WHO SHOULD GET THE WATER - DECISION-SUPPORT FOR WATER-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Increasing competition for water in South Africa is changing the manag ement emphasis from one of supply to that of controlling demand. There are many possible alternative uses of water. The Catchment Resource A ssessment Model (CRAM) is a tool which on help evaluate these alternat ive uses. CRAM has been designed to: be objective; be fair to all part ies: balance social, environmental and economic benefits and costs, an d be understandable to the educated non-specialist user. Using water a s a ''currency'', CRAM simulates the impacts of land uses on hydrologi cal, economic, environmental and social conditions in a catchment. The Crocodile River catchment is modelled in the current implementation o f CRAM. Users have indicated their preference for familiar and well-cr ied submodels in CRAM, rather than new, unknown models.