to the silt which is flowing into some of these large and very expensive reservoirs. Let us take Lesotho as an example. The British Government has done all it possibly can to combat silting and erosion in Lesotho; but the British Government started far too late, and today, when the Orange River is in flood, the silt is still coming down from Lesotho, despite the measures against erosion which have been taken by the British Government over the years.

If you take a tumbler of water from the Orange River and let it stand overnight, you will be shocked to see how much silt it contains. I believe it is almost suicide for us in South Africa to consider handing over land without due regard to this very serious problem. One of these days we will find that the reservoirs I have mentioned in the East London area will be virtually full of silt. I know that the Department of Agriculture has been doing all it possibly can, but it is shocking to see the difference in the silt content of the different rivers, some of which are flowing from areas of White occupation and others from areas under Bantu occupation. This is what I have on my mind. It is something which is worrying everyone on the Border and they keep asking: “What is the Government doing to combat the silt problem?”

Mr. Chairman, the hon. member for East London North has touched on a matter which in my opinion is a very vital and important one. From time to time we observe that the Chief Ministers of the Bantu authorities concerned are insisting on more territory. To that the Minister has on occasion already given a very definite reply. The fact which he has emphasized here, underlines for us the important truth that the various Bantu peoples will have to give very serious attention to the land which they already possess and which they will have at their disposal in the near future. There is no point whatsoever in an expansion of territory if the people who will have control over it, are not really going to protect and develop that soil, and therefore I want to express the hope that the hon. the Minister of Water Affairs, with regard to this problem which is also being conveyed, to adjoining White areas, as the hon. member emphasized here, will use his influence with the Department of Bantu Administration and Development to see to it that pressure is brought to bear on the various Bantu authorities, to whom many of these duties will eventually be transferred; that the serious nature of the matter will be emphasized to them and that they will be made to open the eyes of their own people to this very important problem; because it is a fact that the greater part of the various Bantu areas are in fact situated in fertile parts of our country, land with a good potential which, as the hon. member has rightly said, has already been damaged and ruined in more than one respect. Sir, although I do not want to go into with this matter any further, I should just like to underline the importance of what has been said by the hon. member and express the hope that the various Bantu peoples will soon come to realize the importance of soil conservation and actively apply themselves to it. Sir, it is true that the development of any country should really begin with the development of its agriculture, and without systematic and determined soil conservation, that would be an impossible task for our Bantu homelands. Therefore I want to express the hope that very serious and dedicated work will be done along these lines.

Sir, I should like to raise a matter and emphasize what has already been said by the hon. member for Fauresmith in regard to water conservation. If possible I should very much like to see the hon. the Minister and his department giving effect to the idea that farmers in our irrigation settlements should be encouraged to conserve water and that they should be credited with attempts on their part to do so. This is particularly important in times such as these we have been experiencing during the past 12 to 15 years, of a cycle of drought throughout almost the entire length and breadth of our country. We would very much appreciate any possible encouragement in this connection. But in this regard I would again like to bring to the attention of the hon. the Minister and his department the necessity for research and development of the system of drip-irrigation. In certain areas there are already quite a number of farmers who are simply continuing to apply drip-irrigation without taking into account the possible adverse effects which could stem from this at a later stage. Actually the farmers will admit that neither they nor the people who advised them nor the officials of the Department of Agricultural Technical Services, know what the ultimate effect of drip-irrigation will be in particular areas. Another factor is that the effect will apparently vary from place to place, in accordance with the type of soil, variation in the soil structure, etc. I do not want to go into that now. I think that this also forms part of the department’s research program, about which I hope the hon. the Minister will give us more information. But the fact is that our enterprising farmers are carrying on with this and they are carrying on because water in general is very scarce and an attempt is therefore being made to utilize the available water as effectively as possible. The aim is therefore undoubtedly a good one, but in the first place we would very much like to see more information being made available as quickly as possible, if this is at all possible for the department, and more encouragement given because this is a direction which deserves encouragement. We would very much like to see a form of subsidy being introduced since farmers are proceeding to introduce drip-irrigation at high cost and since this makes such an important contribution to water conservation. I know that there are farming communities and farming associations in certain parts which are making very strong representations and asking the Department of Water Affairs to help them develop this method of irrigation now, particularly since it could make such an important contribution to water conservation.

I want to go further and ask the hon. the Minister something in regard to the establishment of new irrigation schemes. Here I have in mind the P. K. le Roux dam and the big canal being built in the direction of the South-western Free State along the northern bank of the Orange. I have the impression that the type of ground in that region lends itself to an experiment along these lines and one sometimes wonders whether, if drip-irrigation could be developed on a limited scale, the impact of such a scheme and the available water supplies could not be felt much further afield, and whether such a scheme could be developed into something far more ambitious if drip-irrigation could be successfully applied. It may be that even in the planning of such a scheme, much expense could be eliminated by the building of smaller canals and a distribution network which could possibly be replaced at the terminal points with a system of drip-irrigation. I say that this matter is so vital and so urgent that we are awaiting it with eagerness. To some extent one is hesitant to recommend it because one does not have enough information about it. It involves heavy expense, but I am depending on the department making available, on the basis of experimentation, the information which the farming community so badly needs. If one looks ahead, to the development and utilization of our water resources, we know that our water resources cannot really be supplemented or developed much further because our water supplies are so limited, and therefore one realizes that the development of new methods of irrigation, such as a system of drip-irrigation or, perhaps, variations on this, could make a very important contribution. But then one would like to see authoritative data and guidance being given to enable the farming community to incur those costs, and this should be done as soon as possible before these systems and methods are developed too far and too many expenses are incurred. I repeat that we are looking forward to this and we trust that the department will be able to provide that guidance as soon as possible.

I must say that I would like to support what the hon. member for Piketberg has just said. I believe that the whole question of drip irrigation, the use of that method or irrigation in this country, is still in its infancy. In fact it is still in the experimental stage, and if we are going to get any benefit from it then it is up to this hon. Minister and his department because they are the ones who must carry out the necessary investigations. I sincerely hope that it will result in a better utilization of our rather limited water resources in this country.

It is no use debating this question. It falls under the Department of Agricultural Technical Services.

That is all very well. I rest in your hands, Mr. Chairman. I am sure the hon. member for Piketberg also rested in your hands. I must admit that the hon. member for Etosha has a point, but I am sure that you, Sir, will allow any member to go ahead as long as he is talking about some useful method of utilization of our water resources in this country.

The hon. member for Piketberg started by supporting the hon. member for East London North in his representations regarding the silt which is being held in suspension in river water in this country. The hon. member for East London North mentioned that every river has a large percentage of silt and that most of the water, the natural water, or the raw water, has this quantity of silt in suspension. We in Natal are very proud of one particular dam, a dam which has an absolute minimum of silt, and not only of silt, but of any impurities in the water. I am referring to the Midmar Dam. The hon. the Minister will know that the water that comes out of that dam is about the purest in the country and it requires an absolute minimum of attention to it before it is passed on for human and industrial consumption. Quite opposed to that, of course, is the situation that we are facing now in Cape Town. For the benefit of hon. members opposite who might start shouting about interfering in other people’s constituencies. I want to say that I spend half of the year in Cape Town. I have a property here and I have to consume Cape Town’s water. I am absolutely shocked at the way the quality of the water in Cape Town has deteriorated, this year in particular. I know that there has been a series of droughts. I know that the Western Province has not had the rainfall which it should have had, but surely, are we really to be subjected to the poor quality water which we are now using here in Cape Town? Today when you take a handful of water out of a tap, you can smell the chemicals, let alone taste them. One must see what the chemicals that we have in this water which we now have to put on to our gardens are doing to my lawn.

And what about putting it into your whisky?

The hon. member for Klip River refers to putting it into whisky. We have now come to the stage where we have to put soda in our whisky because it is no good drinking this water in your whisky any more; it even changes the taste of whisky!

I know that there are vast schemes ahead that have been planned over a long time to supply water to Cape Town. I want to plead with the hon. the Minister: Let us get on with them; please let us get our water from somewhere else so that those of us who are used to, as I have said, the sweet waters of Natal do not have to come here and put up with the poor quality which we are now getting out of the tap here in Cape Town.

You should come to stay in the Karoo. [Interjections.]

I want to come back to those sweet waters of Natal that come out of the Midmar Dam and refer particularly to the area which is under the control of the Pinetown Regional Water Services Corporation. This corporation has been in existence for a number of years— it has just celebrated a jubilee—and until last year or the year before it was known as the Pinetown Regional Water “Supply” Corporation. Its name was changed to “Services” and its constitution was changed to allow it to take over certain existing services in the region. More particularly, I believe that the name and the constitution were changed to allow it to take over the commitments of this hon. the Minister’s department in the Hammarsdale area. This department has been committed by the Government to supply water to industrialists and others in Hammarsdale and also to look after the purification of industrial and other effluent which arises out of that development.

In the area which is served by the Pinetown Regional Water Services Corporation we have what I believe to be the most expensive water in the Republic. It is far more drinkable than what we are getting in Cape Town, but I would rather pay that and get decent water than pay what we are paying in Cape Town and get this bad water. However, at the same time I must say that the people whom I represent in that area are extremely annoyed to find that they have to pay 24 cents per kilolitre for that water which is, as far as I can make out as a result of my investigations, two and a half times as high as the next most expensive water that I was able to find in that region. I think a comparison of the prices charged by various authorities in that area is interesting. As I say, the Pinetown Regional Water Services Corporation charges 24 cents per kilolitre.

That is very cheap.

Thank you very much; that is South-West Africa speaking and I am not trying to compare the green hills of Natal with the sand and the arid wastes of South-West Africa. I am trying to compare one region with a similar region. The North Coast Regional Water Supply Corporation also has a rather high charge. The charge in that case is 8,4 cents per kilolitre. The rate that has to be paid to the South Coast Regional Water Corporation is 9,8 cents per kilolitre. In Pietermaritzburg, which incidentally also draws most of its water from the schemes of this hon. the Minister’s department, one has to pay 9 cents per kilolitre; Westville, 7,4 cents per kilolitre; Ladysmith, 6,5 cents per kilolitre while Greytown only has to pay 2,5 cents per kilolitre. Newcastle, which also draws its water from schemes of the hon. the Minister’s department, namely from the Ngagane dam, pays 3 cents per kilolitre for their water. Why should there be this tremendous discrepancy? I know that the hon. the Minister’s department has investigated this matter. Let me give him another example. The users in the old area of the Pinetown Regional Water Services Corporation area are paying 24 cents per kilolitre for their water. The hon. the Minister’s department advised me that the cost of the water to that corporation was 15,1 cents per kilolitre. Do hon. members know that there are new areas which have been opened up by this corporation recently where the people have to pay 30 cents per kilolitre for their water? This is in excess of three times as much as the next most expensive water I can find in Natal which is in Pietermaritzburg where they pay 9 cents per kilolitre. This is beyond my comprehension. This is something I cannot understand at all, but I must accept the word of the hon. the Minister, who had the courtesy to write to me for which I thank him. He explained that his department had gone into this matter and although the costs were high he believed that they were fully justified. He also pointed out that the Provincial Secretary had a say in these matters; that he had also gone into the matter and that approval had been granted with great reluctance by the Provincial Secretary, “but the relative figures were indisputable and had to be faced”. He ended off by saying: “My department has reached the same conclusion.” Why should this be the case where we have the finest water in the country, where a minimum of purification is required and where we are not transporting it over tremendous long distances? We do have a pipeline which is supplied and administered by the hon. the Minister’s department and the purification is taking place at Umlaas Road but why do we still have to pay 24 cents per kilolitre? In one area under the control of this corporation the inhabitants have to pay 30 cents per kilolitre. To hon. members who still think in terms of imperial measures, I would like to say that it is equivalent to our paying R1-50 per 1 000 gallon of water. Nobody can utilize water economically at that price. It does not pay for industry, let alone for any other purpose. I wonder if the hon. the Minister would not conduct a further survey, a further inquiry into this matter. Suggestions have been made to the hon. the Minister’s department as to how these costs can be reduced. The hon. the Minister in his letter says that with an increased consumption and an increased supply he hoped that the costs would come down. I sincerely hope he is right. While I am on that question, I must ask the hon. the Minister one further question. When the pipeline between Mid-mar, Umlaas Road, Cato Ridge and Hammarsdale was opened, there was a proposal that that pipeline should be doubled. Can he give us any indication as to whether he will undertake this work and when that pipeline will be ready for use? [Time expired.]

Mr. Chairman, it is a pleasure for me today to follow up the hon. member for Pietermaritzburg District after he has just been able to speak so calmly about the problems of water affairs. However, I do not have a great deal of time at my disposal, and the hon. member for Pietermaritzburg District must therefore please excuse me if I do not elaborate any further on what he has said.

If we bear in mind that this hon. Minister and his department have tackled these projects with a very great shortage of staff, and have achieved so much success to date, one is forced to have that much more appreciation for the work that has already been done. We on this side would also like to thank the hon. the Minister and his officials very much for what has thus far been achieved and congratulate them very warmly. There is probably no constituency where the Department of Water Affairs is not engaged in a project or where the department is not going to be engaged on a project in the near future. This speaks volumes. I think that in South-West Africa there is hardly a town in the whole area where the Department of Water Affairs has not been active or is not active at present. Therefore we can say at this stage that virtually every town, including the city of Windhoek, has been provided with a water scheme. We are very grateful for the fact that we have progressed this far.

Here we are also thinking of larger schemes, such as the Orange River scheme, on which so much progress has already been made that great results have been obtained, particularly for the Lower Orange River where we are chiefly dealing with the irrigation of smallholdings and there the inhabitants or owners of the smallholdings are dependent upon a very small piece of ground for their existence. Now they have a regular water supply which is of tremendous value to them. This means that they have the water available every moment of the year and when it is most necessary, and can utilize it for the good of their crops. We also have in mind large dams and storage projects in South-West Africa which another member has already spoken about. I am also thinking here of the Naute Dam which was opened last year, a fine piece of construction work which is already supplying the largest town in the south, Keetmanshoop, with lovely fresh water. In speaking of the Naute Dam, I see it is only a portion of that project. As the hon. the Minister will know, the original idea with this project was to build another dam. In this connection I do want to lodge a plea today that the Neckertal Dam, which was to be built near Seeheim, should not be forgotten. I responsibly realize that there are many projects which would probably have greater priority than this scheme, but when the water of these two dams, which lie near each other, can be combined, as was originally planned, something very useful is going to be established for the southern parts of South-West Africa in the form of fodder production, but also in the form of the possible resettlement of farmers from that low rainfall area, farmers who cannot make a living on those farms and therefore will eventually make a living elsewhere.

Particularly when we are thinking of the southern parts of South-West Africa, there are also a few other sources which will have to receive close attention in the future, particularly when we come to a master plan for South-West Africa. We in this area are not dependent upon perennial rivers. Therefore I am thinking of what has already been achieved with subterranean water sources. In South-West Africa we actually have three kinds of sources, i.e. the artesian water, water from the dolomite area and then, in the desert area, also water which has, throughout the centuries, been collected through a sponge-like effect in the form of a basin and which already supplies water to towns on the west coast of South-West Africa, i.e. Luderitz and Walvis Bay. We must give more attention to this in the future, if that is possible. Concealed in the desert there are possibly more sources such as those we find in the Koichab valley, the Anichab valley and the Kuiseb valley. Another source that will also have to receive more attention is that resulting from the desalination of water. I believe the department is working on this and it would perhaps be interesting to know how far we have progressed in making this an economic proposition. Then I also want to mention the other possibility, i.e. the modification of weather conditions, the rainmaking process, which will also be of great importance to these areas in the future. Fourthly there is the reclamation of water, which we already have an example of in Windhoek. I want to conclude my speech by saying that particularly as far as the southern parts are concerned, we shall in fututure, by way of this department, have to turn to sources other than the ordinary sources, i.e. river water. What is also of importance to me is whether that dam, which is being envisaged, will still possibly be constructed in the future.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to return to the point I touched on earlier, namely the question of the water supply for Durban. The hon. the Minister knows that the Umgeni River is at this moment in the process of being harnassed by the building of the new dam at Albert Falls. The original scheme was that there should be five dams in the Umgeni, namely the Nagle Dam, which was built a long while ago by the Durban Corporation; the Midmar Dam, which evolved as a State scheme after a dispute between the corporations of Durban and Pietermaritzburg; the Albert Falls scheme, a dam at the gorge site; and then a further dam below the Nagle Dam at Inanda which would require the water to be pumped back into the Nagle Dam in order to be utilized in Durhan. I am interested to know how far the hon. the Minister and his department have got in the actual planning of this particular scheme. The Umgeni River rises and flows through my constituency and we have reached the stage there where the hon. the Minister in his other capacity has seen fit to lay an embargo upon the planting of trees in the whole catchment area of the Umgeni River in order to safeguard the flow of water for the use of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. I believe I am right in saying that the Albert Falls Dam had to be begun two years ahead of schedule. When the Midmar Dam was built the schedule, as I understood it at the time, was that sluice gates would be put into the wall at Midmar in 1972 and that in 1976 it would be necessary to commence with the Albert Falls Dam in order to be able to cope with the demand of the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg and Pinetown and the intervening areas up and until the year 1985. At that stage there would be an assured delivery of water of something like 200 million gallons per day. The fact that we have had to accelerate the programme and to begin the Albert Falls Dam earlier than it was planned, and the fact that people are beginning to talk of limiting the size of the city of Durban particularly and to a certain extent also Pietermaritzburg, indicate, I think, that there is a clear need for water from outside. I would like the hon. the Minister to give a clear indication of what outside source of water is going to be tapped for the augmentation of the Umgeni River. It is quite obvious that by the year 1985 the Umgeni will be totally committed, that there will be absolutely no spare water whatever. There are two alternative sources, namely the Mooi River, which has been mentioned and which can be taken under a tunnel under the Karkloof to deliver water into the Umgeni system at Albert Falls, or the Umkomaas River. I would like to suggest to the hon. the Minister that the Umkomaas River, particularly in the higher areas, in the region of Underberg, where I believe there are several suitable sites for large storage dams, should be utilized. By pumping from the Umkomaas over into the Umgeni catchment area, one can ensure a delivery of an additional 200 million gallons a day to supply Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

In regard to the Mooi River, the hon. the Minister said in reply to a question the other day that that river, together with the Bushmans, Little Tugela and other rivers, were being investigated now by the Minister’s department with a view to determining the feasibility of the plan which was drawn up by Prof. Matthews of the geology department of the Natal University, whereby, through a system of tunnels and canals, the water in the Spioenkop dam above Ladysmith, can be augmented. I think the figure was something in the region of 88 million gallons of water a day. At the same time, a large amount of the power needed to pump water over the berg to the Tugela-Vaal scheme will be generated by passing this water from the Mooi River and other tributaries through a tunnel into the Tugela River.

But there is an additional factor which arises as far as the harnessing of the Tugela River is concerned, namely the ability to generate large amounts of hydro-electricity. This is, of course, as everybody knows, a source which is available during peak periods only. You obviously cannot run a hydro-electric scheme all day, because you will soon deplete your source of water. But it has been estimated that the total hydroelectric capacity of the Tugela River could reach about 3 400 megawatts, compared to the TVA in America with 3 500, the Kariba dam with 1 200, and the Cabora-Bassa with 4 000 megawatts. I would suggest to the hon. the Minister that the obvious future supply for the augmentation of the Umgeni could come from the Umkomaas. There are storage sites available. I read with interest in the report on the Berg River project that the Wemmershoek dam actually gains rather than loses water by evaporation. I imagine that the water is regained by condensation. I am not quite certain how it works, but I imagine that in the Underberg, which is high up in the berg, the same sort of thing might well happen. I would like to have an indication from the hon. the Minister as to how he sees the future augmentation of the Umgeni coming about.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to join the other speakers who congratulated the hon. the Minister and his department on the fine work they have done in this beautiful country of ours. I think that both Opposition and Government side owe the Minister a vote of thanks.

I want to ask very seriously whether the public of South Africa is aware of how much water is being wasted. I actually want to discuss the wasting of water, especially in the agricultural sector. I want to make an urgent plea with the Minister that we must make a quick and urgent changeover from the usual methods of irrigation to spray irrigation, and that this be made compulsory in future. Too much water is being wasted in this way, and water is too precious to go on wasting in this modern era.

Then I want to ask that the fines for the pollution of our beautiful rivers by industries and even by picnickers be trebled. We must realize that water is our most precious treasure, more precious than diamonds or gold, and that we cannot afford the pollution of our water.

Then there is something else, something which I simply cannot understand. The Cape Province, and especially the Western Province, is suffering under a tremendous drought, and even so water restrictions here are lifted at a time when the drought is at its worst. Sir, I simply cannot understand it. It hurt me to see how all and sundry, on the day after the water restriction had been lifted, used their sprayers and hosepipes on lawns although there was no sign of any grass. Sir, I want to make an appeal to our public. Do they realize what they are doing when they waste their precious water in this way for the sake of a few flowers and a little green grass? Sir, man, the animals and even the birds need this precious water; we cannot exist without it.

In the minute or two I still have at my disposal, I want to refer to the pumping of water from the Vaal River. There are many farmers who own farms along the banks of the Vaal River. It sometimes happens, when one of these farms are put up for sale, that the farmer tells a willing buyer that he can irrigate 80 or 100 morgen. I want to ask that something be done to protect that willing buyer from misrepresentations by the seller. In the absence of water meters, some of these farmers pump large quantities of water from the Vaal River. The prospective buyer is told that there are no restrictions at this stage and that one can irrigate 80 or 100 morgen; and when the buyer makes inquiries at the Department of Water Affairs, he finds that the maximum that can be irrigated, is only 10 or 12 morgen.

Sir, owing to the time-limit, I will restrict myself to only a few main points, without going into details. In the first place I want to thank the Minister on this occasion for his visit to Graaff-Reinet on 6th April. I do not want to thank him for bringing good news to Graaff-Reinet, but because he finally cleared up of course with the necessary motivations, a speculation, which had lasted for many years, with regard to the Wapads Mountain Tunnel. It necessarily eliminates any further speculation and further representations; it also eliminates meetings which have to be held at great cost and time. Therefore I want to thank him. Sir, this also enables the municipality of Graaff-Reinet to rule out the Wapads Mountain Tunnel completely in their further planning. The Minister has already indicated that his department would like to render assistance in any other project which Graaff-Reinet would like to tackle.

However, Sir, from those discussions a few cardinal points arose, to which I would like to refer very briefly. The first is the tremendous increase in the building costs of the schemes, which makes it virtually impossible for the department to build schemes which will only be used in agriculture. Therefore it is necessary, as the hon. the Minister has already said, that we should concentrate on multi-purpose schemes in future. Sir, I want to plead that in the planning of multi-purpose schemes in the future, agriculture definitely be borne in mind, for we know what the results of the population explosion will be. It causes a shortage of proteins, a meat shortage which already exists in the world, and South Africa will certainly have to contribute its share to provide in the need for proteins.

Sir, I want to suggest that our natural resources, especially in the extensive areas, in the small and large stock areas, have already been fully exploited, and in some cases over-exploited, and therefore it is essential that in the future planning of any water supply schemes, we should definitely bear agriculture in mind in this regard. Today much has been said about the use of water, and I think that many fruitful discussions have taken place about water. I should like to say very briefly that I think that as far as the use of water is concerned, we must bring about much closer co-operation between the Department of Water Affairs and the Department of Agricultural Technical Services to determine by means of research and extension from the Department of Agricultural Technical Services, inter alia, what exactly is needed in respect of a certain scheme, whether for instance there should be flood irrigation or spray irrigation or micro-irrigation or drip irrigation, what the slope should be and what the necessary drainage should be, and even to try and establish what type of crops should be cultivated so that the largest returns may be obtained. With this research at one’s disposal, one will then be able to determine what quota of water each farmer needs. Today it is unfortunately a fact that the more enterprising farmer is a saver of water, while on the same scheme a great deal of water may be wasted by other farmers as a result of the fact that there is no proper extension.

Then I want to deal briefly with two minor points. Much has been said on pollution here. It is a fact that, with regard to wool processing in this country, we foresee that we will have to process our wool to a much greater extent in future, that we shall have to wash our wool ourselves, and perhaps even process our wool up to the combing stage. Unfortunately it is so that we may pollute our rivers in this process. The South African Wool Textile Research Institute has already made great progress with research in this field. I want to ask the Minister to make some of the research funds available to the C.S.I.R. to enable the South African Wool Textile Research Institute to conduct further research, especially since the problem will become very real in the future.

Then I just want to pose one minor question to the Minister. I would very much like to know what progress has been made with regard to the work of the Water Research Commission. I will be very glad if he can give us some information in this regard.

When the hon. member for South Coast rose, he raised a number of matters, one of which I did not reply to but to which several hon. members returned, and at this stage I just want to dispose of that matter first of all. It is concerned with the anxiety that prevails in regard to the pollution and silting up of our rivers, the problem of the silt-load in our rivers, especially from the high mountain areas from which we receive our water from the Bantu homelands, and also in regard to the future of, I may as well put it this way, cohabitation along the same rivers. He raised two aspects. The one aspect is, of course, the general aspect in regard to the high silt-load of our rivers, which does not always have only those causes we think it has. Sometimes there are other causes too.

Grave anxiety prevails about the possibility that if there is not going to be close co-operation between the various authorities—i.e. between the existing Bantu authorities and those that will develop in the future, and, on the other hand, our White areas—we may have disputes in future, or that in the meantime irreparable damage may be caused in existing dam basins and even in dam basins which are still to be developed in the future. This is a very big problem. I want to dispose of it at once by saying that the Cabinet has already decided, and that the department is already carrying this decision into effect, that that inter-departmental committee consisting of all the interested parties will now lay down a formula in regard to two aspects. The one is the proper distribution of water amongst the various authorities for the future in terms of a standard and a basis which will comply with international law and the standards being accepted at present. There is no need for me to go into this matter. I just want to say that in 1966 an international convention was held in Helsinki, where certain international guide-lines were laid down.

I do not wish to discuss them, but I may just say that prior to this conference being held, various countries acted in terms of various systems of law. On the one hand there is the legal principle that one takes everything that comes past, i.e. the principle of the absolute authority of the person who temporarily has the water at his disposal. Another principle is that all water resources should be developed jointly, and a third one is that all water resources should be developed in a reasonable manner, having regard to certain principles and certain patterns of consumption, etc. As I have said, I am merely mentioning these things in passing. But we have, as far as this matter is concerned, a basis which is being recognized internationally, and it will in fact be done that way; apart from the fact that it is sensible, it is also essential to do this in good time.

The second point I want to mention is in connection with pollution. Pollution covers a wide field. I know that the question of pollution is discussed in this House year after year, and I think it was also raised by the hon. member for South Coast. There are many examples of pollution and there are also many problems in that regard. Of course, those problems are aggravated when there is a high population density around such a dam. These problems are aggravated further when in such a population there is no proper order in respect of flow-off. Hon. members can imagine where this leads to. However, I want to say that the basis for future pollution control will also be investigated by the commission. There are therefore two aspects. On the one hand there is the question how the water is to be distributed, and, on the other hand, how the water is to be utilized and protected against pollution. I think that disposes of all the questions put in this regard.

The second point to which I want to come back, pursuant to the further reference to it by the hon. member for Bethlehem, is weather modification. I want to say at once that two departments, the Department of Water Affairs and the Department of Transport, are involved here. In the case of the latter department it is actually its Meteorological Division which is involved here. Of course, the C.S.I.R. is also involved. It is almost impossible to expect a private individual to invest money and to persevere with a research programme which may extend over years and even over generations. Nobody is interested in that. No private individual would be prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of rand and perhaps even millions of rand on something of that nature which will perhaps extend over a period of years. Therefore it is only the State that will be able to do so. For this reason we have thrashed out matters in such a way that it is accepted that research will be done by the Department of Water Affairs in conjunction with the Weather Bureau. I think it cannot be expected that someone else should do basic research. When the private sector participates, it will be a commercial participation. In other words, the private sector can participate in the operational field, as is in fact happening at present and as has also been started by the Sierra Research Corporation of America, which, with its headquarters in Nelspruit, is trying to cater for the Lowveld area.

What is important is that the State should on the one hand proceed with its research, because (a) it must know how South Africas’ weather conditions differ from those of other countries; (b) it must know enough about the subject so that it may continually be in a position to judge the results achieved in other countries; and (c) it must itself be in a position to judge and intervene if necessary and to supplement where necessary. Hon. members will understand that if these things have to be done, a large enough area, which will also meet all the requirements, will have to be selected for this purpose.

The area we have selected is the Bethlehem area. All the elements required for such research are present there. That is why the research will take place there. I want to tell the hon. member for Bethlehem at once that we shall never even be able to consider the representations for the department to withdraw and for people from outside to operate there. The sooner this is understood, the better, for we shall simply not be able to do that. This is where we are going to operate, and the hon. member need not have any fear. As far as this research is concerned, we are not only considering ways and means for increasing the flow-off of the Vaal River, but we must do basic research in order to change the position of the whole of South Africa, if that is possible. Much more than only the Vaal River is therefore involved. I mention this because I feel that the question of research in this regard is of vital importance.

While I am talking about research, I want to come back to the last question put by the hon. member for Graaff-Reinet. At a later stage I shall reply to the other observations made by him. The last question put by him was concerned with the Water Research Commission. This body, hon. members will recall, was established by legislation two years ago. The intention is that in the years ahead this commission will do in South Africa all the basic research which we consider should be done. At this stage I want to say immediately that we shall have at our disposal an amount of the order of R2,3 to R2.5 million per year, and it will be possible to utilize this amount for research purposes. I want to add at once that the progress made over the past two years was phenomenal. At this stage I want to convey my thanks to the chairman of the commission, Mr. Kriel, and also to Dr. Stander who had to lay the foundation for research which had to be commenced in various spheres in South Africa. Now I want to tell hon. members at once what was done in two years’ time, and then the House will be able to judge for itself. The commission has already progressed in a manner of which this country can be very proud.

I want to mention the first sphere in which a great deal of progress has been made. Tremendous progress has been made in regard to the question of the reclamation of brackish water. Today we have quite a number of fields in which research can be done. One of the many fields is the desalination of brackish water. The desalination of sea water is not the only field to which special attention is being paid. The desalination of sea water comprises a special type of process, but the desalination of brackish water is of much more importance to South Africa, for brackish water is far more common in South Africa than is fresh water. The Water Research Commission proceeded as follows:

In the first instance, it tried to make an evaluation of precisely what had been done by everybody in this country in regard to research in that sphere. The commission obtained the co-operation of all the universities after it had entered into negotiations with them concerning their complete research programme for the future; it did so with all the provinces, it did so with all the important businesses and undertakings in South Africa, such as the Rand Water Board, the manufacturers of chemical fertilizers, the Chamber of Mines and several other bodies. There is a formidable list of bodies which undertook to have all their research co-ordinated by one central body. This in itself is a very important step, for it eliminates duplication and it eliminates the disadvantages which are found when the research work of all the scientists is concentrated on one point. It has been agreed to eliminate for the time being all research which is unnecessary for South Africa at present.

In other words, it is directed and guided into various fields of study. One of them is the field to which reference was made by one of the hon. members on this side of the House. There is no need for me to tell hon. members what has been done in that respect. The hon. member for South Coast has repeatedly spoken about the new kinds of effluents polluting our water. I want to tell hon. members that the Wool Research Institute cannot carry on with its work, because we cannot start washing wool on a very large scale unless we can find a formula which will render those effluents harmless. It is very difficult to render those effluents harmless. It has now been agreed to appoint a pilot committee which will co-ordinate with the commission all the problems we are experiencing in washing wool. A contract has been concluded by various bodies and it has been agreed who will serve on that pilot committee and how much will be spent every year on financing the research project.

The second sphere in which progress is being made, is in connection with purification, this whole problem of flow-off, which is a very serious problem. I can tell hon. members that the problem, as we are experiencing it at present—for example, in connection with the flow-off of the Witwatersrand, on the one side to the Vaal River and on the other side to the Hartbeespoort Dam, where we have factories along the upper reaches of the dams—is a very serious one. For that reason all research in this regard is being co-ordinated by the various bodies, and we hope that we shall make progress in this regard. I want to refer once again to the important research which is being done in regard to the desalination of brackish water. All the countries in the world are working together on the research being done in this regard. There are in effect mainly four processes. There is the old process of retro-osmosis and there is the process of electro-dialysis, which was used years ago already on the Free State gold fields for the solution of their problems, but which did not work. Then there is the process of ion exchange and the process of evaporation compression. The latter process was formerly used at Lüderitzbucht. They used these methods because they had to convey all their water by boat from the sea. In any case, these are the four basic trends which are now being followed in regard to research. We are also keeping an eye on what various countries are doing in this sphere. The Research Commission has already agreed with the C.S.I.R. on a special pilot committee for co-ordinating the research that has been done and for carrying out model studies in regard to all the existing and available apparatus in this sphere. I think what we can expect is that in the near future we should probably have an answer and will, at least in respect of our desert areas and our remote areas, already come forward with directions as to how the ordinary man may solve his problems in connection with brackish water. This is a big thing; it is a mouthful to say it. I am not saying that we have the answer, but I am in fact saying that we are already heading in that direction. By way of what is being done now, we hope to make such a breakthrough that we should at least have an answer as regards the essential provision of water derived from the brackish water resources of this country. The day we accomplish that, it will be an enormous breakthrough.

In addition to this development there are also other developments which are very interesting. All of you in this House know that we made a breakthrough at Windhoek in regard to the reclamation of water. This lead was also followed at Daspoort in Pretoria, and we are also giving attention to the specific problems of the Pretoria area. A question was posed in regard to Cape Town. I think it was the hon. member for Pietermaritzburg District who spoke in connection with the question of Cape Town. Because factories differ everywhere and because the effluents deposited in water systems by various factories in various towns are different too, hon. members can understand that the quality of the water in Cape Town is different from the quality of the water in Pretoria. In other words, the method has to be adapted. Furthermore we have the problem that the Cape subsoil causes salination of the water in all the pipelines that have been laid here. It has now been agreed, also with the C.S.I.R., to have the third installation here in the Cape Peninsula. I need not tell you that it has been agreed with the Cape Town City Council to have regional centralization in regard to the effluents of Cape Town. Cape Town imports from outside the Peninsula 95% of all the water it uses. Cape Town itself has just about no water. In respect of the effluent of Cape Town, the position at the moment is that 65% to 75% of all the water flowing into the Peninsula runs away into the sea, with all the problems created by it. On a previous occasion I referred to the following combination which we should try to have: All the water purification works should be located in such a way that we may have control over the effluents; before proceeding to reclaiming the effluents, we should, thirdly, consider where we may store the effluents. It has also been agreed with the commission that the feasibility study in this regard will be proceeded with, for here on the Cape Flats we have on our hands an area of 93 square kilometres with a storage capacity equivalent to one-fifth of the Verwoerd Dam, or one million megalitres.

The Cape Flats therefore holds the possibility of providing an enormous storage capacity for these effluents, plus all additional water which comes in from outside and may be stored here. If the Water Research Commission can refine these provisional guidelines and if the commission can give us an answer in respect of the Cape Peninsula at an early date, which is a possibility, then its existence will already have been justified just by the solution of this one single problem.

In addition to this there is a whole level of basic research in regard to which the Water Research Commission has already reached agreement with other bodies and has already allocated money to them. After it has been possible to lay down guidelines within two years, after it has been possible for us to obtain within two years the cooperation of all bodies, to conclude contracts and to appoint the pilot committees at all the cardinal and important points in this country, I am satisfied that if there has ever been a commission or body which has earned its money or proved to be worth establishing in South Africa, then it is the Water Research Commission of this country. I have no doubt that in this sphere we shall probably get international recognition. On this occasion I may perhaps say that South Africa is already getting such recognition in that we are co-operating with various countries of the world. Arising from my visit abroad last year, we were able to lay a very sound foundation for co-operation with one country which I should like to mention here, namely Israel, which has more or less the same problems we have here in South Africa. In addition to that we also have at the moment very good co-operation with many other countries in the world, and I think that when we look ahead and speak of breakthroughs and pay attention, then it is not so much a question of the building of dams, for that we can do, nor do I think it is so much a question of planning, for I believe that we consider that phase, the foundation of which we have laid soundly, to be the key to success, but it is a question of the solutions ahead actually lying in the direction of the reclamation of new resources. Nothing but science can render the reclamation of new resources possible for us. This is where science must lend a hand, for without it we can do nothing at all. We all know that at the end of the century we shall, as far as our available surface resources are concerned, probably have exhausted the amount of water available. Now, with the aid of science, we should start looking for entirely new resources with a view to utilizing them. I think the key to success in this direction lies in the hands of the Water Research Commission, which, in its constitution, its terms of reference, its enthusiasm and its know-how, as it is at the moment, has probably laid the foundation for sucess ahead.

Now I want to come back to various hon. members who spoke after I had replied earlier on.

I refer here to the hon. member for Cape Town Gardens, who mentioned our water surface problem as well as the utilization of our water surfaces for recreation purposes. The hon. member will know that it has now been agreed with all the provinces that they will exercise the actual control. The provinces now have to indicate to the Department of Water Affairs where they see their way clear to exercising control in terms of regulations which will be promulgated by the Minister of Water Affairs. These regulations will be adapted from time to time. At the moment they are taking shape within the framework of the agreement reached with the provinces. Therefore I want to tell the hon. member that I believe that at the number of places which the various provinces have already taken over, have already planned and in respect of which we, too, have already seen certain plans, such facilities will be created. The hon. member was, probably, also referring to the various dams which the provinces do not want to take over and control at this stage, and then he asked me: What about them? At the moment I am not yet in a position to give the hon. member that reply, for the simple reason that we first have to reach final agreement as to what the provinces want to do and when they want to do it. Then, if we are not satisfied that the provinces can release the Department of Water Affairs from this responsibility or are in actual fact going to take it over, we shall have to find a formula of our own for exercising control over those water surfaces. The hon. member also referred to the beautification of dams. This is a good idea, and the Department of Water Affairs has also decided on that. Of course, this is also the year of the Green Heritage campaign, and a great deal is being done to beautify our dams, as we are also trying to do in other spheres, and in this regard I agree wholeheartedly with the hon. member. It ought to develop in such a way that, since we shall in future have the use of our dams, we may just as well undertake the beautification. The intention is in fact to do so.

The hon. member for Mariental referred to the water shortages and the future needs of South-West Africa. He also referred to what he called a water-plan for South-West Africa. When we talk about water, the word “plan” is a difficult concept. What the hon. member and also the hon. member for Karas said, is quite correct, and this also goes for the hon. member for Etosha. I want to tell these hon. members that in South-West Africa there are in fact only two sources of water. It does not have any surface flow-off. Hon. members probably know that South-West Africa’s flow-off is only 2½% of that of the Republic of South Africa. South-West Africa does in actual fact have very little surface water. There are a number of subterranean sources which are situated in the northern and north-eastern areas, namely the dolomitic or artesian waters, especially in the direction of Gobabis and Tsumeb. Hon. members are aware of the large quantities of water in the vicinity of Tsumeb. Any water development in the future will have to take that factor into account.

The only other source, except this one, which can be taken into account, is the northern rivers. Of the northern rivers there are probably two that may be considered, namely the Kunene and the Okavango. As far as the Kunene is concerned, an international agreement has been concluded with the Portuguese, an agreement in terms of which we may abstract six cumecs. As hon. members know, the necessary is now being done to effect this. It will only be possible for further negotiations for development to take place once we have had a look at a feasibility plan and know what it will cost, whether or not it would be too expensive to attempt to lay on the water. This is a big factor. A commission was appointed to investigate the matter. I have the report of that commission, but I do not wish to comment on it now. The object was to determine whether we could lay on the water from the north. But before we can say anything about that possibility, we shall have to decide whether the water is not going to be too expensive for ordinary use. To bring water from a distance of 1000 km, Sir, is no trifling matter.

The second factor involved here is the quantity of water which we may abstract there; for this can only be effected in conjuction with other countries. When various countries border on the same river bank, international law does of course apply, and negotiations must take place in regard to the quantity of water which may be abstracted in the course of the development of the source. The principle in terms of which negotiations take place, is the international principle on which we also agreed, namely the most extensive joint utilization of the source by the various countries. We and the Portuguese have reached agreement on this. Any further development will therefore take place in the light of this. To the hon. members of South-West who spoke about this matter, I want to say that we shall probably have to obtain clarity on this in the near future. Quite a number of implications are involved in the matter. The feasibility study, which I have here in my hand, already indicates that it is going to be tremendously expensive to bring the water from the north to the central part of South-West.

The hon. member for Newton Park also referred to the need for stock-watering schemes. The hon. member for Newton Park should listen; I want to speak to him now. [Interjections.] He will know that over the years there has been talk of the possibility of stock-watering schemes. He will also know that I said in this House that it would be investigated. He will also know that it was announced that we would develop a pilot scheme for testing the feasibility and effectiveness of such a scheme in the dry area beyond Caledon. Now I want to say to the hon. member at once that these representations were, of course, not made only recently. The hon. the Deputy Minister of that area and I drove all over that area approximately two or three years ago.

Business interrupted in accordance with Standing Order No. 23.

House Resumed:

Progress reported and leave granted to sit again.