South Africa and Zimbabwe are set to sign a Water Bilateral Agreement on Friday 12 December, which will see more water being brought into the country.
The Minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane will visit Zimbabwe primarily to attend the Signing Ceremony of the Certified Agreement on the Cooperation on Water Resources Management. The meeting will also look at the Establishment and Functioning of The Joint Water Commission between the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of Zimbabwe. The signing ceremony between these two countries follows a joint agreement by both respective governments of South Africa and Zimbabwe to undertake a technical study to evaluate the possible water resource developments and transfer options of water from Zimbabwe to South Africa. The two countries thus opted to sign an Agreement last month, November 2014, after deliberating and agreeing on constructing a pipeline that will draw water from Zambezi River to Cowdray Park in Bulawayo, then right through to South Africa. The agreement will adopt a three-phased approach. The first is to determine the viability of water resource development options at reconnaissance level taking into account the latest information on hydrology and environmental needs including identifying options for such water supplies.
Phase 2 is the pre-feasibility study of the preferred options identified in Phase 1 while Phase 3 will be centred on the feasibility study of the preferred options from Phase 2.
