Water Affairs and Forestry Department has availed a volume of 60 million cubic metres of water from the Pongolapoort Dam for a sugar development project on the Makhathini Flats in KwaZulu-Natal, Minister Lindiwe Hendricks announced Thursday.

She said the feasibility studies for this project would still need to be conducted over the next two years, and the development would take place afterwards.

"A Water User Association will need to be established with the prospective community farmers. Water use licence will be issued to them once sugarcane supply agreements are signed by the farmers," said Ms Hendricks.

Makhathini Flats falls within the Umkhanyakude District Municipality, and the area is characterised by chronic poverty.

Minister Hendricks said the project would provide employment, opportunities for commercial and can earn the locals foreign exchange.

She was addressing the launch of the National Water Conservation and Water Demand Indaba in Midrand.

The purpose of the Indaba was to explore practical steps to accelerate the implementation of Water Conservation and Water Demand Management.

The Indaba formed part of the National Water Week campaign that kicked-off Monday in Limpopo.

"In order to be effective in our efforts to conserve water and in our Water Demand Management programme we must be able to monitor and measure our water use, our water wastage and water loss, far more accurately than we do now," she said.

Since 1994, the department has provided more than twelve million South Africans with access to clean water.

In doing so, the minister said, South Africa had more than achieved the rate of delivery required to meet the Millennium Declaration set by the Heads of State at the United Nations in 2000.

At that meeting, President Thabo Mbeki, together with 100 other Heads of State, committed to halving the proportion of people lacking safe water in the world by 2015.

In this regard, South Africa has set targets beyond the Millennium Development Goals and is targeting universal access to clean water by 2008.

"Achieving this target would see a further 7, 2 million people having access to clean water by 2008. We are also targeting adequate sanitation for all by 2010," said the Minister.

Providing access to sanitation and clean water is a critical measure in reducing poverty in the country.

Further, Ms Hendricks said the theme for World Water Day, "Coping with water scarcity" was appropriate for South Africa as it was one of the top thirty driest countries in the world.

"We have an estimated average of less than a 1 000 cubic metres of water per person per annum, which is quite low by international standards," she said.

In addition, the current climatic conditions currently experienced in South Africa make water scarcity a daily reality for many in the country.

Ms Hendricks noted that the challenge of climate change was that there was likelihood of the reduction of rainfall in some parts of South Africa and an increase intensity of droughts and floods.

"Despite these challenges, we cannot fail our people in their quest for a better life.

"We need to give them water and we need to ensure that water plays its role in our socio-economic development," she said.

She urged people to manage water as it's a key ingredient in economic growth.