Why the Kruger rivers ran dry

All three major rivers in the drought-hit Kruger Park dried up during Water Week last month, sparking a row between environmentalists, farmers and the department of water affairs.

Kruger spokesperson Raymond Travers confirmed last month that the Crocodile, Letaba and Olifants rivers stopped flowing ‘for short periods”. They were now flowing again, but slowly.

Environmentalists are questioning whether water is being properly managed and whether the water affairs department is complying with its own Water Act.

The legislation makes provision for a reserve which gives precedence to water for basic human use and the environment, ensuring that rivers continue to flow. It is the only right to water in the Act.

Travers said that after the rivers stopped flowing, Kruger’s water management officials immediately contacted the water authorities, who restored flow to the rivers. River flow is controlled by gates which regulate how much water is let through, with the quantity decided by water use associations and other stakeholders, including the department.

However, some Kruger officials query whether the park’s rivers are getting their fair share and whether farmers downstream are not being unduly favoured.

‘Why, after more than 10 years of the new Water Act, do water affairs officials not ensure that the only right to water, river flow, is met before all other users?” one official asked. ‘By law, users can only use what is ‘left over’ after the river gets its share.”

But Jurg Venter, head of the Letaba Water User Association, dismissed the claim, saying the drought was depriving everyone in the area of water. ‘Farmers are not the only users and they’re already heavily rationed,” he said. ‘Like other users, the Kruger Park simply has to do with less water. It’s great that the government wants to provide water to more users, but you also have to examine how many users a water resource can support, especially in dry periods.”

Department of water affairs and forestry spokesperson Hilgard Matthews said the Water Act was not being enforced, adding that it was incorrect to say Kruger’s rivers had dried up. The park had experienced problems as water was flowing along alternative routes and had not reached the pumping sumps.

The past two months had seen an extremely dry weather spell with very high temperatures, causing major vapour transpiration and evaporation from all water surfaces.

‘This is a natural phenomenon we can do nothing about,” he said. ‘These are stressed catchments where special efforts and challenges are encountered in distributing water fairly.”

Three years ago the department and South African National Parks almost landed in court when the Olifants River stopped flowing and water management officials were blamed for taking incorrect decisions. Kruger is understood to have received a slap on the wrist for taking on a fellow government department.

Kevin Rogers, director of the Centre for Water in the Environment at Wits University, warned that perennial rivers contained many animal and plant species that required flowing water all year round. ‘Stop the water from flowing and they die. Simple as that.”

He said that as river pools evaporated, fish become concentrated and easy prey for crocodiles, fish eagles, kingfishers and cormorants.

‘Even more dramatic is the effect of hippos who feed on land at night and defecate in the pools by day,” he said. ‘The faeces build up and their decomposition uses up the oxygen in the water, killing aquatic species.”

Meanwhile, Kruger announced this week that it would soon implement water restrictions in its camps.