National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998)Chapter 3 : Protection Of Water ResourcesPart 5 : Emergency incidents20. Control of emergency incidents |
| (1) | In this section "incident" includes any incident or accident in which a substance— |
| (a) | pollutes or has the potential to pollute a water resource; or |
| (b) | has, or is likely to have, a detrimental effect on a water resource. |
| (2) | In this section, "responsible person" includes any person who— |
| (a) | is responsible for the incident; |
| (b) | owns the substance involved in the incident; or |
| (c) | was in control of the substance involved in the incident at the time of the incident. |
| (3) | The responsible person, any other person involved in the incident or any other person with knowledge of the incident must, as soon as reasonably practicable after obtaining knowledge of the incident, report to— |
| (a) | the Department; |
| (b) | the South African Police Service or the relevant fire department; or |
| (c) | the relevant catchment management agency. |
| (4) | A responsible person must— |
| (a) | take all reasonable measures to contain and minimise the effects of the incident; |
| (b) | undertake clean-up procedures; |
| (c) | remedy the effects of the incident; and |
| (d) | take such measures as the catchment management agency may either verbally or in writing direct within the time specified by such institution. |
| (5) | A verbal directive must be confirmed in writing within 14 days, failing which it will be deemed to have been withdrawn. |
(6) Should—
| (a) | the responsible person fail to comply, or inadequately comply with a directive; |
| (b) | it not be possible to give the directive to the responsible person timeously, the catchment management agency may take the measures it considers necessary to— |
| (i) | contain and minimise the effects of the incident; |
| (ii) | undertake clean-up procedures; and |
| (iii) | remedy the effects of the incident. |
| (7) | The catchment management agency may recover all reasonable costs incurred by it from every responsible person jointly and severally. |
| (8) | The costs claimed under subsection (7) may include, without being limited to, labour, administration and overhead costs. |
| (9) | If more than one person is liable in terms of subsection (7), the catchment management agency must, at the request of any of those persons, and after giving the others an opportunity to be heard, apportion the liability, but such apportionment does not relieve any of them of their joint and several liability for the full amount of the costs. |