On the 22nd of March 2024 the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment published the draft South African Water Quality Guidelines for Coastal Marine Waters Vol. 1: Natural Environment and Mariculture Use for public comment. These guidelines replace the Water Quality Guidelines of 1992 and 1995. Their primary focus is to maintain or achieve water quality that is suitable for a range of designated uses, such as industrial and recreational uses. This guideline further contains the criteria or standards, referred to as GCSs2 , which serves as a tool for managing and reading water quality (contains numbers of concentration limits and quantity of toxic substances). Furthermore, the quantity of harmful substances that may be emitted within an area is governed by these guidelines which sets an important baseline of standards of quality for different environments.
Any affected or interested party is encouraged to comment within 30 days, please do not hesitate to contact us regarding submitting commentary or any related queries.
GG Notice – nemicma_waterqualityguidelines.mariculture_g50311gon4527.pdf (dffe.gov.za)
Draft Guidelines- waterqualityguideline2022.pdf (dffe.gov.za)