National Water Amendment Act

1. Section 1 of the National Water Act, 1998 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), is hereby amended— (a) by the substitution for the definition of ‘‘Department’’ of the following definition: ‘‘ ‘Department’ means the Department [of] responsible for [Water] water [Affairs] affairs [and Forestry];’’; (b) by the substitution for the definition of ‘‘Minister’’ of the following definition: ‘‘ ‘Minister’ means the Minister [of] responsible for [Water] water [Affairs] affairs [and Forestry];’’; and (c) by the insertion after the definition of ‘‘riparian habitat’’ of the following definition: ‘‘ ‘specific environmental management Act’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998);’’. 5 10 15 4 No. 37715 Act No. 27 of 2014 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 2 June 2014 National Water Amendment Act, 2014 Amendment of section 26 of Act 36 of 1998 4

2. Section 26 is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection: ‘‘(5) Regulations made in terms of this Act that may have the effect of amending the provisions of the Agreement referred to in section 163A must be made by the Minister in concurrence with the Minister responsible for mineral resources and the Minister responsible for environmental affairs and must be tabled in Parliament 30 days prior to the final publication of the regulations in the Gazette.’’. Amendment of section 41 of Act 36 of 1998

3. Section 41 of the principal Act is hereby amended— (a) by the substitution for subsection (3) of the following subsection: ‘‘(3) A responsible authority may direct that any assessment under subsection (2)(a)(ii) must comply with the requirements contained in regulations made under [section 26 of the Environment Conservation Act, 1989 (Act No. 73 of 1989)] sections 24(5) and 44 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998).’’; and (b) by the addition of the following subsections: ‘‘(5) The Minister must align and integrate the process for consider- ation of a water use license with the timeframes and processes applicable to applications for— (a) licences, permits or rights for prospecting, exploration, mining and production in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002); and (b) environmental authorisations in terms of the National Environmen- tal Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) or any specific environmental management act. (6) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 148, any applicant for a water use licence arising out of the integration process contemplated in subsection (5), who is aggrieved by a decision of the responsible authority, may lodge an appeal to the Minister against the decision.’’. Amendment of section 148 of Act 36 of 1998

4. Section 148 of the principal Act is hereby amended— (a) by the substitution in subsection (1) for paragraph (f) of the following paragraph: ‘‘(f) subject to section 41(6), against a decision of a responsible authority on an application for a licence under section 41, or on any other application to which section 41 applies, by the applicant or by any other person who has timeously lodged a written objection against the application;’’; and (b) by the substitution in subsection (1) for paragraph (h) of the following paragraph: ‘‘(h) subject to section 41(6), against the amendment of a condition of a licence by a responsible authority on review under section 49(2), by any person affected thereby;’’. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Insertion of section 163A to Act 36 of 1998

5. The following section is hereby inserted in the principal Act after section 163: 45 ‘‘Amendments to this Act 163A. (1) (a) Any proposed amendments to this Act that may have the effect of amending the provisions of the Agreement, must be subject to concurrence between the Minister, the Minister responsible for mineral resources and the Minister responsible for environmental affairs; and (b) Any intervention contemplated in paragraph (a) that may lead to the amendment of the provisions of the Agreement must be tabled in Parliament prior to any steps being taken to effect those changes and 50 6 Parliament may express its view on the proposed amendment of the Agreement. (2) Agreement for the purpose of subsection (1) means the Agreement the Minister responsible for mineral reached between the Minister, resources and the Minister responsible for environmental affairs titled One Environmental System for the country with respect to mining, which entails: (a) that all environment related aspects would be regulated through one environmental system which is the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) and that all environmental provisions would be repealed from the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Develop- ment Act, 2002 (Act No 28 of 2002); (b) that the Minister responsible for environmental affairs sets the regulatory framework and norms and standards, and that the Minister responsible for mineral resources will implement the provisions of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) and the subordinate legislation as far as it relates to prospecting, exploration, mining or operations; (c) that the Minister responsible for mineral resources will issue environmental authorisations in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) for prospecting, exploration, mining or operations, and that the Minister responsible for environmental affairs will be the appeal authority for these authorisations; and (d) that the Minister, the Minister responsible for mineral resources and the Minster responsible for environmental affairs agree on fixed time- frames for the consideration and issuing of the authorisations in their respective legislation and also agreed to align the time frames and processes.’’. 5 10 15 20 25 Amendment of Arrangement of Sections of Act 36 of 1998

6. The Arrangement of Sections of the principal Act is hereby amended by the 30 insertion after item 163 of the following item: ‘‘163A. Amendments to this Act’’. Short title and commencement

7. This Act is called the National Water Amendment Act, 2014 and comes into operation on the same date as the National Environmental Laws Amendment Act, 2014. 35