National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998)General Authorisations in terms of Section 39 of the National Water Act3. Discharge of waste or water containing waste into a water resource through a pipe, canal, sewer or other conduit; and disposing in any manner of water which contains waste from, or which has been heated in, any industrial or power generation process3.9 Record-keeping and disclosure of information |
| 1) | The registered user must ensure the establishment of monitoring programmes to monitor the quantity and quality of the discharge prior to the commencement of the discharge, as follows— |
| a) | the quantity of the discharge must be metered and the total recorded weekly; and |
| b) | the quality of domestic wastewater discharges must be monitored monthly by grab sampling as set out in Table 3.3. |
Table 3.3: Monitoring requirements for domestic wastewater discharges
Discharge Volume on any given Day |
Monitoring Requirements |
<10 cubic metres |
None |
10 to 100 cubic metres |
pH Electrical Conductivity (rnS/m) Faecal Coliforms (per 100 ml) |
100 to 1000 cubic metres |
pH Electrical Conductivity (mS/m) Faecal Coliforms (per 100 ml) Chemical Oxygen Demand (mg/I) Ammonia as Nitrogen (mg/I) Suspended Solids (mg/I) |
1 000 to 2 000 cubic metres |
pH Electrical Conductivity (mS/rn) Faecal Coliforms (per 100 ml) Chemical Oxygen Demand (mg/l) Ammonia as Nitrogen (mg/I) Nitrate/Nitrite as Nitrogen (mg/I) Free Chlorine (mg/I) Suspended Solids (mg/I) Ortho-Phosphate as Phosphorous (mg/I) |
| c) | the quality of industrial wastewater discharges must be monitored weekly by grab sampling— |
| i) | for all substances which have been added to the water through any industrial activity; |
| ii) | for all substances which have been concentrated in the water through any industrial activity; |
| iii) | for all substances which may be harmful or potentially harmful to human health or to the water resource quality; and |
| iv) | as set out in paragraph 3.9(1)(b) above, if the wastewater contains any domestic wastewater. |
| d) | The methods for the measurement of specific substances and parameters in any wastewater must be carried out— |
| i) | by a laboratory that has been accredited under the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) in terms of SABS Code 0259 for that method; or |
| ii) | as approved in writing by the Minister. |
| 2) | Upon the written request of the Responsible Authority the registered user must— |
| a) | ensure the establishment of any additional monitoring programmes; and |
| b) | appoint a competent person to assess the water use measurements made in terms of this authorisation and submit the findings to the Responsible Authority for evaluation. |
| 3) | Subject to paragraph 3.10(2) above, the registered user must, for at least five years, keep a written record of the following wastewater discharge and related activities— |
| a) | the quantity of wastewater discharged; |
| b) | the quality of wastewater discharged; |
| c) | details of the monitoring programme/s; |
| d) | details of failures and malfunctions in the discharge system and details of measures taken, and |
such information must be made available upon written request to the Responsible Authority.
| 4) | Any information on the occurrence of any incident that has or is likely to have a detrimental impact on the water resource quality must be reported to the Responsible Authority. |