In rural areas women playa vital role as both water suppliers and as water managers as well as primary providers of health care to the family. Women and children are generally the transporters of water to their homes and fields. Women are also primarily responsible for managing and
conserving water at the household level. According to Mvula Trust (1999d), women "have the best information on availability, reliability and purity of water sources." Therefore, as illustrated above, it is the women who have the knowledge ofthe location, reliability and quality ofthe local water resources and are responsible for collecting water, controlling its use and overseeing sanitary arrangements. Despite this, women rarely participate in policy and decision-making processes pertaining to water issues at government and community levels. Erskine (1996) states that women need to be involved in the process of promoting and establishing water and sanitation systems.
Data collected from fieldwork conducted in land redistribution projects in Kwazulu-Natal illustrates that women's access to communal resources such as forests, wood and water are critical to household survival (Bob, 1999). Furthermore, the distance ofthese resources impinges greatly on women's workloads. Variations in land use and location of these resources can dramatically impact demand for labour.
Water is the source of all life and securing a safe and adequate supply is a major task for women as well as for many governments. Water is needed for domestic purposes, personal hygiene and sanitation, child care as well as for uses on the farm and processes involved in food production and craft work. Water is also needed for their animals and pets. The provision for adequate water is essential if women are to become more effective income earners if required. Time saved in water collection directly influences their ability to be successful in providing themselves with a better chance of feeding themselves and their families and so improve their health and productivity. Collecting water is an arduous task, and sometimes it is undertaken several times a day, travelling great distances over treacherous terrain, walking! wading in deep mud to reach clean water. Women carry heavy loads in containers, balanced on their heads or strapped on their backs.
The following issues are still prevalent in rural water supply and need to addressed according to Bob (1999):
• In areas where water can be pumped women have not been taken into account in the design or location of the pumps.
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Women are not trained to repair or maintain them and sometimes the quality of the water is poor.
Cultural traditions also ensure that women in many societies are not permitted to intervene in decision making. Male heads decide where to build the houses without considering the distance of water resources; as water collection is not their concern.
Inappropriate technologies and credit facilities, limits the access that women have to a water source of allow them to make improvements themselves.
According to Denkelman and Davidson (1988), women as managers of water resources have to decide where to collect water, how to draw, transport and store it. They also have to determine how many water sources (determined on its quality) can be used and for their various purposes, washing, gardens, food and how to purify drinking water using simple techniques (such as filtration) or materials available from the environment. This shows that women's experiences in collecting, storing, using and purifying water is critical for health reasons and their survival.
The importance of water quality for health is clear as most human diseases are transmitted by water ( cho lera, typhoid) or water related (bilharzia). According to Sijbesma (1985 cited in Rodda, 1994), women organise the disposal and re-use of the waste water as they take great interest in health care, where women in Yemen use the best quality water, preferably from a spring for drinking; personal washing, cooking and cleansing drinking vessels, food and flour grinding stones. Grey water is saved and used for washing clothes and watering plants, feeding poultry, cattle and cleaning floors.
Women's knowledge o flo cal water conditions is generally passed on to successive generations and includes, location and availability of water sources, social aspects such as separate arrangements of water sources and sanitary facilities and of community needs and customs.
Therefore any effort to improve local water supplies must take into account women's needs and project planners must consult with women, before embarking on any project. Women need water sources close at hand to save them valuable time in collection as well as water points must continue to play their part as informal meeting places where women exchange information and learn from each other. According to Rodda (1994), an organisation called "Water Aid" has a
philosophy to involve village communities (especially women) right from the start of a project, making sure that women have their say about what they actually want, as well as ensure that women take part in the design, using appropriate technology, to ensure sustainable development.
2.13 LAND REDISTRIBUTION AND AFFORESTATION
In Kwazulu-Natal, as in other parts of South Africa, many redistribution projects have been encouraged to participate in forestry programmes. Afforestation makes a claim on natural resources, principally land and water, which has a number of environmental and social consequences (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 1997b). According to Forestry South Africa (1999), Rural Development Forestry is initiated as it involves local people in a forestry initiative and is used in small scale farming systems. However, commercial forestry such as gum trees consume large amounts of water which results in the drying up of streams during winter while the soils are poisoned over the maturation period which is over seven years. The long term affects of land reform projects that have opted to participate in forestry programmes can be devastating.
Forests dramatically reduce run-off because most forests are found in the upper reaches of the catchment - consequently little water reaches rivers and other natural water bodies in the lower catchment areas. Calculations on the run-off rate must inform levies. Forestry companies must be made to pay for the use of water, albeit as indirect and direct users of water. These monies can be used to subsidize water projects in poor communities.
Notwithstanding this, in commercial forestry or rural development forestry, partnerships are being entered into with large industries who promote afforestation. However, this is governed by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, through the Catchment Management Agencies who determine the carrying capacity and water use in a catchment. Timber plantations (such as gum and wattle) generally consume large quantities of water and is regarded as a stream flow reduction activity. It is therefore governed by the National Water Act (1998). Once a threshold is reached, new timber plantations are not permitted.