Reviewing the quality of technical reports in support of water use licence applications

Abstract

The South African water use licence application process requires the submission of technical reports to the responsible authority, which, anecdotally, have been argued to be of poor quality. The aim of this research was, therefore, to evaluate the quality of a purposively selected sample of 8 of these technical reports.  An analytical framework was developed comprising 13 key performance areas (KPAs) and 20 related key performance indicators (KPIs) for 2 review areas, namely, completeness and substantive quality. This analytical framework has potential application to the evaluation of technical reports for water licensing applications in any jurisdiction, subject to appropriate modification. Considering the completeness of the technical reports, good performance was observed for the inclusion of all relevant documentation, technical information and public participation. Poor performance was observed in the determined water uses, description of the environment and key impacts.  When considering the substantive quality of technical reports, good performance was observed for describing the proposed activity, socio-economic considerations and dealing with scoping. Weaknesses associated with substantive quality included dealing with significance, mitigation and public participation. To address the weaknesses in completeness and substantive quality of technical reports, we recommend that the responsible authority develop guideline documents for dealing with significance and mitigation, and that existing guidelines be implemented to ensure meaningful discussion during the public participation process.