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Water - Miscellaneous (Ss 32-37)

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32.     Registration

 

            (1) The Board shall notify the Water Registrar of every grant or renewal of a water right made by it and of the variation, determination, diminution, modification or suspension of a water right or existing right, and of any servitude created or determined by it, and the Water Registrar shall enter the same in the register of water rights.

            (2) Any person shall, on application to the Water Registrar, be entitled to receive certified or uncertified extracts from the register of water rights.

            (3) Extracts from the register of water rights certified to be under the hand of the Water Registrar shall be admissible in evidence in all legal proceedings, civil or criminal, without proof that they are under the hand of the Water Registrar and be prima facie evidence of the facts recorded therein.

 

33.     Delegation of the functions of Water Registrar and Board

 

            (1) The Water Registrar may with the approval of the Minister delegate his functions under this Act, either in whole or in part, and either in respect of the whole of Botswana, or any portion thereof, to such officer or officers in the public service as he may designate by writing under his hand.

            (2) The Board may delegate with the approval of the Minister its powers under this Act to authorize the construction and enlargement of, and the abstraction of water from, wells and boreholes to any duly constituted local authority subject to such terms and conditions as it may impose and, in the event of such delegation, any function vested in the Water Registrar in connection therewith shall be deemed to be vested in the appropriate officer of such local authority.

 

34.     Act to bind the State

 

            This Act shall bind the State.

 

35.     Power to make regulations

 

            The Minister may make regulations-

     (a)     prescribing anything which is required to be, or which may be, prescribed under this Act;

     (b)     prescribing the registers and records to be kept and the manner in which they are to be kept;

     (c)     providing for the forms to be used and the fees to be paid in respect of any matter required or permitted to be done under this Act;

     (d)     providing for the advertisement of applications for the use of public water and for the giving of notice to interested persons;

     (e)     providing for and regulating the making of objections and the time within which such objections shall be made;

     (f)      regulating the procedure of appeals to the Minister under this Act;

     (g)     providing for the formation, functions and conduct of local associations of public water users;

     (h)     in the case of a water right or existing right enjoyed by an association of persons, regulating the division and distribution of water between those persons;

     (i)      prescribing the matters on which and the manner in which persons may be required to give information as provided in section 27;

     (j)      providing for the creation of advisory boards to assist the Water Registrar or Board or Minister in the discharge of their functions under this Act;

     (k)     prescribing the procedure and conduct of meetings of the Board;

     (l)      to provide, subject to the payment of compensation in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of the Constitution, for the taking of material required for the construction of works;

     (m)    generally for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.

 

36.     Pollution of public water etc

 

            (1) Any person who-

     (a)     except under the authority of this Act or any other written law interferes with or alters the flow of or pollutes or fouls any public water; or

     (b)     without the permission of the Water Registrar places any poison in any public water or water in any work to which any member of the public or domestic animal may reasonably be expected to obtain access, whether lawfully or unlawfully,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to the penalties prescribed in section 37.

            (2) For the purposes of this section the polluting or fouling of public water shall include the discharge into, or in the vicinity of, any public water, or in a place where public water is likely to flow, of any matter or substance likely to cause injury whether directly or indirectly to public health, livestock, animal life, fish, crops, orchards or gardens which are irrigated by such water or any product in the processing of which such water is used or which occasions, or which is likely to occasion, a nuisance.

 

37.     Penalties

 

            (1) A person who is guilty of an offence under sections 9(2) or 36(1) shall be liable to a fine not exceeding P1000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.

            (2) A person who is guilty of an offence under sections 7(4), 17(2) or 29(3) shall be liable to a fine not exceeding P500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

            (3) In addition to the penalties which may be imposed in terms of this section the court may, in the event of a continuing offence, impose a fine not exceeding P10 for each day during which the offence continues.