Water Demand in the Basin: Urban and Rural Consumption:

Vaal River Basin

Rand Water supplies water to the urban/industrial centre of Gauteng and other areas within the Vaal River catchment. Gauteng province has the largest population of any province in South Africa and is the economic powerhouse of South Africa. The urban demand on the main Vaal River system is shown in the table below.

Table 1: Year 2000 urban water requirements in the Vaal River Water Management Area.

Sub-Area	Urban Population	Domestic (direct)	Indirect	Urban losses	Total	Urban per capita domestic	Urban return flow
Sub-Area	Urban Population	Mm³/a				l/c/d	%
Upper Vaal	5 456 397	309,2	209,4	116,8	635,4	155	54
Middle Vaal	1 165 329	44,1	29,1	19,8	93,0	104	32
Lower Vaal	611 719	30,0	20,5	17,2	67,7	134	0

l/c/d = litres per capita, per day
Source: DWAF 2003c,d,e

The rural domestic and stock watering demands for the Upper, Middle and Lower Vaal Water Management Areas are mainly supplied from groundwater.

Table 2: Year 2000 rural water requirements in the Vaal River Water Management Area.

Sub-Area	Rural Population	Domestic	Stock watering	Total	Rural human per capita
Sub-Area	Rural Population	Mm³/a			l/c/d
Upper Vaal	606 926	5,7	36,9	42,6	25
Middle Vaal	363 714	3,3	28,7	32,0	25
Lower Vaal	726 068	8,7	35,9	44,6	33

l/c/d = litres per capita, per day
Source: adapted from DWAF 2003c,d,e