The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the nation's water resources are protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in ways which take into account amongst other factors—
| (a) | meeting the basic human needs of present and future generation; |
| (b) | promoting equitable access to water; |
| (c) | redressing the results of past racial and gender discrimination; |
| (d) | promoting the efficient, sustainable and beneficial use of water in the public interest; |
| (e) | facilitating social and economic development, |
| (f) | providing for growing demand for water use; |
| (g) | protecting aquatic and associated ecosystems and their biological diversity; |
| (h) | reducing and preventing pollution and degradation of water resources; |
| (i) | meeting international obligations; |
| (k) | managing floods and droughts, |
and for achieving this purpose, to establish suitable institutions and to ensure that they have appropriate community, racial and gender reprentation.
