Proposed Raising Of The Rietvlei Dam,Welgegund No 284, Grabouw
De Rust Family Trust (DRFT) is proposing to raise one of its existing dams, the Rietvlei Dam, in order to store an additional 620 000 m3 of water, on its property called the Welgegund Farm No 284, 7 km east of Grabouw. The DRFT received a 9B permit in 1980's to abstract some 1.4 Mm3 of water. As all of this water has not been stored as yet, the applicant wishes to have the outstanding volume of water recognised as an existing lawful use, by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), and proposes to store it in the raised Rietvlei Dam. The dam currently has a storage capacity of 90 000 m3 and surface area of 2.7 ha. It is proposed that the capacity of the raised dam be increase to 710 000 m3 i.e. an increased storage of 620 000 m3. A new pipeline would also be required to transfer water from the existing Saal Dam to the raised Rietvlei Dam
Current Project Phase
The Revised Draft EIA Report was submitted for a 40 day comment period. Consequently, the Revised Draft EIA Report has been updated to the Final EIA Report with the inclusion of all comments received and the associated Comments and Response Report, attached as Annexure G. In addition, the Final EIA Report has been updated with the inclusion of Annexure H, which includes the public participation information for the Final EIA Report.
The National Environmental Management Amendment Act, 2008 (Act No. 62 of 2008) ("the NEMA Amendment Act"), came into operation on 1 May 2009. The NEMA Amendment Act has implications on the way in which the EIA process is implemented and certain amendments and changes have been made to the current EIA process. The amendments and changes that are applicable to this project have been identified and include changes to the public participation process. In terms of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (2009) Guideline on Public Participation, all final reports must be distributed for public comment for a period of 21 days. As a registered Interested and Affected Party ("I&AP") for the EIA process currently being undertaken for the proposed raising of the Rietvlei Dam in Grabouw, we would like to notify you of the lodging of the Final EIA Report for your review. A full copy of the Final EIA Report has been lodged in the Grabouw Public Library, Theewaterskloof Municipal Office and will be made available until 29 March 2010. If you would like to comment on the Final EIA Report, please submit your comments to Aurecon by 29 March 2010 by email, fax or post. Fax: (021) 424 5588 or Email: mel.pillay@af.aurecongroup.com or P.O. Box 494, Cape Town, 8000. Attention: Mel Pillay. If you have any queries please contact Mel Pillay at Tel: (021) 481 2539 or at the above address
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