Water and Sanitation Services Policy on Privately Owned Land

 The Department of Water and Sanitation has published this Water and Sanitation Services Policy on Privately Owned Land Framework for implementation.

The policy defines privately owned land as “any land that is not public land or land owned, controlled or leased by the state but is owned or under the control of a single private individual or entity or group of individuals collectively. In most cases these properties are far away from the municipality and its service system”

The policy objective is to provide an enabling regulatory environment for the provision of water services to residents living on private owner land through close collaboration between the Department of Water and Sanitation, private land owners and private land dwellers. It looks to improve access to reliable water and sanitation services for residents on private land owned by any “single private individual, entity or group of individuals collectively’, including commercial farms, mine-owned land, church-owned land, privately owned enterprises, game parks, agricultural holdings, communal property associations and trust properties”. In most cases the properties will be located on the outskirts and beyond of urban settlements and outside the boundaries of existing municipal service systems.

The policy positions (challenges and proposed solutions) set out in section 7 together with section 10 [Roles and Responsibilities including those of the private land owner] will probably be of interest to members whose properties fall within the definition of privately owned land.

Being a policy framework it will be quite a while before all of the proposed policy positions/solutions (see below) are implemented. Many will require either new legislation or amendments to existing national, provincial and or municipal statutes.

Section 7 – The various challenges and proposed solutions are as follows –

1. People still deprived access to basic water supply and sanitation services

Policy positions set out under section 7.1.3 (a) to (d) on page 19

2. A need to address the right of entry

Policy positions set out under section 7.2.3 (a) to (j) on page 20 and 21

3. Land Tenure and facilitating basic water supply and sanitation services

Policy positions set out under section 7.3.3 (a) to (h) on page 22 and 23

4. The gap between policy advocacy and implementation

Policy positions set out under section 7.4.3 (a) to (f) on page 23 and 24

5. Identification of persons living without access to basic water supply and sanitation services

Policy positions set out under section 7.5.3 (a) to (d) on page 25

6. The fragmented and uncoordinated nature of water and sanitation services

Policy positions set out under section 7.6.3 (a) to (i) on page 26 and 27

7. Unhealthy and unsafe conditions

Policy positions set out under section 7.7.3 (a) to (g) on page 28

8. Technical considerations

Policy positions set out under section 7.8.3 (a) to (m) on page 29, 30 and 31

9. Funding programmes and requirements

Policy positions set out under section 7.9.3 (a) to (h) on page 33, 34 and 35

10. Institutional arrangements and regulatory capabilities

Policy positions set out under section 7.10.3 (a) to (c) on page 36 and 37

Section 8 provides for Implementation approaches

Section 9 provides for Information Management, Monitoring and the Regulatory provision of water services

Section 10 sets out Roles and Responsibilities including those of the private land owner

Section 11 deals with Offences and Intervention