Department speeds up issuing water use licenses

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says it is fast tracking water use licence applications to ensure they are finalised within 90 days, in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pronouncement in the State of the Nation Address, last week.

The acting Chief Director of Water Use License Administration in the department, Roxanne Naidoo, on Thursday said they have undertaken preparatory work including re-engineering the current business process to cut it down from 300 days to 90 days.

“This requires a thorough review of the current process and making the necessary changes, in accordance with the relevant sections of the National Water Act.

“The second activity comprises reconfiguring the E-WULAAS (the online application portal) to align it with the revised process,” Naidoo said.

The department, said Naidoo, will immediately commence with workshops in various provinces to capacitate and educate applicants about the new business process. The workshops will be held in February and March.

“Starting from April 2021, all applications that will be submitted and accompanied by all the requisite administrative and technical information will be finalised within the 90 days turnaround time,” Naidoo said.

While noting that human capacity is a challenge, Naidoo said the department is recruiting additional officials in order to fast track the processing of water use licence applications.

Naidoo called on prospective applicants to provide adequate information so that their applications can be issued timeously.