Water Wheel_Sept - Oct 2019 | Mahlathini Development Foundation

The Water Wheel September/October 20191

CONTENTS

THE WATER WHEEL is a two-monthly

magazine on water and water research

published by the South African Water

Research Commission (WRC), a statutory

organisation established in 1971 by

Act of Parliament. Subscription is

free. Material in this publication does

not necessarily reflect the considered

opinions of the members of the WRC,

and may be copied with acknow-

ledgement of source.

Editorial Committee:

Dr Sylvester Mpandeli (Chair), Ms Khosi

Jonas, Ms Manjusha Sunil, Mr Bonani

Madikizela, Dr Mamohloding Tlhagale

and Sudhir Pillay.

Editorial offices:

Water Research Commission, Private

Bag X03, Gezina, 0031, Republic of

South Africa.

Tel (012) 761 9300. Fax (012) 331-2565.

WRC Internet address:

http://www.wrc.org.za

@WaterWheelmag

Editor: Lani van Vuuren,

E-mail: laniv@wrc.org.za;

Editorial Secretary: Dikeledi Molutsi,

E-mail: dikeledidk@wrc.org.za;

Layout: Anja van der Merwe,

E-mail: anjavdm@wrc.org.za

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

is set to bring about a host of

technological advances to the

water sector. See the article on

page 12.

UPFRONT

WATER SECTOR

Fourth Industrial Revolution - Moving South Africa towards

‘Digital Water’

DOMESTIC WATER USE

Changing behaviour, saving water – helping Capetonians to

help themselves

WATER AND HEALTH

Your daily dose – How SA is handling the threat of microbial

resistance

RESILIENT CITIES

Copenhagen – A city that banks on the blue gold below the

surface

ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Protecting our water-related ecological infrastructure by

building an investment case

WATER AND SOCIETY

Exploring the socio-hydrological assessment of two small

municipalities in the Western Cape

WETLANDS

Extinguishing subsurface ﬁres in peatlands with the sprouting

water pressure method

SMALLHOLDER FARMING

Creating climate change resilient communities Part 1:

Community climate change adaptation process design

CAPACITY BUILDING

South Africa’s journey to development via science, technology

and innovation

AT A GLANCE

100-year-old wastewater treatment plant still serving the capital

city

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

FLUID THOUGHTS

Empowering water and sanitation

industrialisation as a route to economic

recovery

South Africa’s economy is being tossed like a cork in the

stormy waters of an unprecedented and violent recalibration

of the global economy. Some argue that this is a natural

reaction to the adjustment from a unipolar single superpower

world of twenty years ago to the one of multiple centres of

power – economic, political and military – as we have today.

This is especially severe as the old mitigation mechanisms of

robust multilateral instruments, such as the United Nations

and the World Trade Organisation are diluted as twenty-

ﬁrst century nationalism has become the overwhelmingly

dominant paradigm.

But, South Africa, on most indices, appears to be wealthy. The

rankings of the World Bank and the International Monetary

Fund have South Africa as the 31st largest economy in the

world based on the size of GDP. That puts South Africa in the

top 15% globally in terms of the size of its economy. And yet,

we will have a reasonable consensus that the average South

African does not have the quality of life that corresponds

with this wealth status. This was emphasised in August with

the revelation that the National Credit Amendment Act is

directed at providing relief to an astounding 10 million heavily

indebted South Africans. This may be close to ﬁfty percent of

the economically active population.

This is backed up by a series of global indicators. Let us

begin with the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2018,

which ranks South Africa at 67th out of 137 countries. The

impressive 31st place when considering the country’s market

sophistication is balanced out by the dismal 114th place with

respect to Human Capital in the GCI.

A key driver of a successful economy in the twenty-ﬁrst

century is innovation. This is the key competence to both

navigate the risks of a highly competitive global economy

while taking advantage of the all too few opportunities in a

depressed international economic environment. The Global

Innovation Index 2017 ranks South Africa at 58th out of 127

participating countries, again acknowledging a very high

market sophistication, this time at 23rd in the world, and this is

weighed down by an infrastructure ranking of 84th. This talks

to the very diﬃcult story of the ‘Innovation Chasm’ where the

country continues to be a top twenty producer of knowledge

globally through academic publications, but fails to derive the

industrialisation dividend of that knowledge base because, as

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, puts it in his address

to the 25 Years of Democracy Conference on 23 July, “ over the

last 25 years, .., we have been less successful in addressing the

structural faults in our economy.”

One of those structural faults has to be the very weak

industrialisation ecosystem that is punitive to potential

Sunrise Industries. We continue to produce an impressive list

of innovations and inventions produced by super-talented

South Africans who have been forced to industrialise and

produce elsewhere in the world. We then lose out on an

opportunity to reverse the patterns on our technology

balance of payments and, in turn, our export deﬁcit. Why

are we in this predicament more than ten years after the

launch of the National Science and Innovation Decadal Plan

2008-2018, and the establishment of institutions to address

the market failures of the Innovation Chasm, notably the

Technology Innovation Agency?

The state of human capital is the primary concern, however.

The WEF Global Human Capital Report (2017) puts the

country at 87th in the world out of 130 participating counties

where we are ranked 65th on capacity – read educational

levels – and 90th on our track record in the development of

the next generation. Given the high emphasis that the 4th

Industrial Revolution is given, one would expect this to be

higher. The most alarming component is that of deployment.

This is the category that judges skills application in a

system. The unemployment numbers, together with that

special category of unemployed graduates and diplomates,

contributes to our global ranking in this category of 109th in

the world.

Upfront

WRC CEO, Dhesigen Naidoo

The Water Wheel September/October 20195

Upfront

How can it be that the 31st largest economy in the world,

the country that has the 21st highest average salary in the

world (between, Spain and Italy and higher than Korea

and Portugal) on purchasing power parity (ppp) have such

low performance indicators.? The reason why we sit at the

event horizon of a black hole rather than riding the wave

of global competitiveness is South Africa’s gross inequality.

This is substantiated by such parameters such as the Gini

Co-eﬃcient or Gini ratio that measures the diﬀerential share

of wealth distribution. At present, South Africa has the worst

wealth distribution of the countries measured in the world.

The social and political cost of South Africa’s inequality is well

known, but the economic cost needs higher emphasis and

deeper examination.

The solution tree is promising, but needs some catalytic

actions. The water and sanitation research and innovation

sector has developed a series of possibilities, both in

the form of innovations and products as well as model

strategies for industrialisation and business development

that deserve a second look. South Africa as a top twenty

producer of new knowledge in the water domain globally,

unsurprisingly produces new solutions with a regularity that

is almost clockwork. Many of these solutions, inventions

and technologies have the potential not only to solve South

African problems, but also have the potential to position

South Africa as a major global manufacturing hub for these

products.

Let me oﬀer just three examples beginning with acid mine-

water and its very close cousin, saline water (including

seawater). Traditional desalination technology based on the

gold standard reverse osmosis is highly eﬀective, but with

two fatal ﬂaws. The ﬁrst is that the processing has a very high

energy budget, and, secondly, both the technology and the

membranes are very expensive, both in terms of direct cost

and maintenance.

The South African water research community, led by the

Water Research Commission, is working on six lower energy,

lower cost options that have been proven at laboratory scale

and now need investment to complete the journey through

pilots and demonstration before they can be used at scale

as long-term solutions. These have the potential to deal with

acid mine-water in the hotspots of Gauteng, Mpumalanga

and KwaZulu-Natal as well as provide reasonable options for

desalination in the coastal regions.

In addition to being a very eﬀective means to deal with a

very diﬃcult pollution problem countrywide; it is also a very

viable part of a diversiﬁed water supply strategy, and no-one

needs reminding of the high scarcity risk in South Africa.

Star among these is the homegrown technology of eutectic

freeze developed by Allison Lewis and her team at the

University of Cape Town.

Another suite is Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) water

eﬃciency tools. These are a range of tools, devices and

computer-based management tools to increase water

and process optimisation to enable every drop to stretch

further. There are tools available for most industry sectors

and the research indicates no drop in productivity and even

better, a potential increase in global market share as the

world’s markets become much more sensitive to water and

other resource costs as part of their buying decisions. As an

example, a computer-based intelligent irrigation scheduling

system has been shown to save 80 million litres of water

annually in just one irrigation scheme. These technologies,

together with wastewater reuse on-farm, rolled out at scale,

will have a huge impact on agricultural water use, and very

importantly, make billions of litres of water available for new

agricultural entrants and other users.

The third example is even more exciting. We have, like many

places in the developing world, the crippling challenge

of meeting the sanitation targets of the Sustainable

Development Goals – the goal of universal access to

improved – safe and digniﬁed – sanitation in just over ten

years. This is a daunting task in the current global economic

climate as well as increasing water scarcity worldwide.

We have as beneﬁt South African ingenuity, as well as the

partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Reinvent the Toilet programme, whic provides access to a

range of revolutionary products under the banner of ‘New

Sanitation’.

New Sanitation products are sanitation solutions that share

the following characteristics – they use either no or very

little water on the one hand, which is already a very big plus.

The top-end solutions are innovative in their engineering in

that they operate without the costly sewerage infrastructure

with waste treatment on site. This, in itself, addresses both

issues of ﬁnancial and water budgets. The genius does not

stop there, however. South Africa is a key player in the global

sanitation research and innovation network within which

the exploration of beneﬁciated products from human waste

treated locally is very advanced. The products include energy

all the way from ﬁrst stage processing as bio-char to bio-gas

capture to liquid fuel and high calorie product extraction.

This, combined with high-value lipids, proteins and specialist

chemicals, will make us look at human waste is a completely

diﬀerent light in the near future.

These solutions will not only deal with the many service

delivery backlogs and mitigating our pollution risks – if

industrialised innovatively have the real possibility of

turning South Africa’s economic fortunes around swiftly and

sustainably.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

NEWS

Upfront

SA, Japan collaborate to address pollution

by the Japanese government and will

be implemented by the United Nations

Industrial Development Organisation

(UNIDO) in partnership with the CSIR.

The project includes the assessment of

new alternative materials, such as home-

compostable bio-degradable plastic to

substitute single-use plastic products,

and the demonstration of the feasibility

of such alternatives in collaboration with

industry. It will also focus on opportunities

for local manufacturing and economic

development. UNIDO’s international

expertise in investment promotion in

technology and innovation will be a

catalytic element in the implementation,

while the CSIR will bring to the project its

extensive expertise in the assessment of

possible new materials from a materials

function and polymer science point

of view. The CSIR will also ensure that

applying new alternative materials to the

South African context does not create

new environmental challenges.

“I am delighted to take part in this

groundbreaking ceremony between

Japan and South Africa in an attempt to

reduce marine plastics pollution through

renewable means. The Department of

Trade and Industry (dti) welcomes the

support by the Japanese government and

the partnership between UNIDO and CSIR,

since biodegradable plastics locally are

just being introduced,” noted Gina.

Multimillion Rand commitment towards safeguarding SA’s water source

areas

most of South Africa’s freshwater, with just

10% of the country’s land area delivering

50% of its river ﬂows. In order to protect

South Africa’s water security, WWF-SA

has been working with key institutions

to deﬁne, understand and improve the

safeguarding and functioning of these

areas.

The Eastern Cape is signiﬁcant as South

Africa’s second-largest province, with

an estimated population of 7 million

people. It is also home to some of the

country’s most critical water source areas

– delivering close to 20% of South Africa’s

water – and key biodiversity hotspots

(including the Grasslands biome) and

in urgent need of developing sustained

rural livelihoods and employment for the

youth.

Justin Smith, WWF-SA’s Business

Development Unit Head, said the

organisation was focused on scaling-up

numerous sector-speciﬁc interventions

across multiple land use sectors. “We want

to mobilise collaborative eﬀorts through

community-public-private-partnerships

and coordinating the various components

of our work within integrated landscape

hubs, to work collectively at landscape

level to balance competing demands and

aﬀect change.

“The landscape level is often the most

appropriate level of action between

national and local, allowing stakeholders

to understand their own impacts and

explore their shared risk and joint

opportunities while being able to shape

and inﬂuence the future they wish to see

in the region.”

Nedbank has committed R25 million

towards safeguarding critical water source

areas, biodiversity hotspots and rural

livelihoods, with a strong focus on the

Eastern Cape. The money will be spent in

partnership with WWF South Africa, which

has a long working relationship with the

bank.

For the past eight years, Nedbank

and WWF have partnered to support

sustainable farming across South Africa.

The next ﬁve-year phase of this work

will now be scaled up to secure water

source areas, strengthen sustainable local

economies and improve rural livelihoods

to see people living in harmony with

nature.

A recent study by WWF and CSIR revealed

that 22 critical water source areas deliver

Trade and Industry Deputy Minister,

Nomalungelo Gina, has welcomed

the R25 million Japan-South Africa

collaboration project aimed at combating

plastic pollution.

The three-year project, which was

launched in Pretoria in July, is funded

The Water Wheel September/October 20197

Upfront

Environment department growing information on SA mangroves

The Department of Environment, Forestry

and Fisheries (DEFF) has embarked on

a process to improve knowledge and

management of South Africa’s mangrove

systems.

In South Africa, mangroves’ distribution

range is limited to the eastern part of

the country’s 3 200 km coastline, from

Kosi Bay estuary in KwaZulu-Natal and

reach their Southern distributional limit at

Tyolomnqa Estuary near East London, in

the Eastern Cape. Generally, mangroves

occur in sheltered estuaries that have a

permanent connection to the sea; and

occur in 31 estuaries along the East coast

of the country.

There’s a total of eight mangrove species

occurring along the South African

coastline. The three dominant species are

the white mangrove (Avicennia marina),

black mangrove (Bruguiera gymnorhiza)

and the red mangrove (Rhizophora

mucronata). With an additional three

species (Ceriops tagal, Lumnitzera

racemosa and Xylocarpus granatum)

found in the Kosi Estuary that has recently

been classiﬁed as occurring in the tropical

biogeographic zone.

The area covered by mangroves in South

Africa is small compared to other East

African countries (total mangrove cover is

currently estimated at 1 631 ha), and the

largest mangrove forests are found in the

subtropical areas (iSimangaliso Wetland

Park and Richards Bay estuary).

Mangroves are incredibly important

ecosystems. They serve as biodiversity

hotspots, provide for livelihoods (e.g.

ﬁshing), serve as a buﬀer against storm

surge, erosion and ﬂooding, as well

serving as carbon storage.

Mangroves are also one of the few forest

types that have been listed as threatened

ecosystems under the National

Environment Management: Biodiversity

Act, and are protected under the National

Forests Act of 1998. Since mangroves form

part of the estuary, they are managed

through municipal Estuary Management

Plans (EMPs), for example in the case of

Durban Bay, uMnganzana, Ntafufu and

Nahoon EMPs.

Source: DEFF

Millions earmarked to secure water resources in Mpumalanga

The Department of Water and Sanitation

(DWS) has announced that it has set

aside millions of Rands to mitigate water

scarcity in regions in Mpumalanga that are

experiencing dry conditions.

According to a statement, the department

is planning to spend R28 million to

revamp dwindling water resources in

Bushbuckridge in this ﬁnancial year.

“The protest-plagued area relies almost

exclusively on Inyaka Dam to serve about

20 villages with 90 000 people from Mariti

up to Dwarsloop.”

DWS also noted that due to drought

conditions, the Mkhombo Dam level,

which serves as the main source of

raw water for the large semi-rural

communities of Dr JS Moroka Local

Municipality, Thembisile Hani Local

Municipality and Sekhukhune Local

Municipality, has dropped to an alarming

1.6%.

An amount of R18 million has been

allocated to Dr JS Moroka Local

Municipality to augment water supply

through groundwater development.

“Through the intervention, 11 boreholes

are undergoing refurbishment, while 15

new boreholes have been drilled,” the

department said.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

GLOBAL

Upfront

Green business gets a boost with new knowledge platforms

The need for practical and targeted

knowledge to support the transition to

inclusive green economies is more urgent

than ever, with recent reports showing

the global decline of nature and calling

for unprecedented action to reach climate

targets as set out in the Paris agreement.

The Green Growth Knowledge Platform

(GGKP) hosts a wealth of existing

knowledge to support greener business,

ﬁnance, and policy, from the return

on investment on renewable energy

investments to green bonds, sustainable

infrastructure, green standards and

regulations. The platforms oﬀer everything

from global-scale assessments on ﬂows of

sustainable ﬁnance to highly specialised

guidance notes on ‘turning waste into

gold’ in the bio-energy sector in Africa.

Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of

the United Nations and current President

and Chair of the Global Green Growth

Institute welcomed the launch of the

two new platforms: “These are especially

exciting times for the GGKP, already the

world’s largest dedicated repository of

green growth resources, case studies, and

national documents.”

The Green Industry Platform and the

Green Finance Platform will build on

the existing Green Growth Knowledge

Platform, which oﬀers the latest know-

how to support green policymaking at

the national level. Users can browse by

sector, country, region, or cross-cutting

theme, including gender, jobs, climate

change, circular economy and natural

capital.

For more information,

Visit: https://www.greenindustryplatform.

org/ or https://greenﬁnanceplatform.org/

A global partnership of some of the

world’s largest organisations has seen the

launch of two new knowledge platforms

– the Green Industry Platform and the

Green Finance Platform.

The launch took place at the High-

level Political Forum for Sustainable

Development in New York in July. These

platforms provide the ﬁnancial and private

sectors with the latest research data,

guidance and tools from leading experts

and institutions to help green their

operations.

One in four people live at high risk of running out of water

To gauge countries’ risk – or ‘water stress’-

WRI updated its online calculator, called

the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, with

data from 1961 to 2014 on water use by

households, industry and agriculture, as

well as water-supply data from surface

sources and aquifers.

“People immediately link [water woes]

to climate change,” notes Hofste, who is

based in Amsterdam. “But economic and

population growth are the biggest drivers.”

Water use has increased by 250%, from

1 888.7 km3 in 1961 to 4 720.8 km3 in 2014,

the analysis found.

Population and economic growth is

straining global water supplies. Data

released by the World Resources Institute

show that 17 countries — mostly in the

Middle East, Northern Africa and South

Asia — are under ‘extremely high’ water

stress. That means they are using at least

80% of their yearly supplies. Another 27

countries in the ‘high’ stress category are

using 40 – 80% of supplies. Less stressed

countries, those using less than 40% of

their water supplies, are ranked ‘medium

high’ to ‘low’.

Twelve of the 17 countries facing

extremely high risk are in the Middle East

and North Africa. Also in this category are

Pakistan and India, where aquifer levels

are among the fastest falling in the world.

Fore more information,

Visit: www.aqueduct/wri.org

The world is facing a water scarcity crisis,

with 17 countries, including India, Israel

and Eritrea using more than 80% of their

available water supplies each, a study has

found.

Those countries are home to a quarter

of the world’s 7.7 billion people. Further

population rise or dwindling water

supplies could cause critical water

shortages, the researchers warn.

“As soon as a drought hits or something

unexpected happens, major cities can ﬁnd

themselves in very dire situations,” says

Rutger Hofste, a data scientist at the World

Resources Institute (WRI), which released

the data in August. “That’s something that

we expect to see more and more.”

The Water Wheel September/October 20199

Upfront

CLIMATE

Climate now biggest driver of migration – study

study, published earlier this year in the

journal, Global and Planetary Change,

also found that this migration happens in

stages.

Dennis Wesselbaum, the lead researcher

and an economist at the Otago Business

School, explains that migration actually

decreased for around ﬁve years after a

temperature anomaly, before increasing

for the next 20 years. “One explanation

is that people move to places further

away and have to save more money to

ﬁnance migration cost, [or] that it takes

time to identify the temperature shock,”

Wesselbaum said.

Raya Muttarak, senior lecturer

of geography and international

development at the UK’s University of

East Anglia, believes anther reason for

the apparent delay is that people at ﬁrst

try “in-situ adaptation”. “If you experience

climatic shocks in the ﬁrst year, you try

diﬀerent ways to cope, such as planting

diﬀerent crops, changing jobs, borrowing

money. You’re probably not trying to

move straight away.”

The researchers found that global

temperatures increased by an average of

0.8 OC in the study period. They counted

100 weather-related disasters in 1980, but

by 2015 this number had risen to 300 a

year. Around 244 million people – 2.8% of

the world’s population – were classed as

migrants in 2015 by the UN. However, the

UN has said that it will not deﬁne climate

migrants as refugees, a status that comes

with more international support, citing

concerns about watering down support

programmes for those ﬂeeing violent

conﬂict.

A report by the UNFCC, the UN’s climate

change body, found last year that,

globally, countries are failing to deal

with climate migration adequately.

“Recognising the causal factors behind

this forced migration would require

governments to apportion responsibility,

both for the initial migration and for the

solutions to it,” said Steve Trent, Director

of the Environmental Justice Foundation,

which lobbies on environmental issues

in the Global South. “In many countries

this is politically toxic and, without

international agreement on shared and

coordinated action, proves politically very

hard to deal with.”

Wesselbaum is conﬁdent, however, that

this problem will be recognised “sooner or

later”, adding that the results of his study

oﬀer a more nuanced understanding of

how people respond to climate shocks.

The climate migration model showed that

migration remained stable after storms

and drought, but increased signiﬁcantly

after ﬂoods and extreme temperature

events. “Both developed and at-risk

countries need more planning and

policy to prepare for what is likely to be

a growing trend of people wanting to

move.”

To view the journal article, Visit: https://

doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.04.008

Source: SciDev.Net

The eects of climate change, including

oods and extreme temperatures have

become more important push factors

in migration than economic inequality

or conict, according to a global study.

Article by Inga Vesper.

The study, undertaken by a team at the

University of Otago, in New Zealand,

looked at migration data from 198

countries of origin to 16 member

states of the Organisation of Economic

Cooperation and Development (OECD)

between 1980 and 2015.

Researchers developed a model to

understand the causes of migration,

divided into eﬀects of climate change,

economic performance and political

strife. The model showed that rising

temperatures and a growing number of

weather-related disasters now cause more

migration than lack of income or political

freedom.

Each 10% increase in temperature in an

origin country caused an increase of 3%

in migration from that country to the 16

destination countries, which included

Australia, Italy, Spain and Germany. The

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Book review

Katko, T. Finnish water services: Experiences in global perspective

(Mustasaari: Finnish Water Utilities Association, 2016)

Prof Tapio Katko, the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Water Services

at Tampere University of Technology in Finland, is an engineer

and water historian who has been active in the international

water research sector since the mid-1980s. For a signiﬁcant

part of his professional career he spent time overseas. Working

in Africa and engaging with peers in Europe, especially after

Finland in 1995 joined the European Union, Katko has built up

a wealth of global insight into water resources and services. For

almost four decades his acquired knowledge and insight has fed

into Finland’s water sector.

It is therefore of interest to take note of his latest publication,

Finnish water services. While his focus is on Finland’s water sector

history, there is evidence of a global water sector gaze and

how Finland has managed to remain abreast of international

developments.

Since gaining its independence from Russia in 1919, Finland,

with a current population of about 5.2 million inhabitants,

has excelled in a number of ﬁelds. The country’s water sector

is currently considered to be amongst the top 10 operations

globally. The World guide to Corporate Sustainability and

Responsibility (2017) singles Finland out as one of the world’s top

‘honest’ countries. On Transparency International’s 2018 global

assessment list, Finland is the third least corrupt country (after

Denmark and New Zealand) in the world.

The country’s water sector is an outstanding example of a

well-run state with a strong social democratic ethic, where a

signiﬁcant part of the population relies on state employment.

Since the country’s shift to a post-industrial society in the 1970s,

Finland’s economy has focused on developing a service society.

The country’s private sector has become an inﬂuential role player

in generating wealth and development.

Apart from strong international ties, Katko remained a water-

sector insider in Finland. He shares his comprehensive historical

insight into the manner in which Finnish water sector services

have evolved since the 19th century. The country and its

people, more than often function in either the shadow of the

neighbouring Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and

Denmark, as well as Russia in the east. Yet Finland has excelled

in the ﬁelds of: ethical consumption; awareness of environment

and climate change; its ability to embrace cultural adaptation;

the country has maintained a good level of competitiveness; and

its society nurtures sustainability. These environmentally-friendly

traits feature prominently in Finlandfs water sector.

Of particular importance is Katko’s exposition of the way

in which Finnish water sector professionals and research

community have maintained a strong engagement with

developments in the water sectors of the most advanced, as well

as developing countries of the world.

With more than 190 000 lakes with a diameter of more than

500 m2, Finland’s water ‘problems’ are primarily seated in dealing

with wastewater and securing outstanding potable water for its

users. Katko deals with both surface and groundwater resources

and sheds light on progress in the ﬁeld of water recharge

systems – a ﬁeld in which the country has made signiﬁcant

progress in recent times.

Of particular interest is the evolution of Finland’s water sector

and the manner in which education, research and development

have played a pivotal role in the development of an outstanding

water sector.

Part 4 of the study is a comparative survey of how Finland has

managed to seamlessly adapt to global trends. In the ﬁeld of

services, the country is clearly at the cutting edge – thanks

to the knowledge of its water sector being up to date with

knowledge on exogenous trends. In planning for future water

supplies, Finland is safely ensconced at the same level as Brazil,

but potentially with the beneﬁt of more insight on regional

European trends and developments.

For the reader interested in gaining an insight into the

development of water services in a modern European state

there is a lot of food for thought. International partnerships,

using international organisations to promote the interests of a

national water sector, is a winning recipe. The proviso is a spirit

of reciprocal engagement – a diplomatic skill that has been ﬁne-

tuned by Finnish water sector colleagues working in many parts

of the world.

Katko, in the ﬁnal chapter joins forces with Jorma Tainen to

make a poetic statement on the importance of water services.

Culturally it is a courageous statement, for the Finns who are

traditionally known for their inwardly reserved characteristics.

One verse provides a clue for the contemplative reader as a

recipe for success in the contemporary social democratic state’s

water sector. It reads:

Keep services rolling!

A USEFUL VIEW OF FINNISH WATER

RESOURCES AND SERVICES IN A GLOBAL

CONTEXT

The Water Wheel September/October 201911

Obituary

WATER COMMUNITY MOURNS THE

PASSING OF FEMALE ICON

The water community was shocked to hear of the untimely

passing of Dr Thandi Ndlovu, founder and Chief Executive of

Motheo Construction Group. Dr Ndlovu passed away in hospital

in August following a car accident.

Born and educated in Soweto, Dr Ndlovu was heavily involved in

politics, and at the height of the Soweto student uprising in 1976

she was serving as the Administrative Secretary of the Student

Representative Council (SRC) at the University of Fore Hare. She

was forced to abandon her Bachelor of Science Degree as a

direct result of the oppression that followed.

Dr Ndlovu spent the next couple of years in training within the

ranks of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the African National Congress

Military Wing. In 1984, she resumed her studies at the University

of Zambia, eventually completing a Bachelor of Medicine,

Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree.

Upon her return to South Africa following the unbanning of

political parties, she opened a private medical practice in Orange

Farm. After practicing for a few years, she decided to go into

business, establishing Motheo Construction in 1997. During

its 20-year history, the ﬁrm has developed into one of South

Africa’s leading, predominantly black female-owned construction

companies, and a leading provider of social housing. Dr Ndlovu

is also a former president of the Black Business Council for the

Built Environment.

Dr Ndlovu believed in being a role model to others, especially

young women. In a special publication to celebrate inspirational

women, published by the Water Research Commission (WRC) in

2016, Dr Ndlovu said: “Appreciate the fact that for that little girl in

your space to make it, you have to act as a role model. Whatever

you do, develop that little girl in your space. When I look back, I

realise that it was those role models I had around me who made

me what I am.”

She made a deliberate decision to employ women in her

company. The name, Motheo, means Foundation in Sesotho.

Among others, she developed young talent by partnering

young, female engineers and quantity surveyors with older, more

experienced mentors.

Dr Ndlovu’s determination to succeed could be seen not only

from the way she handled her business, but also in the way she

handled her personal life. Being asthmatic did not prevent her

from successfully summitting Mount Kilimanjaro.

Dr Ndlovu was a keen participant in the Department of Water

and Sanitation’s Women Empowerment Programme. She will be

sorely missed.

Access to water to guarantee supply

– not free, but at a fair fee;

the private sector is needed no doubt,

But public ownership gives customers clout.

Katko’s work is of more than passing interest to South African

water sector specialists interested in promoting a passion for

promoting the task of our country’s water resources and services.

Review by Johann Tempelhoﬀ of the South African Water History

Archival Repository (SAWHAR), North-West University.

Katko, T. Finnish water services: Experiences in global

perspective (Mustasaari: Finnish Water Utilities

Association, 2016) is available in printed and electronic

form:

• Printed copy: Price 55.00 € plus postage

Available at: https://vvy.etapahtuma.ﬁ/

J%C3%A4rjest%C3%B6rekisteri/Verkkokauppa2

• E-Book: IWA Publishing, Standard ePrice: £48.00 + VAT

Available at: https://www.iwapublishing.com/books/

ﬁnnish-water-services-experiences-global-perspective

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Fourth Industrial Revolution - Moving South Africa towards

‘Digital Water’

“Luddites of the Information Age face a losing battle. Technology,

once introduced, can’t be shoved back in the bottle – resistance

to digital innovation is futile.”

“Water professionals are often considered, rightly, to be

conservative, cautious or late adopters. Yet several potent trends

make digital water no longer optional, but rather inevitable.”

These were some of the sobering challenges delivered to water

industry leaders at the launch of the Digital Water programme

at last year’s World Water Congress in Tokyo. More recently, the

International Water Association (IWA) published a new report

to help water utilities track their progress while moving from

manual and analogue into the digital era.

There is no simple deﬁnition of this broad term ‘digital water’,

which encompasses a wide range of innovations and emerging

process changes – anything from automated sensors and ﬂow

meters to robotics, artiﬁcial intelligence and machine learning.

One example comes from Berlin, where technology boﬃns

have deployed motorised robotic cameras to scour the German

capital’s 9 725 km-long sewerage network to detect tiny pipeline

cracks and faults, before ageing underground sewers rupture

and cause smelly and expensive spillages on the surface.

Just as messenger pigeons and horse-drawn carts faded into obscurity with the invention of the

telegraph and motorised cars, the new age of digital “thinking machines” is set to revolutionise the

management of one of the world’s most critical resources. Article by Tony Carnie.

WATER SECTOR

Cover story

Umgeni Water

The Water Wheel September/October 201913

Another example comes from KwaZulu-Natal, where

hydrologists from Umgeni Water were able to gaze into a digital

crystal ball of sorts – and then make some adjustments to dam

levels to ward oﬀ a potential Day Zero crisis for Durban and

Pietermaritzburg during the recent drought.

The new IWA report (Digital Water: Industry leaders chart the

transformation journey) notes that growing cities of the future

have some tough times ahead in managing scarcer and less

reliable water resources. The report also provides a gateway for

water utilities to access knowledge on research, technology and

innovation in the digital water space.

IWA hopes to inspire the international water sector to adopt

a ‘smarter’ approach to water management, including the

development of new oﬀ-grid schemes; projects to reuse or make

better use of wastewater, and the installation of data-driven

systems that help to integrate and optimise smart pumps, valves,

sensors and actuators. This includes the concept of getting

devices to ‘talk’ to each other and making use of smartphones to

send real-time information to customers and colleagues.

One of the ﬁrst developments in this area was the introduction

of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system

that combined computers, networked data communications

and graphics for water treatment and distribution, as well as in

other areas such as power generation and manufacturing.

The authors of IWA’s new report believe that emerging

digital developments will allow water utility companies to

implement “radically diﬀerent system conﬁgurations” which

can help to reduce sewer overﬂows, cut non-revenue water

losses dramatically, and introduce cost eﬃciencies that were

unimaginable a decade ago.

The report is largely based on interviews and inputs from nearly

50 utility executives, including case studies involving Umgeni

Water and Rand Water in South Africa. Recalling the story of

Cape Town’s countdown to the ‘Day Zero’ crisis as one example

of many other large modern cities struggling to address current

and future water shortages, it states:

“Umgeni Water has used digital technology to better manage its

water resources and protect its customers from the same fate as

Cape Town residents. Hydrologic models paired with monitoring

devices have allowed (Umgeni) to optimise storage levels in

dams and reservoirs.”

In a separate interview with The Water Wheel, Umgeni Water

Senior Manager, Dan Naidoo, said the utility was still around the

half-way mark in its digital transformation journey. “We started

about 10- 15 years ago with more advanced computer systems

and by starting to measure better,” he said, recalling that during

the early 1990s, several operations – from process control to data

collection - were done manually by operators and recorded on

paper.

The early adoption of hardwired meter counters to a central

control room and the ability to remotely open and close valves

were among some of the initial changes to enable remote

operation via telemetry, electronics and computers.

“Over time, the biggest change was in the adoption of online

instrumentation to measure water quality parameters in real

time, thus reducing much manual lab testing and improving

process control of the treatment process.”

This eventually led to fully-automated processes for a number

of operations such as ﬁltration plants, backwashing cycles and

chemical dosing. “We are moving towards more digital systems,

but we favour an organic process rather than an overnight step

change.”

Naidoo believes the key is respond timeously, noting that costs

for other advanced technologies, such as solar power, had

dropped rapidly in recent years.

During the recent drought – when dam water levels receded

after three successive years of below- average rainfall – Umgeni

Water was able to use computerised hydrology models to

balance water levels more eﬀectively and to simulate drought

scenarios as they developed.

To buﬀer water levels in the four critical Umgeni system dams

(Midmar, Albert Falls, Nagle and Inanda) which supply Durban

and Pietermaritzburg, water was pumped across from the

Water sector

The adoption of a range of digital technologies has enabled Rand

Water to optimise the management of water resources in the Vaal River

catchment.

Rand Water

Umgeni Water Senior Manager, Dan Naidoo, suggests that digital

transformation cannot happen overnight, but believes new technology

advances will assist homeowners to start measuring their water

consumption in Rands on a daily basis.

Tony Carnie

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Water sector

comparatively wetter Mooi River system into the rapidly drying

Umgeni catchment. As water was drawn down from the two

lower dams (Nagle and Inanda) more water was pumped across

via the Mooi River transfer scheme to replenish the upper dams

(Midmar and Albert Falls)

Naidoo said Umgeni Water also acted swiftly to reduce water

demand by calling for voluntary reductions by urban water

users. However, when this call for voluntary curbs led to only

negligible reductions, Umgeni Water and other water sector

oﬃcials approached Cabinet to approve mandatory cuts before

a crisis developed.

“Don’t forget that we also lose revenue when there are water

restrictions – so we don’t take such decisions lightly,” he noted.

Naidoo said the beneﬁts of digital transformation cannot occur

overnight. For example, large volumes of historic data will still

have to be converted into digital format. Umgeni Water has also

conducted audits to ascertain how staﬀ may need to be reskilled

as digitisation continues.

Naidoo believes that rapid advances in technology will reduce

the time taken to complete microbiology tests, and also lead to

new branches, such as nano-biology, to detect microplastics and

a wider range of other contaminants.

Writing in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, researchers

Paul Bourbeau and Nathan Ledeboer have suggested that the

winds of change are moving quickly towards the automation of

microbiology laboratories.

While there was a perception that humans could perform tasks

faster than machines, and that machines did not have the critical

decision-making skills to process microbiology specimens, they

cautioned that microbiology laboratories had entered an age of

“monumental change”

Changes are also underway in Gauteng, according to Prof

Hamanth Kasan, General Manager of Rand Water’s Scientiﬁc

Services Division. Rand Water’s application of digital technology

now includes PLC/SCADA systems for water treatment

operations and control, as well online water quality monitoring,

catchment modelling, telemetry systems for management of

reservoirs and automatic meter reading.

Prof Kasan said that “culture is important” and utilities had

to “overcome fear of data and transparency”. As younger

engineers entered the workforce, the willingness to explore

digital technologies was growing. According to Prof Kasan,

the migration to digital technology in the water sector was

not simply about saving money and was expected to result in

several beneﬁts, such as improved customer services, improved

and consistent water quality, reductions in wastage and better

public health and environmental protection.

Other beneﬁts would include transparent monitoring and

management for optimisation across the water value chain.

“With application of technical change there are risks and

beneﬁts. Risks include cybersecurity and the need for enhanced

skills, relevance and the sustainability of technologies.”

It would also require an organisational culture change to

embrace new ways of working, as well as measures to control

vandalism to ensure the security of installations. “But, with proper

planning, selection of appropriate technologies and thorough

execution, these risks can be mitigated,” he maintained.

Prof Kasan believes that, in the longer term, the digital revolution

could lead to more widespread use of robotics and automation

for conducting complex water analyses, as well as real-time

monitoring of the condition of pipelines and the use of drones

for sampling and to monitor catchments and pipelines. Other

new innovations were expected to include new digital apps for

customer management and optimisation of water consumption.

Elsewhere in the global water sector, the city of Taipei has

also been moving towards digital solutions following a severe

drought in 2002. The IWA report notes that partly by introducing

new sensors, smart meters and pressure control systems the

greater Taipei area had not experienced a water shortage in

17 years.

The German water utility, Berliner Wasserbetriebe, has developed robots equipped with fisheye camera lenses and other advanced technology to inspect

Berlin’s 9 725 km long sewer network for underground cracks and other faults.

Berliner Wasserbetreibe

The Water Wheel September/October 201915

Water sector

Augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) technologies had

potential to support decision making in the ﬁeld by providing

holographic representation of pipes, cables and other assets.

IWA Executive Director, Kala Vairavamoorthy, cautions that global

water utilities are next in line to experience the disruptive force

of innovative technologies. “Ready or not, digital tools have

quite literally shifted power to the people,” he said, noting that

disruptive ventures such as Uber and Airbnbhad not requested

permission from regulatory agencies, elected oﬃcials or trade

associations.

“Unfortunately, all too often the large entrenched interests

have tried not to adapt, but rather to restrain the tide of digital

technology . . . The water sector must learn from other sectors to

instead embrace the potential changes already underway.”

During the recent drought - when dam water levels in KwaZulu-Natal

receded after three successive years of below-average rainfall, Umgeni

was able to use advanced hydrology models to balance water levels more

effectively and to simulate drought scenarios as they developed.

The full IWA report is available at: https://iwa-network.org/

publications/digital-water/

“In the longer term, the digital revolution

could lead to more widespread use of

robotics and automation for conducting

complex water analyses, as well as

real-time monitoring of the condition

of pipelines and the use of drones for

sampling and to monitor catchments

and pipelines.”

Ghana Water’s Chief Technology Oﬃcer, Richard Otoo, said

the utility had experienced a 14% increase in revenue after

digital technologies increased water bill collection eﬃciency

and provided customers with a menu of payment options that

included mobile money payments and direct debit through

banks.

In India, digital technologies have modiﬁed the proﬁle of

the workforce at the water utility company VA Tech Wabag.

Company Vice President, Gyanendra Saxena, said projects once

needing 10-15 operators now require only 3-4 operators, “freeing

up personnel for other, more demanding tasks (e.g., tasks

requiring human interaction, emotion, decision making, and

complex skill sets).”

Another example comes from Florida, where the local water

utility installed sensors on several lakes that are prone to

ﬂooding during hurricanes. The new sensors and software

help to detect downpours in advance, allowing the system to

automatically drain down the storage volume ahead of a major

storm.

In an era of climate change and declining water quality, the

use of satellite remote sensing, GIS technologies and other

visualisation tools can also help water managers to prepare for

heavier stormwater ﬂows during severe ﬂoods, to ration water

ahead of droughts and to monitor algal blooms.

IWA says sensors can be dispersed to optimise resource use (e.g.,

chemical use for water treatment), and to detect, diagnose and

proactively prevent pipe bursts, water discoloration events, or

sewer failures.

Thinking machines and the power of data processing

Dragan Savic, CE of the Netherlands-based KWR Water Cycle

Research Institute, notes that there has been an explosive

growth of digital data technology over the past decade.

This includes machine learning and artiﬁcial intelligence (AI)

systems that can recognise patterns in data and “learn” over time,

updating algorithms as new information is presented.

When paired with software sensors and communication

networks, AI allows for the strategic and cost-eﬀective operation

of utilities, including better planning and execution of projects,

better tracking and understanding of resource-loss in real

time, more eﬃcient collection and distribution networks, and

maximum revenue capture and customer satisfaction.

Umgeni Water

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Feature

DOMESTIC WATER USE

Cape Town survived a historic three-year drought that

threatened to shut down the city’s water supply at the height of

the crisis in January 2018.

During the course of the drought, a team of behavioural

economists from the University of Cape Town (UCT) worked

with the City of Cape Town to test how green ‘nudging’ tools —

interventions to encourage behavioural changes that could aid

the meeting of environmental/conservation goals — could get

Capetonians to adopt more water-wise behaviour.

Prof Martine Visser, lead researcher on this project and Director

of UCT’s Environmental Policy Research Unit (EPRU), was recently

awarded a prestigious National Science and Technology Forum

(NSTF) award for her research in this ﬁeld. She is a professor

of economics at UCT’s School of Economics and the research

chair of the African Climate Development Initiative (ACDI), an

interdisciplinary research hub at UCT.

The NSTF-Water Research Commission (WRC) Award that Prof

Visser received recognises research, conducted over the last

ﬁve to 10 years, that was aimed at achieving sustainable water

management and generating knowledge and solutions.

Prof Visser’s research was supported by the EPRU’s team of

behavioural economists (including Kerri Brick, Johanna Brühl,

Samantha De Martino, Megan McLaren and Kenneth Berger)

as well as electrical engineer, Prof Thinus Booysen, from

Stellenbosch University. The researchers explored how nudging

tools and clear communication messages can inﬂuence society’s

water usage.

Changing behaviour, saving water – helping Capetonians to

help themselves

Green ‘nudging’

tools can play

a key role in

ensuring city

water security

during periods of

extreme drought.

Jorisna Bonthuys

reports on some

of the research

conducted by

behavioural

economists in

Cape Town during

the recent drought.

The Water Wheel September/October 201917

A near-empty Theewaterskloof Dam during the height of the Cape Town

drought.

In the summer of 2015, the team started an experiment to

see if they could inﬂuence Capetonians to become more

water-wise. Their work involved collaborating with oﬃcials and

politicians at both city and provincial level to build capacity

within government institutions. The research was funded by the

WRC, with support from the City of Cape Town and the South

Africa-Norway Research Co-operation on Climate Change, the

Environment and Clean Energy.

“The lessons learned in Cape Town also

apply to other municipalities facing the

twin challenges of population growth

and resource constraints.”

The nudges took the form of a series of simple, positively

worded messages that were communicated to households via

their monthly utility bills, sent out by the city’s municipal billing

system. The wording in the messages were framed to improve

people’s understanding of the inclining block tariﬀ system and

the ﬁnancial cost of water, whereas the other set of messages

relied on more pro-social types of nudges. The expectation from

the outset was that households from diﬀerent income groups

would respond to each of these messages, Prof Visser explains.

“Random sampling and distribution of messages across diﬀerent

suburbs in the city meant that it was possible to compare

households who had received messages and those who had not

and to also determine which messages were more eﬀective,” she

says.

Over a period of six months, Prof Visser and her team sent out

nudges to approximately 360 000 households across diﬀerent

income brackets. The researchers tracked how households

responded to individual messages. They also continued

monitoring water usage in these households as the drought

unfolded over the following couple of months.

Of the nine diﬀerent green nudging messages sent out to

the targeted households, the ones that elicited the most

positive response from the biggest water users – the wealthier

households – are the more socially-motivated ones. These

messages promised to reward water-wise behaviour by

publishing users’ names on the City of Cape Town website,

compared people to their neighbours or relied on people’s

intrinsic motivation to save water.

As part of their project, Prof Visser and her team helped the city

design a ‘water map’. This digital tool, rolled out in the summer of

2017/18, was designed to use social recognition as an incentive

for Capetonians to voluntarily reduce their water usage. This

online tool acknowledged households that were sticking to the

city’s recommended monthly water targets. It also allowed for a

comparison of neighbouring households’ water usage, and the

overall water usage of entire suburbs.

The map designers chose to recognise pro-social behaviour

rather than name and shame households that used too much

water, Prof Visser points out in a press release. As such, the tool

placed light green dots over free-standing homes that used

6 kilolitres (kl) of water or less per month. Households that used

between 6 kl and 10.5 kl water per month were marked by a

dark green dot on the map.

Prof Visser and her team, together with Prof Booysen,

furthermore worked with the Western Cape Government and

private donors to determine how the daily water use information

supplied by smart water meters could help promote water

conservation in schools. This initiative resulted in signiﬁcant

water savings and resultant reductions in 345 participating

schools. While basic maintenance interventions resulted in

upfront savings of 28% due to reduced leaks, behavioural

interventions piloted in the study resulted in 15-26% savings.

In terms of ﬁnancial savings across the entire project for all the

schools, the investment of R10,5 million resulted in an estimated

saving of R39 million.

As the drought in Cape Town escalated, Prof Visser’s team

continued to work with the city’s utility data, tracking how

people responded to the diﬀerent water-saving incentives

(including price increases, water restrictions and related ﬁnes)

that the municipality launched during the drought.

In addition to raising tariﬀs and increasing the stringency of

water restrictions, the municipality adopted other demand-

side measures during the drought, including the sometimes

controversial “Day Zero” communication campaign aimed at

promoting water-wise behaviour. This campaign utilised scare

tactics to change consumer behaviour. Faced with the threat of

Day Zero — the day when the city’s taps were expected to run

dry — consumers reduced their average household water usage

from 540 to 280 ℓ per household per day between January 2015

and January 2018.

Across all suburbs, the fear of Day Zero actually occurring was

an important factor in reducing water consumption. There were,

however, distinct diﬀerences in motivation for engaging in

water conservation. “Residents in the lower- and middle-income

brackets considered tariﬀs and restrictions important motivating

factors in driving water saving,” Prof Visser points out. “In contrast,

residents in higher income brackets were more strongly driven

by social pressure.”

Residents in the lower-income suburbs of Langa and Kensington,

for instance, indicated that higher tariﬀs and water restrictions

were their primary concerns, while Rondebosch respondents

Domestic water use

Ashraf Hendricks/Groundup

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Domestic water use

listed civil duty and social pressure as the key drivers behind

their eﬀorts to save water. The behaviour of middle- and higher-

income households did not change much in response to water

price increases or the behavioural nudges.

“Inequality remains a signiﬁcant challenge within the city and

its surrounds, and was identiﬁed as a critical factor to consider

when planning responses to the recent water crisis,” Prof Visser

says.

Cape Town provides a prime example of how a municipality

can use nudges to reinforce government policy, Prof Visser

believes. “Green nudging can be utilised by both small and

large municipalities to ease pressure on overstretched water

supplies,” she says. “This tactic may beneﬁt the many other cities

and towns impacted by water stress during extreme drought.”

In recent years, other metros such as Nelson Mandela Bay as

well as smaller municipalities in the Western Cape have, for

instance, been under signiﬁcant stress with regards to their

water resources. Of the eight metros in South Africa, seven

implemented water restrictions in the summer of 2016/17 due

to low dam levels.

Spotlight on the drought

The 2015—2017 drought in the Western Cape (the worst in a

century) has served as the backdrop for innovative research

performed at the ACDI. This research has already yielded

valuable new insights about the drought and changing water

risk in the region.

Evidence suggests that a signiﬁcant part of the drought may be

attributed to climate change and that more events of this nature

can be expected. Events like the recent multi-year drought are

becoming the “new normal” in southern Africa due to unfolding

climate change. Not only the likelihood, but also the severity

of extreme climate events are expected to increase in the near

future.

Extreme weather is becoming more common in the region,

ranging from heat waves and severe droughts in Cape Town and

Gaborone to record ﬂoods in Johannesburg and Maputo.

What this translates to is a need to be better prepared for

extremes and to continuously drive and plan for resource

eﬃciency, Prof Mark New, director of the ACDI, indicated

in a recent interview. “Climate change means that climate

patterns, including rainfall amounts and timing, are shifting,

thereby impacting on water resource planning,” he points out.

“Municipalities and water resource managers in southern Africa

should brace themselves for impending extreme weather and its

impact on humans, nature and infrastructure.”

Prof New is driving eﬀorts at UCT to understand changes in

climate risk on the continent, and how humans are contributing

to them. His particular area of expertise is termed ‘climate

attribution science’. This ﬁeld of science involves attributing

human-related causes to extreme weather events associated

with climate change, as well as measuring the impact these

events have on related loss and damage. This impact will be felt

across society, especially in urban areas that are experiencing

rapid growth largely through informal and poorly planned peri-

urban expansion.

Until recently, most climate attribution studies were performed

in the Global North. New, however, collaborated with leading

experts to determine the anthropogenic inﬂuence on the

drivers of the recent Western Cape drought. Their research,

based on historical rainfall and dam inﬂow data, shows that

human-induced climate change and its eﬀect on rainfall patterns

rendered the drought roughly three times more likely to occur

than would have been the case in a world without human

impact.

The research also highlights how the frequency of a drought of

this degree has changed over time because of human inﬂuence

in the province. Events like this one, which almost had Cape

Town’s taps running dry, are now no longer likely to happen

every 50 years, but every 15. “Both the frequency and severity

of climate-induced disasters are increasing. At the same time,

the extent, duration and seasonal distribution of rainfall are

changing. Along with higher temperature levels and increased

evaporation, the implications of drought and climate change

for run-oﬀ and long-term assurance of water supply are serious,”

New emphasises.

In theory, the Western Cape’s water resource system should

be reliable 49 out of every 50 years, but its designers did not

consider changing climate risk proﬁles. The risk of water resource

systems failing is increasing as the climate changes.

New believes climate attribution research is vital to inform the

planning of water management systems within the context of

drier and hotter regional conditions.

One of Cape Town’s water-saving campaign posters.

Water-saving tips:

The more you save, the less you pay – and more water remains in our dams.

SHARE THIS with others, and visit www.capetown.gov.za/thinkwater

for more information and guidelines.

ToiletŴushing and sanitation

Let

the ‘yellow mellow’ at home, work, school,

gym, shops, etc. Don't use it as a dustbin.

Place a full glass bottle in your cistern to

(if you have no choice but to use municipal

drinking water).

Flush with greywater only (laundry, bath

and shower water) or with rain, borehole

or well-point water.

Use less toilet paper to minimise the risk

of sewer blockages and do not use your

toilet as a dustbin.

Close toilet stopcock (angle valve).

You will save municipal drinking water.

Use bleach or disinfectant to regularly

sanitise toilets and surrounding areas

and keep hands sanitised to prevent

health risks.

Please note: The use of water from alternative sources has some health and hygiene risks you must avoid.

Keep hands and surface areas sanitised and disinfected. Don't keep greywater for longer than 24 hours.

Keep water containers in a safe place as children can drown in them.

Body washing and personal hygiene

Take short, stop-start showers.

Wet your body. Turn off the tap. Soap.

Rinse quickly.

Don’t let taps run for too long or at full

Use a cup for shaving, brushing

teeth, etc.

No shower? Take a sponge bath.

Use minimal water in a basin, bowl

or washtub (‘waskom’).

Use waterless hand sanitiser instead

of washing your hands.

Collect as much washing water as possible

as a priority.

Excess greywater can be used for plants

or washing vehicles.

Don’t let water run while you wait for

it to heat. If possible, use cold water

or heat your water for a sponge bath,

in a kettle or on the stove.

The Water Wheel September/October 201919

“Residents in the lower- and

middle-income brackets considered taris

and restrictions important motivating

factors in driving water saving. In

contrast, residents in higher income

brackets were more strongly driven by

social pressure.”

Building adaptive capacity

Many lessons regarding the management of water risks and

security issues during times of drought have been learned, Prof

Visser points out. “The lessons learned in Cape Town also apply

to other municipalities facing the twin challenges of population

growth and resource constraints,” she says.

One such lesson is that household-based tariﬀ blocks place a

disproportionate burden on poorer households where backyard

dwellers are present. Sharing clear, relevant information with

members of the public during times of crisis is also key to driving

behavioural change, according to the research.

Although rapid-onset disasters often have devastating eﬀects,

slow-onset climate events such as drought can also detrimental.

Cities must build their adaptive capacity to eﬀectively respond

to extreme events, Prof Gina Ziervogel states. Ziervogel, based in

UCT’s Department of Environmental and Geographical Science,

is a research chair at the ACDI.

As climate variability increases and the impact of climate

change becomes more acute, cities need to take a critical look

at their preparedness, Ziervogel indicated in a recent report

titled Unpacking the Cape Town Drought. This report, compiled

for the National Treasury’s Cities Support Programme, aims to

ensure that lessons learned from Cape Town will inform other

municipalities when they adapt to drought and water insecurity.

The drought illustrated how important it is to be prepared for

extreme events, be they climate-related or other, as well as the

need to build community resilience. Local governments, Prof

Ziervogel’s research indicates, must focus on several areas to

successfully strengthen urban water resilience and better adapt

to climate change. These areas include improving data collection

and communication, strengthening governance, improving

collaboration within municipal departments, engaging with

experts, and enabling ﬂexible and adaptive decision-making.

Climate change is a concern that should be better integrated

into water planning, Prof Ziervogel points out. Many of the

problems related to water quality and quantity and to extreme

events like ﬂooding in urban areas could be aggravated by the

impacts of climate change.

To build adaptive, water-wise cities, municipalities need a vision

and plan for implementation — a more nuanced and holistic

response that recognises the role of people, partnerships,

leadership and the overall water system.

Prof Ziervogel concludes that increased support across diﬀerent

spheres of government is needed to promote awareness of the

importance of accounting for climate change in planning eﬀorts

and to ensure buy-in from municipalities in this regard.

For more information, visit www.acdi.uct.ac.za and https://

efdinitiative.org.

Domestic water use

WATER AND SANITATION

THE SERVICE CHARGE

WATER COSTS

SANITATION COSTS

MUNICIPAL WATER BOTTLED WATER

for infrastructure to supply water to your home

AS PER LEVEL 6 RESTRICTIONS

>Ãi`iÛiÈÌ>ÀvvÃvÀwÀÃÌÈ>`>£xViVÌ°

per litre

R12

per litre

TARIFFS EXPLAINED

WHAT WATER TARIFFS ARE USED FOR

YOUR WATER TARIFFS

CONSIST OF THREE PARTS

GREAT WATER SAVINGS

HAVE RESULTED IN SIGNIFICANT LOSS OF INCOME FOR THE

CITY OF CAPE TOWN

THE DR UGHT

HAS COMPELLED US TO RELOOK TARIFFS

vÀ,ÓnÇxÕ«Ì,ÓxnÇx

More than 100 mm

15 mm R64,40

20 mmR115

25 mmR179

40 mmR460

50 mm R718,75

80 mm R1 840

These costs include the safe removal of waste

Ü>ÌiÀ>`ÃiÜ>}ivÀÞÕÀ«À«iÀÌÞ°

,i}ÃÌiÀi``}iÌÕÃi`Ã}iÌÌiÀwÀÃÌÇ]ÎxvÀvÀii°

Registered

indigent

households

}iÌÌiÀwÀÃÌ

£ä]xvÀvÀii

0 - 4,2 kl = R24,72 per kl

4,2 - 7,35 kl = R39 per kl

7,35 - 24,5 kl = R108,07 per kl

24,5 - 35 kl = R108,07 per kl

Maintenance and

infrastructure 87%

13%

New water

programme

MORE INFO: CAPETOWN.GOV.ZA /THINKWATER

THE CITY

DOESN’T MAKE

ANY PROFIT FROM

WATER AND

SANITATION

TARIFFS

These prices include VAT

,i}ÃÌiÀi``}iÌÕÃi`ÃÜÌ>ÛiÌ«>ÞÌÃÃiÀÛViV>À}i°

of households

will be charged

,££xÀiÃÃ

per month

}

7KHVHSULFHVH[FOXGH9$7

These prices include VAT

The City services a pipe network of close to 11 000 km

(the distance from Cape Town to Australia)

Cape Town only loses about 16% of its water due

to leaks, compared to the national average of 36%.

11 000 km of pipeline

16% leak rate

95%

SA AUS

čwÝi`À>ÌiÜLiV>À}i`]`i«i`}ÌiÃâi

vÌiViVÌÌÞÕÀ«À«iÀÌÞ°/Ãy>ÌÀ>Ìi

i«ÃVÀi>Ìi>Ài`ÀÕ}ÌÀiÃiÌVÌÞ°

0 - 6 kl = R28,90 per kl

10,5 - 35 kl = R120,27 per kl

6 - 10,5 kl = R46 per kl

MORE THAN 35 kl = R1 000per kl

THE COST OF WATER IS LINKED

TO WATER RESTRICTIONS; AS

DAM LEVELS RISE, RESTRICTONS

AND COSTS MAY BE REDUCED

ACCORDINGLY.

An inforgraphic released by the City of Cape Town during the drought.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Your daily dose – How SA is handling the threat of microbial

resistance

By now many of us have heard of somebody in our circles

who has fallen victim to drug-resistant infection or disease.

Antibiotic resistance is the most pressing problem, to the extent

that hospitals are now widely feared as a place to ‘pick up a

superbug’, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

(MRSE), rather than being viewed as a safe place to recuperate

from operations and illness. But the problem extends to other

antimicrobials, such as antivirals and antimalarials too, so the

term ‘antimicrobial resistance’, or AMR, is more commonly used

nowadays.

In April, the United Nations Ad hoc Interagency Coordinating

Group on Antimicrobial Resistance released a report warning

that drug-resistant diseases could cause 10 million deaths each

year by 2050 – an alarming increase from the current estimate

of at least 700 000 deaths annually, including 230 000 due to

multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The report, entitled No Time to

Wait: Securing the future from drug-resistant infections, noted

that more and more common diseases such as respiratory tract

infections, sexually transmitted infections and urinary tract

infections are untreatable, that lifesaving medical procedures

are becoming much riskier, and that our food systems are

increasingly precarious.

About a month after that report was released, the topic was in

the news again, with headlines like ‘World’s rivers awash with

Low levels of antibiotics in our drinking water may contribute to the growing threat of

antimicrobial resistance. Article by Sue Matthews.

WATER AND HEALTH

Feature

The Water Wheel September/October 201921

dangerous levels of antibiotics’ (The Guardian) and ‘Superbug

threat grows as rivers contaminated with antibiotics’ (Eyewitness

News). This was a result of a press release issued by the University

of York in the United Kingdom, reporting key ﬁndings of a global

study that sampled rivers in 72 countries and found antibiotics at

65% of the sampling sites.

“The results are quite eye-opening and worrying, demonstrating

the widespread contamination of river systems around the

world with antibiotic compounds,” one of the project leaders,

Prof Alistair Boxall, was quoted as saying. “Many scientists and

policymakers now recognise the role of the natural environment

in the antimicrobial resistance problem. Our data show that

antibiotic contamination of rivers could be an important

contributor.”

The most prevalent of the 14 commonly used antibiotics tested

for was trimethoprim, detected at 307 of the 711 sites. Although

mainly used to treat urinary tract infections, it is also used to

treat Pneumocystis pneumonia in HIV-infected patients. The

research team compared concentrations of all the antibiotics

with ‘safe’ levels – the Predicted No Eﬀect Concentration (PNEC)

established by the AMR Industry Alliance – and found that

these limits were most frequently exceeded in Asia and Africa.

Likewise, sites where antibiotics exceeded the limits by the

greatest degree were in Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Pakistan and

Nigeria.

South Africa was included in the study, but more detailed,

country-speciﬁc results have not yet been released. The study

involved sending sampling kits across the world to partners

who were asked to take samples along their local river system,

freeze them and courier them back to the University of York for

analysis. In South Africa, the CSIR’s research group leader for

source-directed scientiﬁc measures, Dr Melusi Thwala, acted as

the local partner. Pending publication of the report, he was at

liberty to say only that the sampling was a once-oﬀ screening

exercise along the Pienaars River to the east of Pretoria, with ﬁve

sampling sites between Boschkop Road and the R513, just below

the Baviaanspoort Wastewater Treatment Works to the north of

Mamelodi.

We already know, however, that antibiotics are detectable

not only in our rivers, but also in our drinking water, thanks to

two Water Research Commission-funded projects led by Prof

Carlos Bezuidenhout of North-West University. The ﬁrst of these,

completed in 2016, was entitled ‘A scoping study on the levels

of antimicrobials and presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria

in drinking water’ (WRC Report No. KV 360/16). Samples

were collected from raw water and ﬁnal treated water at three

drinking water production facilities in Gauteng and the North

West Province, and tested for a variety of antimicrobials. These

included antibiotics (ampicillin; chloramphenicol; erythromycin;

neomycin; oxytetracycline; streptomycin and trimethoprim),

fungicides (amphotericin B and tolnaftate), pharmaceutical

and personal care products (triclosan; 3,4-methylbenzylidene

and DEET) and agrochemicals (BenfuraCarb; carbofuran;

2-chlorophenol; 2,4-dichlorophenol and chlorpyriphos). The

results showed that a cocktail of these substances enter drinking

water production facilities in the raw water, although the levels

were very low. Generally, the levels were further reduced by the

drinking water production processes, in some cases to below

detection limits in the ﬁnal treated water.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) were also detected in raw

water at all three facilities, and results indicated that these were

not completely removed by the drinking water production

processes. Based on these ﬁndings, the research team

recommended that further research be conducted to investigate

the relationship between antibiotics, ARB and physico-chemical

parameters. Furthermore, they suggested that the presence of

antibiotic resistance genes or other genetic materials in both

ARB and in bulk water be investigated.

This follow-up work was done in the second research project

entitled ‘Antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes in drinking

water: Implications for drinking water production and quality

monitoring’. Sample collection was expanded to eight drinking

water production facilities of various sizes (between 2.5 and

4 000 Ml/day), the largest of which supplies water to a

population of 12 million people. All the facilities achieved high

Blue Drop scores for microbiological and chemical quality in

2012, and have at least one ﬁltration step before chlorination.

The results conﬁrmed that the quality of drinking water was

aﬀected by upstream land-use and human activities, which are

a source of antibiotics, ARB and associated genes that could be

reduced but not completely removed by the current drinking

water production systems. In addition, genes potentially

Water and health

A poster from the World Health Organisation warning against the

misuse of antibiotics.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

responsible for antibiotic resistance phenotypes could be

detected in isolated and puriﬁed bacteria that were resistant

to multiple antibiotics. “This is an indication that the genes are

functional and dissemination of such genes could potentially

have detrimental consequences should they be transferred to

infective pathogenic species,” the research team note in the

conclusions of the report. “Such multiple antibiotic resistant

pathogens will be diﬃcult and very costly to treat.”

A large percentage of the bacteria isolated from both raw

and drinking water had virulence features in the form of

extracellular enzymes that could allow for the invasion of host

tissue. The research team therefore suggested that a further

investigative study be done on the health-related impacts of

the identiﬁed bacterial species and their virulence. They also

gave a number of other recommendations, including the use of

rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) at drinking

water production facilities as part of their water safety plans,

which would allow antibiotic residues in water samples to be

quantiﬁed and provide trends over time. “The cost for setting up

the equipment and analysis is not prohibitively high,” they note.

Importantly, though, the levels of antibiotics most frequently

detected in the raw and drinking water –trimethoprim, colistin,

beta-lactams and in some cases ciproﬂoxacin – were between

10 and 1 000 times below the PNEC. For example, the PNEC for

trimethoprim is 500 ng/ℓ and this drug accounts for about a

quarter of all antimicrobial use in South Africa, which has the

world’s largest anti-retroviral programme. Only ﬁve of the eight

Water and health

Taking antibiotics when they are not needed accelerates emergence

of antibiotic resistance, one of the biggest threats to global health.

drinking water production facilities were screened for antibiotics,

but in raw water trimethoprim was below the level of detection

at one of these, between 0.4 and 1.1 ng/ℓ at three of the facilities

and just under 39 ng/ℓ at the remaining one – yet even this fell

to 0.5 ng/ℓ in the treated water and 0.2 ng/ℓ in the distribution

network.

It would, therefore, not make economic sense at this stage to

introduce advanced treatment processes, such as ozonation,

distillation, reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation, at all

drinking water production facilities. These methods, typically

only used where the available source water is of low quality, or

for water reclamation from industrial or domestic wastewater,

and for seawater desalination, have very high initial setup and

start-up costs. They also have high ongoing expenses in terms

of energy consumption, replacement of ﬁlters and membranes,

and employment of skilled staﬀ to operate and maintain the

systems. So what should be done?

“Addressing the antibiotic resistance crisis requires a

collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach,

taking into consideration the linkages between human health,

animal health and the environment – the One Health approach

– as well as the contributing bacterial interactions both in

clinical and non-clinical settings,” says WRC Research Manager

for the project, Dr Nonhlanhla Kalebaila. “From a water quality

management point of view, more eﬀort needs to be dedicated

towards environmental antibiotic resistance surveillance, as well

as water safety planning and risk management.”

Indeed, the One Health approach is what is advocated by the UN

No Time to Wait report, which also recommends that countries:

• prioritise national action plans to scale-up ﬁnancing and

capacity-building eﬀorts

• put in place stronger regulatory systems and support

awareness programmes for responsible and prudent use of

antimicrobials by professionals in human, animal and plant

health

• invest in ambitious research and development for new

technologies to combat antimicrobial resistance

• urgently phase out the use of critically important

antimicrobials as growth promoters in agriculture.

South Africa’s Department of Health originally launched

its Antimicrobial Resistance National Strategy Framework

2014–2024 in October 2014 in response to the World Health

Organisation (WHO) resolution on ‘Combating antimicrobial

resistance including antibiotic resistance’, which was adopted

by the World Health Assembly in May 2014, and was followed

by the development of the WHO Global Action Plan for

Antimicrobial Resistance in 2015.

More recently, the document has been revised in conjunction

with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

(DAFF) now called the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform

and Rural Development, and re-released as the South African

Antimicrobial Resistance National Strategy Framework: A

One Health Approach 2018–2024, although it is listed on the

Department of Health’s website as the AMR National Action Plan.

It contains the following ﬁve strategic objectives:

WHO

The Water Wheel September/October 201923

• Strengthen, coordinate and institutionalise interdisciplinary

and intersectoral eﬀorts

• Improve the appropriate use of diagnostic investigations to

identify pathogens, guide patient and animal management

and ensure good-quality laboratory systems

• Optimise surveillance and early detection of AMR

• Enhance infection prevention and control

• Promote appropriate use of antimicrobials in humans and

animals.

Broad statements are made about the need for access to safe

water and sanitation services to ensure good hygiene and

reduce the spread of diseases, and for water quality monitoring

to ensure ﬁtness for human consumption, but this seems to

relate to the standard microbiological and physico-chemical

analyses that are currently required. Furthermore, the report,

Surveillance for antimicrobial resistance and consumption of

antibiotics in South Africa, dated November 2018, makes no

mention of water whatsoever. Compiled by the Surveillance

Technical Working Group of the Ministerial Advisory Committee

on AMR in collaboration with the National Institute for

Communicable Diseases, private sector laboratories, DAFF,

WHO, the South African Animal Health Association, and the

World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the report presents

information relating to AMR in humans and antimicrobial

consumption in animals and humans in South Africa over the

period 2012 to 2017. The only monitoring of antibiotic residues it

addresses is that for meat products.

On the international front, however, the water-related aspects

of the AMR problem are not being overlooked. The European

Commission’s science and knowledge service, the Joint Research

Centre, published the technical report, State of the art on

the contribution of water to antimicrobial resistance in 2018,

while the journal Water (Vol. 11:1) published a special issue on

‘Antimicrobial resistance in environmental waters’ in early 2019,

featuring 11 articles on monitoring and surveillance of AMR in

natural aquatic systems and in eﬄuent discharge from water

treatment plants.

More to the point, however, is a March 2019 blog post written

by Nicolai Schaaf, the Programme Manager for water and

pharmaceuticals at the Stockholm International Water Institute

(SIWI), titled ‘Getting the priorities right in the ﬁght against

antimicrobial resistance’. In it, he outlines the steps he would like

to see in terms of taking action against AMR:

• “First: Tackle the empty development pipeline.” Here he

discusses the need to develop new antibiotics rather than

focus on selling volumes, but suggests “lock away any new

substance and only take it out when it is really needed”.

• “Second: Keep the antibiotics to when and where they are

really needed,” in which he calls for the cessation of non-

medical use of antibiotics, such as in the meat industry.

• “Third: Reduce emissions from antibiotics production.”

In fact, he states, antibiotics should not leave the

manufacturing site in any form other than as packed

medicine.

• “Fourth: reduce the dependency on antibiotics,” in which

he notes that we will not tackle AMR if we don’t stop using

antibiotics as a substitute for safe drinking water, sanitation

and hygiene.

Clearly, solutions to the AMR problem focus on prevention,

rather than cure. South Africa is on the right track with its latest

Strategy Framework, but strategies are of course only as good as

their successful implementation. We can all play a part in that, by

ensuring we use antimicrobials responsibly.

Water and health

The UN No Time to Wait report promotes the use of the ‘One Health’ response to antimicrobial resistance.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Feature

RESILIENT CITIES

South Africans are no strangers to the use of groundwater.

Already essential to the water needs of towns such as Beaufort

West and Musina, even large cities such as Pretoria and

Johannesburg are partly dependent on this source. Cape Town is

also banking on aquifers as part of the mix of diversiﬁed sources

for a more water resilient future.

Still, the water below the ground remains an underutilised

resource in South Africa. According to our most recent National

Water Resources Strategy (second edition published in 2013)

estimates of sustainable potential yield of groundwater

resources at high assurance in the country is 7.5 km³ per year.

Current groundwater use is estimated at around 2 km³ per year.

Allowing for an underestimation on groundwater use, about

3.5 km³ could be available annually for further development.

Regardless of the potential, many municipalities tend to turn to

groundwater as a last resort during times of drought, though

there are signs that the tide is turning. The City of Johannesburg,

for one, recognises groundwater as a potential source to

supplement potable water supply, and the city has embarked

on a feasibility study to determine the areas with the biggest

potential for groundwater use, and to identify what purposes it

can be used for.

The appeal of using groundwater is large. Provided it is managed

well, the environmental impact of harvesting groundwater is

much lower than for sources such as large-scale desalination and

Copenhagen – A city that banks on the blue gold below the

surface

Petro Kotzé visited Copenhagen, in Denmark, to investigate what South Africa can learn from

this world city that solely relies on groundwater.

The Water Wheel September/October 201925

even surface water systems, which requires large infrastructure

for storage (dams and reservoirs). If water is stored underground,

less is lost to evaporation. Also, tapping into groundwater is

much faster to put into practice than constructing water transfer

schemes or large desalination plants, and often cheaper.

These reasons are part of the growing reputation of groundwater

as a sustainable resource that can increase the resilience of a city

and settlement.

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, knows this very well.

The city is 100% reliant on groundwater for potable water

supply, and enjoys water known as among the best and most

environmentally friendly in the world. Furthermore, regardless of

a fast growing urban population, ongoing concerns regarding

groundwater quality, its location right next to Denmark’s

8 700 km coastline and healthy government coﬀers, there are no

plans to supplement future water supply with anything other

than groundwater, including desalination.

Over the past decades, Copenhagen has set a globally

recognised precedent for best practice groundwater use. This

achievement takes ongoing eﬀort and attempts to improve,

says Trine Hybholt, project manager for HOFOR showroom, at

Energy & Water – Greater Copenhagen Living Lab. Though the

mix of factors inﬂuencing successful groundwater use diﬀers

signiﬁcantly from one country to another, and even one city

to the next, the key lessons for success from Copenhagen are

surprisingly simple, and applicable to cities anywhere.

Water supply in Copenhagen

Copenhagen sits on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand.

Until 2009, water supply included surface water treated with

chlorine, explains Hybholt, but since then the city has been

relying solely on groundwater abstracted from well-ﬁelds up to

55 km away from the city centre. Though aquifers also underlie

the central part of the city, these are contaminated with the

customary mix of urban pollutants. In comparison, water from

the outlying aquifers are of excellent quality, is easy to access

and requires minimal treatment.

The wellﬁelds where the city draws its water from consist of

quaternary deposits overlying tertiary layers such as sand,

clay and lignite followed by the limestone from where most

groundwater is extracted (in some cases groundwater is

extracted from the mesozoic layers of limestone). The aquifers

are rain-fed, and water takes more than 30 years to ﬁlter through

the layers of topsoil, clay and sand towards the limestone aquifer

lying on average 30 m below, being cleaned in the process.

The water requires little treatment. After extraction, the water is

put through a process of oxidation (i.e. it’s aerated) to remove

gases and fed through a simple sand ﬁltration system to remove

minerals such as iron and manganese. No chlorine or other

chemicals are added, says Hybholt. From the treatment plants

the water is pumped to a central height tank for distribution to

consumers via a gravity-fed system. Electricity is mainly used to

power pumps for water supply to residencies over ﬁve storeys,

Resilient Cities

Copenhagen’s famous lakes comprise three rectangular lakes curving around the western margin of the City Centre.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

and oil, and industrial pollution. “Large-scale and long-term

abstraction of groundwater also has an undeniable impact on

the environment,” explains Hybholt. “The truth is, what we did

50 and 100 years ago can still aﬀect the water quality today and

what we do today will aﬀect the future.”

To continue a guaranteed supply of safe and reliable water

to residents well into the future, HOFOR applies a number of

interventions to ensure the sustainability of their water supply

– something that is at the top of their priorities, notes Hybholt.

The utility is not going at it alone, and the success of its mission

is built on support from national government, municipalities

and the residents themselves.

Protecting the integrity of the resource

The protection of groundwater outside the city is regulated

by the national Water and Nature Plans, implemented by the

Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Permits for

HOFOR to extract water from the outlying well-points are thus

reviewed and awarded by the EPA.

Permission to abstract water is granted on conditions to

compensate the environment for the resulting impact, and

HOFOR consequently has to secure a minimum ﬂow in the

streams above the surface that are aﬀected as a result of

groundwater abstraction. This is done through admission of

groundwater, surface water, wastewater or rainwater.

HOFOR also adheres to comprehensive groundwater protection

plans that includes strict speciﬁcations of land use in the

catchment areas, assessments of all known sources of pollution,

identiﬁcation of vulnerable areas and monitoring.

One example in application, says Hybholt, is that farmers are

compensated to stop using pesticides and other potentially

harmful substances close to drilling holes. In other instances,

farmers are compensated to switch from agricultural crops to

planting trees to reforest the catchment areas, for improved

control of potential sources of contamination in areas deemed

important to water supply. In other areas limits for the use of

fertilizer and pesticides are set. In urban areas close to well

points, HOFOR runs regular campaigns to warn residents about

the impact of private use of herbicides on their drinking water.

Still, the utility is always on the lookout for new potential sources

of water. “We are always investigating new drilling areas and the

impact of pumping more from our current ﬁelds,” says Hybholt.

“We never know when there might be contamination found,

and our water supply potentially compromised.”

To ensure a continuous supply of safe water regardless of the

circumstances, Copenhagen’s tap water is among the most

heavily controlled in Denmark, with the same safety regulations

as those applied to food processing (the international ISO 22000

standards).

Maintaining the quality of drinking water

Hybholt explains that they do not have historic data on which

pesticides and fertilizers were used where, but they investigate

the historic land use of the areas earmarked for exploration as

far as possible. She says they have drilled around 750 access

Trine Hybholt, project manager for HOFOR showroom at the Copenhagen

Living Lab.

says Hybholt. Even then, all pumps are energy eﬃcient and solar

panels installed at the waterworks have lowered external power

consumption by 25% on an annual basis.

In this way, HOFOR (the Greater Copenhagen Utility) extracts

about 52 million m³ (0.052 km³) water annually for its 1.1 million

customers in Copenhagen and the greater Copenhagen area.

The utility is municipally owned, with ownership of the water

and wastewater services shared between eight municipalities.

Still, like cities elsewhere, water supply in Copenhagen is not

without challenges.

Challenges to water supply

For one, though relatively small, Copenhagen is growing fast;

around 10 000 more people call it home each year. Hybholt says

that for HOFOR, this implies that 365 000 m³ more water needs

to be supplied annually.

Second, water quality is an ongoing concern. Denmark has

a rich agricultural history, with more than two thirds of the

landscape altered for this purpose. The impact of intensive

farming practices has ﬁltered underground, and groundwater

contamination by pesticides and fertilizers are not uncommon,

says Hybholt. At the wellﬁelds closer to the city centre, the mix

of potential contaminants include pesticides and fertilizers

used by private households, contamination from paints

Resilient Cities

The Water Wheel September/October 201927

points – some of which were shut down when the groundwater

was found to be contaminated. Once part of the water supply

system, HOFOR applies a comprehensive control programme,

which entails testing for bacterial contamination daily at several

points along the water-supply system, from the waterworks,

along the pipe network and at the ﬁnal distribution point.

Should there be a case of contamination, a control system kicks

in during which the aﬀected residents are notiﬁed and water

supplied by trucks in the interim period until the problem is

ﬁxed.

A large part of their work to keep the water resource safe, is also

to use it as eﬃciently as possible.

Water consumption and loss

Reducing residential demand for water is key to relieve any

pressure on the resource, as the domestic sector is by far

the largest water consumer in Denmark. The average water

consumption in households in Copenhagen peaked in the 1960s

at approximately 235 ℓ per citizen per day, but the ﬁgure has

been decreasing steadily since. Then HOFOR set the optimistic

target of reaching 100 ℓ per person per day by 2020 – a target

that was unexpectedly reached ahead of schedule in 2017.

Hybholt says these results were won through sustained eﬀorts

maintained at various levels. Households were motivated to

switch to water eﬃcient appliances such as toilets, washing

machines and showers, and the utility runs ongoing campaigns

and education programmes on various public platforms and at

schools to motivate people to use less water.

Some of the largest cuts in water use were obtained by the

installation of private water meters at households, usually

resulting in a decrease of about 25% of household water use, she

says. Now, under Danish legislation, all properties connected to

common waterworks must have water meters installed, though

old buildings with several ﬂats are only required to install one

water meter at property level new buildings must have one for

each ﬂat.

Hybholt notes that there are more factors at play. Though

nothing in comparison to buying bottled water, water is

perceived to be expensive by consumers in Copenhagen, so

people are more inclined to use it sparingly. This is helped along

by a growing awareness of the importance of sustainable living

by the Danes, reinforced by constant education campaigns,

and large-scale success stories such the rehabilitation of the

Copenhagen harbor, to the extent that it is now a popular

public swimming facility. “The clean harbour has created a lot

of understanding of the concept of sustainable water use,” says

Hybholt.

Still, they are not done. “Now that we’ve reached our target of

100 ℓ per person, we’ve set ourselves a new one, and are aiming

for 90 ℓ of water per person by 2025”, she says.

The city is also setting the trend in curbing water loss in the

distribution system. In comparison to a worldwide average of

36.2% (and an average of 36.8% in South Africa, according to

research published by the Water Research Commission in 2013),

water losses for HOFOR amounts to 7%. This is achieved by

Resilient Cities

The Copenhagen Living Lab includes an exhibition of the city’s sewerage system.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

as part of the water circle – a limited resource that we have to

reuse over and again in order to survive, and thrive.

“Copenhagen residents are immensely proud of the fact that

we are a city that drinks such clean water from the tap.” While

groundwater is still being seen as a backup plan in some

countries, the opposite is the norm in Copenhagen. “The

concept of clean, available groundwater is ingrained in us

so deeply, it’s diﬃcult to even imagine sourcing water from

anywhere else.”

controlling the pressure in the supply system, replacing old pipes

and running a systemised leakage detection programme.

“The process is an ongoing one, and we are constantly trying

new approaches to sustainable water use, and reduce our water

use,” notes Hybholt. “For example, the water that the sand ﬁlters

are ﬂushed with used to go to waste, but they are now able to

reuse up to 85% in the water works.”

Though the city has won international recognition for its

quality of water supply, the core lessons it can share with other

urban areas that aim to supply residents with clean and safe

groundwater are simple, explains Hybholt.

Lessons from Copenhagen

The key is to use the resource sustainably. For groundwater, this

includes not over-extracting from the aquifer. Second, the utility

must ensure that the water quality is not compromised. Then,

the basin that the aquifer is located in must be kept healthy. “It is

inevitable that you will have an impact on the environment, but

your impact must be sustainable,” explains Hybholt.

To achieve this, Hybholt says the water must be understood

Resilient Cities

The Copenhagen harbour water front. Cleanup campaigns have resulted in the areas becoming popular for swimming and socialising.

Sources

Denmark in Figures 2019, published by Statistics Denmark

• https://iwa-network.org

• www.hofor.dk

• www.wrc.org.za

The Water Wheel September/October 201929

Protecting our water-related ecological infrastructure by

building an investment case

Climate change projections for South Africa suggest more

variable rainfall and more extreme rainfall events, with

predictions of increased ﬂoods and droughts. With a mean

annual rainfall of only 450 mm per year, and equivalent potential

evaporation of about ﬁve times this, South Africa is a water

scarce country. Simultaneously, demand for water is outstripping

supply in most provinces due to population growth and

economic development.

The saturation of possibilities for more dams, the cost to

maintain our failing water-related built infrastructure, and the

inability of water treatment works to treat increasingly polluted

water, suggest that alternative solutions need to be investigated

for enhancing South Africa’s water security. One promising

investment opportunity is the maintenance and restoration of

our ecological infrastructure (EI), including wetlands, rivers, and

strategic mountain catchments.

There are a signiﬁcant number of studies in South Africa and

globally demonstrating the clear water-related beneﬁts of

investing in this ecological infrastructure concomitant with rising

recognition in policy at international and national levels. Despite

this, there is limited uptake by private sector investors, and

investments made by government remain at a relatively small

scale in comparison to investments in hard infrastructure. One of

the reasons is that most studies have failed to holistically assess

the socio-economic eﬀects of those investments.

How can investments in ecological infrastructure buﬀer

society against hydroclimatic risks, including droughts, while

providing socio-economic beneﬁts? Does investment in

ecological infrastructure provide opportunities for job creation,

poverty alleviation and social upliftment? These are the kind

of questions that a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from

the universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, KwaZulu-Natal and

Copenhagen are tackling through a transdisciplinary research

project called “Socio-Economic Beneﬁts of Investing in Ecological

Infrastructure”, or SEBEI. The two-year project, which started last

year is funded by the Danish International Development Agency.

SEBEI aims to provide an evidence base of the socio-economic

and hydrological beneﬁts of these investments and to

showcase them in a prototype investment case. There are six

study sites being investigated in this study, three in the Berg-

Breede catchments (Western Cape) and three in the uMngeni

catchment (KwaZulu-Natal). The Berg-Breede is part of one of

the most important strategic water source areas in the country,

and the uMngeni catchment is of great economic signiﬁcance as

Is ecological infrastructure worth the investment? A current study is aiming to nd out. Article by

Alanna Rebelo and Nadine Methner.

ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Feature

Relatively pristine ecological infrastructure: the headwaters of the uMngeni catchment, the Mthinzima tributary near Mpopomeni.

Alanna Rebelo

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

For this ﬁrst workshop in the Berg-Breede catchment,

stakeholders numbered 28, in addition to the SEBEI team,

about half of whom were from national, provincial and local

government, a quarter from NGOs such as conservation trusts,

and a few from academia and the private sector (Figure 1). In

the uMngeni catchment, stakeholders numbered 14, about half

from academia, a quarter from local government, and a few from

NGO’s and the private sector.

Figure 1. Sectoral diversity and numbers of stakeholders (excluding the

SEBEI team) attending the transdisciplinary workshops in the Berg-Breede

and uMngeni catchments, South Africa.

it contributes 11% towards South Africa’s GDP.

In addition to quantifying hydrological, ecological and

livelihoods impacts, the researchers are tackling these

complex questions by engaging with key stakeholders from

government, NGOs and the private sector who are involved

with implementing or funding investments into ecological

infrastructure. This transdisciplinary process includes four rounds

of workshops in each region throughout the duration of the

project.

These iterative stakeholder engagements are aimed at joint

learning and sense making of the emerging understandings

from project results and allows key stakeholders to codesign

and be kept informed of the project methodology as well as to

validate the outputs. Two rounds of workshops have taken place

to date, in November 2018 and April 2019, and here we describe

some of the key ﬁndings and outcomes of this process.

One of the main activities at the ﬁrst workshop for the Berg-

Breede catchments (Cape Town) and uMngeni catchment

(Pietermaritzberg), was to get a better understanding of: (1)

What motivates investments in ecological infrastructure? (2)

What is needed to make a sound case for investment in EI at

diﬀerent scales? (3) What are the major barriers to investment?

The participants were divided into groups of ‘implementers’ and

‘investors’ to discuss these questions (yielding a total of eleven

groups, with ﬁve in the Berg Breede, and six in the uMngeni). The

reason for distinguishing the two categories was the assumption

that people investing in ecological infrastructure may have a

diﬀerent perspective from those implementing speciﬁc activities.

Ecological infrastructure

Figure 2. What motivates investments in ecological infrastructure?

The Water Wheel September/October 201931

Several working groups pointed out that motivation to invest

in ecological infrastructure depended on the type of investor

(e.g. communities, municipalities, national government,

private sector). Both implementers and investors felt that the

most important motivation for investment into ecological

infrastructure was improved livelihoods and poverty alleviation

(Figure 2). This was closely followed by motivations such as

legislation/regulation, business beneﬁts, natural disasters

and supply of ecosystem services. Factors such as mandate,

certiﬁcation, and social pressure received less attention as factors

motivating investors.

Stakeholders made 39 suggestions on how to make a sound

case for investment in EI at diﬀerent scales (Figure 3). The most

common suggestion was an evidence base, both in terms of the

ﬁnancial return on investment, but also in terms of the value of

ecological infrastructure in mitigating disasters. Strategic, long-

term planning, communication and trust, credibility, reliability

and eﬃciency were also commonly identiﬁed by stakeholders.

Collaboration, clear terminology and champions were also

highlighted by some stakeholder groups to be important.

Ecological infrastructure

Figure 3. What is needed to make a sound case for investment in ecological infrastructure at different scales?

Stakeholders identiﬁed 55 distinct barriers to investment (Figure 4). The most critical barriers being lack of coordination/partnerships,

timeframe incompatibilities (short-term needs vs long-term goals), lack of scientiﬁc evidence, and lack of eﬀective leadership (governance).

Bureaucracy, terminology, shortage of money, lack of trust and lack of capacity to build relationships were also highlighted as important

barriers. Surprisingly, risk was identiﬁed by few stakeholder groups to be an important barrier.

Overall, a strong message emerging from this initial set of stakeholder workshops was the need for an evidence base for the beneﬁts

of ecological infrastructure, as well as the need for better coordination (partnerships), communication (also linking to terminology

used), trust, credibility, and leadership. These ﬁndings demonstrate that SEBEI is well positioned as a research project in addressing the

knowledge gap of an evidence base. Policy-oriented projects, such as the SANBI GEF6 EI for Water Security project will be able to address

some of the other challenges and gaps.

At the second workshop in the Berg-Breede catchment, 24 stakeholders were present, two thirds from all three spheres of government, a

quarter from academia and a small number from NGOs. In the uMngeni catchment, there was a greater sectoral diversity and attendance

in the second compared to the ﬁrst workshop, with 20 participants, about a third from academia, a third from national government, and

the ﬁnal third composed of NGOs and the private sector.

In order to create outputs both useful and relevant for ecological infrastructure investors and implementors, we invited participants at the

second set of workshops to co-design speciﬁc aspects of the SEBEI project methodology in three working groups. Firstly, as part of the

governance group, we validated several typologies of implementation models that resulted from the ecological infrastructure intervention

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

inventory. Secondly, for the socio-economic beneﬁts group,

we asked stakeholders for input on which indirect beneﬁts to

people (employed, on-site and downstream) they thought

would be important for the SEBEI project to attempt to measure.

Thirdly, for the mapping and modelling group, we critiqued

investment scenarios, scales, and maps of invasive alien trees.

Three scenarios are being modelled: the ﬁrst the current state

of ecological infrastructure, the second the ‘best case’ and the

third, degradation of ecological infrastructure on a timeframe

(e.g. 20 years) selected by stakeholders. One aspect of this state

of ecological infrastructure included alien tree invasion, and

others include wetland drainage and health and sustainable land

management. The invasive alien tree maps that were validated

were of the current state of invasion for both catchments, based

on a classiﬁcation of Sentinel2a imagery in Google Earth Engine.

The feedback received from stakeholders was extremely

valuable, and important knowledge-sharing relationships were

built at both workshops, and will guide our research going

forward. In the Berg-Breede, slightly shorter timeframes for

ecological infrastructure investment scenarios were deemed

more relevant (5, 10, 20 years), whereas in the uMngeni

stakeholders felt that 20-25 years would be more useful from a

planning and policy perspective.

One of the main lessons learnt through this transdisciplinary

workshop process is that it is not easy for researchers to get

private sector investors into the same room as implementors

and government investors. This is a critical recommendation for

Ecological infrastructure

Figure 4. What are the major barriers for different types of investors?

What is Ecological infrastructure?

Ecological infrastructure can be deﬁned as

“the underlying framework of natural elements,

ecosystems, and functions and processes that

are spatially and temporally connected to supply

ecosystem services; it is how natural capital stocks

are organised to provide ecosystem goods and

services ” (Dominati et al. 2013). Examples are

wetlands, rivers, strategic water source areas,

mountain catchments etc.

An Ecological infrastructure intervention is an

action* to enhance certain ecosystem services

in a spectrum of landscapes (from natural to

transformed), informed by an understanding of

ecology. Examples include, inter alia, the actions of

the Working for Water and Wetlands programmes

(SEBEI 2019).

*Actions can be artiﬁcial or natural, including artiﬁcial

wetlands, permeable pavements, alien clearing,

wetland revegetation, and gabions and weirs to halt

erosion.

The Water Wheel September/October 201933

future projects. The SEBEI team has since adapted and initiated

an additional parallel process of engaging with high-level private

sector investors around similar questions. The third round of

SEBEI workshops will be held on 20 November 2019 in the

Berg-Breede catchment, and 22 November 2019 in the uMngeni

catchment, and the SEBEI team encourages stakeholders to use

this opportunity to participate in this interactive engagement

with the project team to strengthen the case for investment into

ecological infrastructure.

Relatively pristine ecological infrastructure: Palmiet Wetlands in the

Riviersonderend River of the Breede Catchment.

We are conﬁdent that the SEBEI project, with the help of both

investors and implementors, will be able to produce a useful

proto-type investment case that will assist in securing adequate

investment into ecological infrastructure in South Africa in the

future. This is one step in the right direction to becoming a more

resilient society in the face of the risks and uncertainty associated

with anthropogenic climate change and water security.

Ecological infrastructure

South Africa’s strategic water source areas

South Africa’s strategic water source areas are areas

of the country that have recently been identiﬁed to

be the most important in generating surface water

and groundwater for the country’s consumption.

Collectively the strategic water source areas

produce 50% of South Africa’s mean annual runoﬀ,

but cover only 8% of the surface area of the country.

It is recommended that the strategic water source

areas of the country are protected and restored, as

this is of direct beneﬁt to all downstream users, who

are dependent on the water resources provided by

this critical ecological infrastructure.

The SEBEI project in context

The SEBEI (Socio-Economic Beneﬁts of Investing in

Ecological Infrastructure) project links with several other

important projects on a similar theme in both the Berg-

Breede and the uMngeni catchments. Here we give a

brief overview with a focus on policy-related projects,

but do not include all the related research projects, of

which there are many.

In both catchments, SEBEI investigates similar questions

to the SANBI GEF6 project entitled: “EI for Water

Security”. However, the GEF6 project dovetails well

with SEBEI, as it undertakes no research, but focusses

on policy and capacity development incentives for

mainstreaming biodiversity and ecosystem values into

national, regional and local development policy and

ﬁnance in the water sector.

In the Berg-Breede, another important project is that

developing an Ecological Infrastructure Investment

Framework (EIIF) for the Western Cape by DEADP

Western Cape Government and the CSIR. SEBEI is

working closely with this project to share insights.

Additionally, there is The Water Fund in the Western

Cape (The Nature Conservancy), which SEBEI is

attempting to engage with, which puts forward a

Business Case for ecological infrastructure restoration

as a critical component of eﬀorts to enhance water

security for all users of the Western Cape Water Supply

System. SEBEI also attempts to attend and engage with

the Freshwater Forum, which is a collaborative platform

on ecological infrastructure related matters in the

Western Cape.

In the uMngeni, the most notable project is the

uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure Partnership (UEIP) led

by SANBI. The UEIP coordinates ecological infrastructure

projects and integrates ecological infrastructure

solutions to support built infrastructure investments in

addressing challenges of water security in the uMngeni

catchment. An important research project in the

uMngeni that SEBEI interfaces with, is the GEF5 project

on Biodiversity & Land-use with the aim to ensure that

biodiversity continues to provide essential ecosystem

services to municipal residents.

Alanna Rebelo

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Feature

WATER AND SOCIETY

Water scarcity is widespread globally, and is increasingly a major

concern in Southern Africa. The Western Cape is no exception;

its recent multi-year drought has sparked considerable reaction

and adaptation. The impact of water scarcity is inﬂuenced by

location, including both region and nature of settlement.

To develop our understanding of this at the scale of small

municipalities, and in collaboration with the South African

Local Government Association (SALGA), we conducted a socio-

hydrological assessment of water management in Prince Albert

and Swartland municipalities over the winter (May to July) of

2018. In addition to understanding how municipalities have

adapted to water crises, the study was also an exploration of

interdisciplinary research processes and methodologies in order

to understand diﬀerent perspectives of a given context, and to

identify lessons for other interdisciplinary studies.

Following desktop reviews, two-day visits to each municipality

were carried out by a research team from the Future Water

research institute at the University of Cape Town. These visits

followed a mixed methods approach of focus group discussions,

transect walks, semi-structured interviews, and observations,

with target respondents from the municipality, nature

conservation, community groups and farmers, as well as the

education, media, tourism, and local business sectors.

Questions drew on diﬀerent themes ranging from technical

aspects, such as water supply, wastewater and solid waste

infrastructure and management to the socio-relational aspects

of water scarcity, including drought impacts and emerging

Exploring the socio-hydrological assessment of two small

municipalities in the Western Cape

An interdisciplinary study is exploring how small municipalities are adapting to water scarcity,

and what lessons can be applied to other settings facing similar water crises. Article by

Germaine Owen, Amber Abrams, Kirsty Carden, Sue Harrison, Callies Selala & Bernelle Verster.

A roadsign warns of drought conditions in 2017 outside Malmesbury, one of the towns managed by the Swartland Municipality.

The Water Wheel September/October 201935

responses, coping and adaptation mechanisms, tensions,

health concerns, cooperation (social cohesion), equity and

economic concerns, and reﬂections on the municipality’s public

engagement processes.

This article discusses some of the prominent themes that

emerged in this study, with particular reference to the recent

(2016 to 2018) drought. The discussions present context-

speciﬁc scenarios on the water-supply situation and alternative

measures in place or envisioned in these municipalities. Further,

adaptation measures adopted, people’s responses to these, and

recommendations by the research team for building resilience in

these towns are presented.

Water supply in the Prince Albert and Swartland

municipalities

The Prince Albert Municipality is one of three municipalities in

the Central Karoo District, with Prince Albert town, in particular,

regularly experiencing issues of water scarcity. Some areas of

the district, such as Klaarstroom, Leeu-Gamka, and Prince Albert

Road are reliant on groundwater. While water availability is a

concern for all, for Klaarstroom residents, in particular, the focus

is more on water quality. Prince Albert town itself sources the

bulk of its water from groundwater (nine boreholes), with surface

water from the Dorps River supplementing supply.

Surface water is allocated such that the formal agricultural sector

receives about 66.7%, via concreted furrows known as leiwater,

while the municipality is allocated 33.3% for residential purposes.

The North-End community relies only on municipal water

through in-house tap connections, with no ability to draw on the

leiwater system. Surface water supply in Prince Albert town is

managed by the Kweekvallei Irrigation Board, which operates as

the water users association in the area.

An assessment of the available hydrological information

suggested that infrastructural capacity within the town does

not meet the demand for both water supply and wastewater

treatment at present. There are diﬃculties with monitoring the

ﬂow of water into the town, resulting in uncertainty around

supply volumes. The municipality has proposed the building

of a dam well as the development of an artiﬁcial groundwater

recharge system in Prince Albert town and Klaarstroom to

boost water supply in the area. The need for more water storage

capacity (i.e. reservoirs) was a widely discussed theme among

most interview respondents.

The Swartland Municipality falls within the Berg-Olifants Water

Management Area and receives the bulk of its potable water

from the West Coast District Municipality (WCDM), served by the

Berg River (as the main water supply), through the Swartland and

Withoogte distribution systems. Both of these bulk distribution

schemes are cross-border schemes that supply water to the

Swartland Municipality and two other municipalities. There

are eight distribution systems: six, including Malmesbury and

environs, are fed through the Swartland system and two from

the Withoogte system.

The main challenge for water supply is the augmentation

of existing water sources from the WCDM. The immediate

priority intervention is to implement a water demand and

pressure management programme, including replacing old and

damaged pipe networks to minimise water losses; this will also

help to reduce high water bills amongst residents. Alternative

water augmentation options, such as groundwater, rainwater

harvesting, water reuse for potable and non-potable uses etc. are

also being investigated for diﬀerent areas in the Municipality.

Drought impacts

The impacts of the 2016-2018 drought in the Western Cape

– reported as one of the worst on record – were widely

experienced. Community members from the North-End of

Prince Albert, for example, expressed that “there isn’t enough

water for everyone” and “it is diﬃcult at home.” One dairy farmer

in the South-End of Prince Albert had to reduce the number of

animals in her dairy herd from 50 to 25 to adapt to the crisis, with

related ﬁnancial losses.

The Zwartberg High School in Prince Albert reported poor

hygiene conditions at its facilities, and learners were anecdotally

reported to have “stomach bugs” as a result of water shortages.

Financial losses were noted from poor harvest of lucerne.

Existing long-lived shrubs at the Wolwekraal Nature Reserve

succumbed to the shortage of water and the adjacent river

dried up. The impacts of the drought also exacerbated social

diﬀerences, highlighting the ways in which people in the North-

End and South-End communities were aﬀected by and adapted

to the drought. The South-End community is perceived to have

coped better than the North-End community because of their

leiwater allocation which enabled upkeep of their pools and

gardens.

This dichotomy raised the issue of water rights in the area which

is embedded in the socio-politics of this region, as historically,

properties in the South-End were allocated leiwater via their

title deeds. Some of these residents suggested that their water

rights were being violated because they have been asked to

Water and society

Prince Albert town leiwater system passing in front of Zwartberg High

School.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

engagement processes, and highlighted good practice for other

municipalities to follow. However, it was also noted that some

community members did not adhere to water restrictions and

felt entitled to exceed their water allocation as rate payers. This

reinforces the importance of communicating information on

water scarcity and its impacts earlier to the public as well as

providing reasons for water restrictions as remediation to the

water crisis.

In the Swartland Municipality, the approach adopted to manage

the crisis was three-pronged: technical (ﬂow usage, pressure

management etc.), ﬁnancial (tariﬀs) and social (restrictions and

awareness campaigns). The restriction of water usage to 50 ℓper

person/day was successful in raising drought crisis awareness.

Information campaigns on the drought were also run through

public meetings and on social media with a dedicated Facebook

page, as well as through the use of tools such as ﬂyers, banners,

notices, and bookmarks.

Cooperation in these campaigns was evident through people

using greywater for gardens and ﬂushing toilets instead of using

freshwater, and in people switching from showering to using

basins for bathing. In the township of Ilinge Lethu, car wash

owners adapted, for example, by sourcing borehole water from

the West Bank farmers and using rainwater collected in rainwater

tanks.

Farmers adapted to the crisis by implementing zero till planting,

which allows seeds to be planted regardless of how dry the soil

is. Good adherence to water restrictions was conﬁrmed through

monitoring of water usage by the municipality, although

there were some incidences of non-compliance (e.g. the

prison facility). Whilst some Ilinge Lethu community members

suggested that the municipality had not planned ahead

properly, there was a general sense that the drought had raised

awareness on the importance of conserving water, with some

residents suggesting this as a positive outcome.

The tourism sector noted that visitors to the area had generally

complied with the water restrictions although had found them a

“hard pill to swallow” in the beginning. The drought encouraged

people to be creative in ﬁnding additional water saving tips; the

ways in which people shared these with others (e.g. through

Facebook) was a positive outcome, indicating an emerging

sense of social cohesion in the face of the crisis.

In conclusion, the interdisciplinary processes and methodologies

have provided an opportunity to learn diﬀerent aspects of a

given context, as well as what aspects to build on in future

studies of this nature. This study highlights opportunities both

for the expansion of water supplies through alternative sources

and for addressing eﬃciency of water use and water savings.

In both municipalities, local residents and communities found

ways to cope with water scarcity, the majority of people adapted

to water restrictions and engaged with communication and

public awareness campaigns on the importance of saving water.

However, ongoing education on issues of water scarcity and

public responses is necessary. The study oﬀers recommendations

to encourage multi-faceted collaborative action around water

scarcity, so that municipal oﬃcials, local professionals, and

residents actively engage in addressing and ﬁnding solutions for

managing all water related matters in their local area.

give a certain percentage of ‘their’ water to the municipality. The

study highlights the need to urgently redress the issue of equity

of water supply in the town, and recommends establishing

dialogue through a task team of diﬀerent stakeholders in order

to discuss the redistribution of resources to mediate historic

injustices.

Through using an interdisciplinary lens, the research team was

also able to identify diﬀerentiated views linked to environmental

risks with potential consequences for the environment and

water availability in Prince Albert. There is a perception that

the solid waste disposal site located near the nature reserve

is negatively impacting the Dorps River, groundwater and

the nature reserve through leaching of pollutants or through

contaminated runoﬀ.

The municipality, while conﬁrming there are challenges at the

landﬁll site, reported that there is no proof of pollution of the

river and adjacent land. Dialogues between the municipality and

interested persons would provide a constructive way forward

around this. Safety concerns linked to the discharge of treated

and untreated eﬄuent from the wastewater treatment works

into the nature reserve were also raised as a perceived threat,

as well as potential negative impacts on the plant species

that are endemic to the reserve. The municipality conﬁrmed

that treated eﬄuent consistently meets irrigation standards as

per the requirements of their discharge permit, but this study

recommends further consultation between the municipality and

concerned stakeholders to address these concerns.

The agricultural sector in Swartland was particularly aﬀected

by the drought, and the largest tourism event in the area – the

Riebeek Valley Olive festival – was cancelled in 2018 because

of very low olive production yields, with related ﬁnancial

losses. One of the farmers described the drought as “unheard

of”. One resident of Swartland municipality reported that “the

whole process (drought) has actually been quite a shock.”

Small businesses, such as car washes, were also aﬀected by

the drought, and there were agricultural job losses, which

heightened concerns about persistent droughts. A recurring

theme among town dwellers and people living in farmlands was

fervent praying for rain, not unlike that experienced in the Prince

Albert Municipality. This could be viewed as social cohesion,

empathy and understanding emerging from shared experiences

and similar responses.

Methods of adaptation

During the drought, the two municipalities used diﬀerent

platforms to communicate the issue of water scarcity to their

residents and the need for water conservation. In Prince Albert,

the municipality set water restrictions of 90 ℓ per person/day,

and information on the drought was circulated through social

media, the local newspaper, the Prince Albert Friend, and radio, a

dedicated SMS system, and ward committee meetings.

Further public engagement was made possible through the

Drop the block campaign, which entailed encouraging residents

to insert dense plastic blocks into toilet cisterns to reduce the

amount of water ﬂushed. For the most part, residents adhered

to water restrictions and used alternative water sources

(such as greywater) for ﬂushing toilets and watering gardens.

This indicated some level of cooperation at the interface

between the municipality and its residents as a result of public

Water and society

The Water Wheel September/October 201937

Water and society

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Extinguishing subsurface fires in peatlands with the sprouting

water pressure method

Globally, peatlands (wetlands with high organic substrates or

peat) are under pressure, with peat ﬁres ranging from the tropics

in Indonesia since the 1990s to the latest peat ﬁres reported in

the Arctic in the Economist of 3 August 2019. According to the

publication, the peat ﬁres are a manifestation of climate change,

and therefore likely to increase in future.

The occurrence of several subsurface ﬁres in peatlands across

the country has been reported by conservation agencies and

environmentalists during the recent regional drought. Excessive

water abstractions, combined with droughts, have resulted in

ﬁres burning the substrate of the peatlands, and consequently

reducing their functionality (ecoservices) such as a resource for

grazing and cultivation, biodiversity as well as water storage,

baseﬂow maintenance and carbon sequestration.

Peatlands are unique wetland systems that sequester large

amounts of soil carbon. The global carbon stored in peat is

estimated to be in the order of 500 billion tons, approximately

30% of the world’s soil carbon (more than that of forests); as well

as storing 10% of the world’s freshwater.

Peat forms as substrate in wetlands under permanent saturated

conditions, capturing and storing atmospheric carbon through

wetland vegetation, resulting in a positive carbon balance.

However, water abstraction, draining and erosion in peatlands

result in unstable water levels, desiccation of peat and the

inability to sequester or store carbon, resulting in degraded

wetlands becoming nett releasers of carbon. In semi-arid regions

such as southern Africa, peatland degradation is mostly caused

by the interruption of groundwater and / or interﬂows from hill

slopes, by water abstraction, forestry and invasion by alien plant

species. Forestry in the catchments of peatlands in semi-arid

landscapes is of special concern as it negatively aﬀects peatland

hydrology. Furthermore, erosion due to altered runoﬀ often

results in gully formation and draining of peatlands.

An uncontrolled veld fire, combined with drought conditions, caused the

burning of the Onrus peatland, in the Western Cape.

A combination of droughts and over-extraction of groundwater

may also lead to the desiccation of peat. Desiccation cracks form

when the peat dries out and, if the substrate is ignited either

through lightning or planned surface burns, such surface ﬁres

will spread along these cracks into the peat subsurface. The heat

generated by burning peat can be in excess of 400 oC, and can

subsequently cause the subsurface moisture in deeper layers of

the peat to rapidly evaporate.

Depending on the depth of the substrate of the peatland, such a

ﬁre can smoulder for months below the surface of the peatland.

The intensiﬁcation of drought conditions across South Africa and

a continuous drop in groundwater levels resulting from water

use and no recharge is likely to increase the prevalence of peat

ﬁres.

A new methodology has successfully been applied to deal with peatland res in the Western

Cape. Article by Piet-Louis Grundling (Working for Wetlands), Althea Grundling (Agricultural

Research Council – Soil, Climate and Water), Liezl De Villiers (Overstrand Municipality) and

Heidi Van Deventer (CSIR).

WETLANDS

Feature

Photo supplied

The Water Wheel September/October 201939

desiccation cracks into either adjacent drains/dongas/streams

without rewetting the peat below the surface.

The spike branch spray approach is time-consuming, but

eﬀective in winning the ﬁght against the subsurface ﬁre, since

it wets the peat below the surface, and allows it to cool down,

eﬀectively dosing the ﬁre by drowning it. The treatment consists

of two spikes and a nozzle spray working on a 10 x10m grid,

which treats (dosing/extinguishing) the subsurface ﬁre for an

extent of 1m² at a time to a depth of 1.5 m.

Initially, progress is relatively fast, but it slows down at areas

where the heat is intense. Spots of up to 400 oC have been

measured just below the surface, therefore the heat can be

four times higher with an increase in depth. Three intervention

campaigns were implemented from the ignition of the substrate,

until the ﬁre was suppressed on 21 June.

To date, the WoF teams have not sustained any injuries, which

could be attributed to excellent planning, proper training and

the technique that wets the peat subsurface.

The primary objective of further intervention in the Onrus ﬁre at

this point in time is to curb the spread of the underground ﬁre.

However, the rehabilitation of the peatland will be part of a long-

term, multiple departmental and integrated approach, which

will require political will, funding and administrative support

across a number of phases:

• Phase 1 was initiated to ensure that the ﬁre is extinguished

by means of the WoF techniques.

• Part 2 of the objective of Phase 1 would be to stabilise

the head-cut erosion moving towards the pristine part

of the wetland (Working for Wetlands is in the process of

submitting an operational plan for this purpose). This phase

needs to happen as a matter of urgency to ensure that the

head-cut does not cause further damage to the system.

• Phase 3 is the rehabilitation plan, a planned catchment–to–

coast project, which should include all the diﬀerent aspects

required for the restoration of the system. The rehabilitation

Plan will require further investigation and specialist input

for a long-term management plan of the Onrus River Peat

Wetland System.

On 21 June, the WoF teams oﬃcially declared their work on the

site as completed. The Overstrand Municipality’s Environmental

Section and Fire Department then monitored the wetland every

morning until the end of July to ensure that any visual re-ignition

of the ﬁre was observed.

At the time of writing, Rob Erasmus from Enviro Wilﬁre was also

monitoring the site through a drone, which is equipped with a

heat sensor camera, or FLIR imagery, to locate any underground

ﬁres. He was taking imagery every two weeks of the site until it

was considered stable and secure.

Protecting peatlands in South Africa

Peatlands are poorly protected in South Africa. It is estimated

that between 30% and 50% of the extent of peatlands are

located within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park on the east coast

It is critical that the incidences of peat ﬁres are avoided

completely through the proper management of water sources.

Avoiding the severe drop of water levels in peatlands reduces

the costs of intervention, damage to the surrounding landscape

and loss of ecoservices.

Should a desiccated peatland be ignited, the most eﬀective

way of arresting the peat ﬁres is to literally construct a dam wall

downstream of the ﬁre and then to ﬂood the ﬁre out. This is

obviously not always feasible as a wall is expensive, and during

a drought the volume of water required may not available.

Previously the only other viable way to prevent a peat ﬁre from

spreading was to isolate the ﬁre by trenching through the peat

and allowing the aﬀected peat to burn out. This is a destructive

intervention that requires costly rehabilitation afterwards.

However, recently a revolutionary eﬀective, but simple,

technique was applied by Working on Fire (WoF) to extinguish a

peat ﬁre in the Onrus wetland.

Onrus peatland ﬁre

The Onrus wetland is located close to Hermanus, in the Western

Cape. The wetland consists of an unchannelled valley-bottom

wetland, with the vegetation cover comprising mostly endemic

palmiet (Prionium serratum).

Palmiet wetlands are endemic to the coastal provinces of

South Africa; are estimated to comprise less than 10% of South

Africa’s wetlands and are considered globally unique in their

distribution. Palmiet peatlands are generally associated with

valleys with a broad U-shaped ﬂoor in the Cape Fold Mountains

with the peat, characterised by a high sand content, underlain

by rocks. The Onrus peatland contains a peat layer of more than

7.25 m thick, dominated by a lower 4 m-thick sedge layer with

a basal sand and not bedrock layer, which makes it unlike other

palmiet systems elsewhere in South Africa.

This system is under severe threat of further degradation as it has

been drained for agricultural purposes for the past 70 years and

experienced sediment losses and geomorphological changes

to its channel as a result of natural and accelerated erosion

processes. Consequently, the peat has become desiccated, and

alien invasive plant species have started to colonise degraded

parts of the wetlands.

An uncontrolled veld ﬁre ignited the desiccated peat on 11

January, resulting in sub-surface and occasional surface ﬁres.

Several attempts were made by the Overstrand Fire Service

Department to extinguish the hot spots, with little or no success

due to sub-surface burning.

On 1 May, a team of WoF was deployed on site to support the

Overstrand Municipality in controlling and extinguishing the ﬁre.

The highly eﬀective technique applied by WoF to extinguish this

peat ﬁre is a spike branch spray (sprout), which was developed

in 2018 by Martin Bolton (a peat ﬁre specialist) during his work

in ﬁghting peat ﬁres in Indonesia. The spike branch is a pipe

with holes (a sprout) that sprays water under pressure below

the peat surface to rewet the peat in order to dose /suppress

peat ﬁres. Desiccated peat is hydrophobic and can therefore not

be rewetted from the surface. Quite often water runs oﬀ along

Wetlands

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

of the KwaZulu-Natal Province. This protected area includes

three Ramsar sites, namely, Kosi (estuarine, lakes and swamp

forests), Lake Sibaya (a freshwater lake or limnetic depression)

and the Lake St Lucia System (lakes, estuary, wetlands, mires and

swamp forests).

The Kruger National Park hosts the Mahlapanga and Mfayeni

Hot Spring Mires, whereas the Marakele National Park (Limpopo

Province) also includes peatlands. Some peatlands also fall in

another four of South Africa’s Ramsar sites, including Verlorenvlei,

Drakensberg, Ntsikeni, and the Marion and Prince Edward

islands). The eﬃcacy of protection is, however, constrained by a

lack of knowledge on several aspects of wetlands, such as the

extent of wetlands in South Africa, which of these are peatlands,

and the ecological status of all wetlands in order to determine

their management and conservation requirements.

In addition to the uncertainty, poor enforcement of relevant

environmental legislation and policies and a lack of quick

and eﬀective response to disaster events, is hampering the

protection of wetlands, and peatlands, in particular. Furthermore,

most of the peatlands in semi-arid regions are dependent

on sustained groundwater and/or hillslope intermediate

ﬂows. Consequently, their management should consider

both catchments and the associated landscapes as part of an

integrated strategy to manage and conserve these peatlands.

Not only should land use practices within the peatland and

adjacent to it be managed, but also in related catchments;

and especially those that could impact on the water and

sediment balance of a peatland. Lastly, since most peatlands

occur in rural areas, a precautionary rule should be to limit any

activities that could jeopardise the integrity of peatlands, while

stipulations of authorisations, in terms of the relevant legislation,

must be strictly adhered to, while monitoring and compliance

enforcement by the relevant authorities should be executed

continuously.

In the past three decades, the application of wetland

management has been undertaken through several

legislative mechanisms, including the Conservation of

Agriculture Resources Act (CARA, Act 43 of 1983), the National

Environmental Management Act (NEMA, Act 28 of 2008), the

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) policy and Water Use

Licence Authorisations (WULA) regulations 21c and 21i of the

National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998).

These interventions have resulted in a number of positive

outcomes, namely:

• Limited granting of commercial wetland cultivation

authorisations, resulting in increased protection of the

peatlands;

• EIAs and WULA regulations which had been enforced on

any peatland-related impacts and consequently resulting in

a decrease of development and dams being built within or

upstream of peatlands;

• The prohibition of peat extraction authorisation for

agricultural purposes; and

• A decrease in aﬀorestation and mining authorisations

within and upstream of peatland.

Wetlands

1. The spike branch spray approach involves a spike that sprays water

along its length and can penetrate the hardened dedicated peat crust (top

layer).

2. The spike rewets the dedicated peat along its length in a 360 spray as it

penetrates the peat.

3. The method cools down the peat effectively by drowning it.

C de Kella/Working for Fires

The Water Wheel September/October 201941

These successes illustrate that the intervention eﬀort through

legislation, policy and enforcement is critical, and should

be continued. Peatlands, as do all wetlands, do not occur in

isolation, and are an integral part of and connected to terrestrial

and wetlands components of broader landscapes. Changes in

any part of a catchment will likely impact on wetlands within

the catchment, but more so those that are downstream of

the impact. The cumulative eﬀect of poor protection and

compliance, climate change and increasing demand for water

(surface and ground) will ultimately determine the fate of our

peatlands.

Conservation management should take note of modern

advances in sustainable utilisation of carbon stores, including

rewetting of peatlands, wise use practices, paludiculture

(the practice of crop production on wet soils, predominantly

occurring on peatlands), and carbon trading in order to secure

the long-term storage capacity of wetlands. The dearth in

knowledge on the distribution of peatlands in South Africa, their

ecological and conservation status as well as their functioning

generally result in poor management, a lack of a coherent

national conservation strategy and response to pressures.

Consequently, peatland management actions in South Africa

should focus on a number of priorities, including (but not limited

to) location and mapping the country’s peatlands; determining

their ecological condition; taking proactive steps to conserve

the most pristine peatlands; and controlling the use of these

wetlands.

In conclusion, the authors recommend the following three top

priorities for addressing the negative impacts on South African

peatlands:

• A complete peatland inventory and status assessment

(determining their present ecological state);

• Enforcement of legal compliance, extension and control

in the use/exploitation, especially in the forest plantation

industry, agriculture and water supply to municipalities; and

• A disaster response protocol for peatlands in peril: prevent

and control peat ﬁres as well as rewet degraded sites; arrest

erosion.

Wetlands

Aerial photograph for 8 February 2019 showing the burnt surface areas

of the desiccated peatland areas.

Thermal imagery for 8 February 2019 showing the sub-surface fire areas

of the desiccated peatland areas.

Thermal imagery for 5 March 2019 showing the sub-surface fire areas of

the desiccated peatland areas as the sub-surface fire intensifies.

Thermal imagery for 18 March 2019 showing the sub-surface fire areas of

the desiccated peatland areas with 2 major intense fronts.

Thermal imagery for 18 March 2019 showing the sub-surface fire areas of

the desiccated peatland areas with some intense hots spots.

All images supplied

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Feature

SMALLHOLDER FARMING

More extreme weather patterns with increased heat, decreased

precipitation and more extreme rainfall events; increase of

natural hazards such as ﬂoods, droughts, hailstorms and high

winds that characterise climate change place additional

pressure on smallholder farming systems. This has already led to

severe losses in crop and vegetable production, and mortality

in livestock. Smallholders are generally not well prepared for

these more extreme weather conditions and experience high

levels of increased vulnerability as a consequence. A signiﬁcant

proportion of smallholders have abandoned agricultural

activities and this number is still on the increase.

It is becoming clear that climate change will have drastic

consequences for low-income and otherwise disadvantaged

communities. Despite their vulnerability, these communities

will have to make the most climate adaptations. It is possible for

individual smallholders to manage their agricultural and natural

resources better and in a manner that could substantially reduce

their risk and vulnerability generally and more speciﬁcally to

climate change. Through a combination of best bet options in

agro-ecology, water and soil conservation, water harvesting,

conservation agriculture and rangeland management a

measurable impact on livelihoods and increased productivity

can be made.

Processes such as collaborative, participatory research that

includes scientists and farmers, strengthening of communication

systems for anticipating and responding to climate risks,

and increased ﬂexibility in livelihood options, which serve

to strengthen coping strategies in agriculture for near-term

risks from climate variability, provide potential pathways for

strengthening adaptive capacities for climate change.

Creating climate change resilient communities Part 1:

Community climate change adaptation process design

A current Water Research Commission (WRC) project is assisting smallholder farmers to better

adapt to the challenges brought about by climate change. Article by Erna Kruger.

The Water Wheel September/October 201943

Mahlathini Development Foundation, its partners and

collaborators (including universities, non-government

organisation, corporate social investment initiatives, district and

local municipalities and government departments), have been

working within the socio-ecological and social learning space to

assist smallholder farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the

Eastern Cape to improve their resilience and adaptive capacity

to climate change by designing and testing a participatory

smallholder level decision support system for implementing

climate resilient agricultural practices.

Within this process smallholder farmers explore and analyse

their understanding of climate change and the impacts of

these changes on their livelihoods and agricultural systems.

They explore adaptive strategies and measures (local and

external), prioritise appropriate practices for individual and group

experimentation and implementation, assess the impact of

these new practices and processes on their livelihoods and re-

plan their actions and interventions on a cyclical basis.

This allows them to make incremental changes over time in

soil and water management practices, cropping and livestock

management and natural resources management, within the

limits of their own resources, vision and motivation. This provides

a viable model for CCA implementation and ﬁnancing at

smallholder level.

Recent participatory impact assessments have shown

remarkable improvements in resilience in the space of just one

to two years of focussed local action.

The WRC-funded adaptive research process entitled

‘Collaborative knowledge creation and mediation strategies

for the dissemination of water and soil conservation practices

and climate smart agriculture in smallholder farming systems’ is

exploring best practice options for climate resilient agriculture

for smallholders. The project is also evaluating the impact of

implementation of a range of these practices on the resilience of

agriculture-based livelihoods.

Alongside this, a decision support methodology and system

has been designed to assist smallholders and the facilitators

who support them to make informed and appropriate decisions

about choices of a ‘basket of options’ for implementation at a

local level.

The research process is broadly divided into three elements

for purposes of clarity, although all three elements are tackled

concurrently:

• Community climate change adaptation process design

• Climate resilient agricultural practices and

• A decision support system

This article focuses on the design of the community level

process.

The community climate change adaptation process design

broadly comprises:

• Situation and vulnerability assessments; baselines and

farmer typologies

• Climate Change dialogues; Exploration of climate change

impacts, adaptive strategies and prioritisation of adaptive

measures and

• Participatory impact assessments: Resilience snapshots

(The vulnerability and participatory impact assessment

methodologies will be discussed in two follow-up articles)

Climate change dialogues

A participatory methodology has been developed to allow

groups of farmers to explore the impacts of climate change,

potential adaptive strategies and to prioritise local adaptation

measures. Seven community level workshops have been

conducted across three provinces, involving around 250

participants. Table 1 provides a summary of this community level

analysis.

Smallholder farming

Climate change impacts on livelihoods and farming

KwaZulu-NatalEastern CapeLimpopo

WaterLess water in the landscape; streams

and springs dry up, borehole run dry,

soils dry out quickly after rain

Less water in the landscape; streams

and springs dry up, borehole run dry,

soils dry out quickly after rain

Less water in the landscape; streams and springs dry

up, borehole run dry, soils dry out quickly after rain

Dams dry upDams dry upDams dry up

Municipal water supply becoming

more unreliable

Municipal water supply becoming

more unreliable

Municipal water supply becoming more unreliable

Need to buy water for household use – now

sometimes for more than 6 months of the year

RWH storage only enough for household use.

SoilMore erosionMore erosionMore erosion

Soils becoming more compacted and

infertile

Soils becoming more compacted and

infertile

Soils becoming more compacted and infertile

Soils too hot to sustain plant growth

CroppingTiming for planting has changed- laterTiming for planting has changed- laterCan no longer plant dryland maize

All cropping now requires irrigation – even crops such

as sweet potato

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Although the impacts discussed were similar across the three provinces, the severity of these changes are a lot more obvious in Limpopo.

From these impact diagrams community members discuss adaptive measures and strategies; what they have already tried and what

they would like to try. Here the new ideas or innovations can then be introduced by facilitators, as they are requested by the community

members. Table 2 is illustrative and includes the adaptive measures suggested by the participants in Turkey village (Lower Oliphant’s’ Basin

– Limpopo).

Smallholder farming

Climate change impacts on livelihoods and farming

KwaZulu-NatalEastern CapeLimpopo

CroppingDrought tolerant crops, such as sorghum and millet

grow, but severe bird damage

Heat damage to cropsHeat damage to cropsHeat damage to crops

Reduced germination and growthReduced germination and growthReduced germination and growth

Seeding of legumes becoming

unreliable

Seeding of legumes becoming

unreliable

Seeding of legumes becoming unreliable

Lower yieldsLower yieldsLower yields

Winter vegetables don’t do well – stress induced

bolting and lack of growth

More pests and diseasesMore pests and diseasesMore pests and diseases

Loss of indigenous seed stocksLoss of indigenous seed stocks

LivestockLess grazing; not enough to see cattle

through winter

Less grazing; not enough to see cattle

through winter

Less grazing; not enough to see cattle through winter

More disease in cattle and heat stress

symptoms

More disease in cattle and heat stress

symptoms

More disease in cattle and heat stress symptoms

Fewer calvesFewer calvesFewer calves

More deathsMore deathsMore deaths

Natural

resources

Fewer trees; too much cutting for

ﬁrewood

Fewer trees; too much cutting for

ﬁrewood

Fewer trees; too much cutting for ﬁrewood

Decrease in wild animals and

indigenous plants

Decrease in wild animals and

indigenous plants

Decrease in wild animals and indigenous plants

Increased crop damage from wild

animals such as birds and monkeys

Increased crop damage from wild

animals such as birds and monkeys

Increased crop damage from wild animals such as

birds and monkeys

Availability of indigenous vegetables

has decreased

No longer able to harvest any resources due to

scarcity

Increased population puts pressure on resources

SocialMore diseasesMore diseasesMore diseases

Increased poverty and hungerIncreased poverty and hungerIncreased poverty and hunger

Increased crime and reduced job

opportunities

Increased crime and reduced job

opportunities

Increased crime and reduced job opportunities

Increased food prices

Increased conﬂict

Inability to survive

Table 1: Summary of climate change impacts from community level workshops (2018)

Turkey CC workshop; December 2017

ImpactsDescription and linkagesOutcomesPotential adaptive measure

Reduced water

availability

Dams dry out, boreholes provide

less water, rivers dry out, less rain

Reduced production,

hunger, diseases, no

jobs, poverty, crime,

death

More boreholes, more dams, water management,

irrigation in evenings and early morning, mulching, trench

beds (keep moisture in and soil cool)

Drying of environmentSoils are hotter and drier, drought,

plants wilt, increased pests

Save plant residues for animals, buy fodder, control pests

on animals

Reduction of resourcesDeforestation, Fruit trees die,

livestock, wild animals die

Planting of trees after they have been cut down; make use

of paraﬃn stoves and electricity, government involvement

in solving the problem,

Extreme heatEarly fruiting, trees wiltPoor crop healthShade netting

Shortage of waterRivers dry out, municipal supply

only once per week. Boreholes dry

out

Lack of education

towards saving water

NGOs and government to assist

Trench beds, mulching, save water in dams, drip irrigation,

irrigate in evening, boreholes, greywater

The Water Wheel September/October 201945

A list of speciﬁc practices is summarised from these discussions and categorised into the ﬁve climate resilient agriculture themes. An

example is given below of this process conducted for a learning group from Ezibomvini Village in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal.

Table 3 outlines the practices and their categories.

Smallholder farming

Turkey CC workshop; December 2017

ImpactsDescription and linkagesOutcomesPotential adaptive measure

Reduction of resourcesLess grazing, seed shortage, trees

are removed, indigenous animals

are no longer there

Increased vulnerability

of the people, forced to

move to urban areas

Donations for/of seed

Rather use paraﬃn stoves than ﬁrewood. Only chop

down mature trees to allow others to grow, planting trees,

government intervention

Taking care of indigenous plants

Plant fodder for livestock

SoilsPoor cultivation practices, soil

erosion, dry soils, sandy soils

Using crop residues and manure, conservation agriculture,

mixed cropping

Social repercussionsLess or no food, health problems,

no jobs

Burning of buses,

divorce, separation of

families, poverty, crime

Getting access to health care, parents must work

Shortage of implementsSetting up cooperatives for government support, use

animal drawn traction- oxen and donkeys, improvise,

make our own tools, make use of hand hoes

Table 2: An example of potential adaptive measures from the Turkey (Limpopo) climate change dialogue process

Natural RMSoilWaterCropsLivestock

Shade Cloth Tunnels

Bed design

Mulching

Natural pest and diseases

Rainwater harvesting

Trench bed

Composting

Conservation Agriculture

Fodder crops

Underground water tank

Mixed cropping

Conservation of wetlands and streams

Burying of disposable pampers

Reducing burning of grazing veld

Greywater use

Table 3: Suggested practices for farmers, categorised into the 5 primary themes

Participants then prioritise these practices in order of importance

for implementation and change as a group. This depends on

local conditions such as drought, harsh weather conditions and

the like.

The preference ranking for this group was as follows:

1. Underground rainwater harvesting tanks

2. Shade cloth tunnels

3. Trench beds

4. Mulching

5. Natural pest and disease control

6. Mixed cropping (ﬁelds and gardens)

7. Compost

8. Fodder crops

9. Conserving wetlands and streams

It is also possible here to do a matrix ranking exercise where

you elucidate from the groups their criteria for prioritisation of

practices, which is a very important step in the community-level

decision making process.

This provides a broad action plan for implementation,

which is developed further into an individual farmer level

experimentation plan. Participants choose from these prioritised

practices which ones they will try out in their own homesteads

and devise a broad plan of how to intervene in the communal

activities such as conservation of wetlands. This process provides

a good agenda for securing external support from roleplayers

in the development sector (government departments,

municipalities, CSI- and NGO-funded projects).

In the next issue, we will explore all the CRA practices that have

been implemented by the communities to date and the impact

of these on their livelihoods.

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

South Africa’s journey to development via science, technology

and innovation

Science, technology and innovation (STI) are seen as primary

drivers of economic growth, job creation and social-economic

reform in South Africa. In fact, the country’s National

Development Plan, a detailed blueprint for how South Africa

can eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by the year 2030,

places STI at the centre of its development agenda. STI is seen as

a key enabler of the needed economic transformation, especially

in light of the emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), in

which technologies and trends such as the Internet of Things

(IoT), robotics, virtual reality and artiﬁcial intelligence (AI) are

changing the way we live and work.

For more than two decades, the government’s long-term

approach for the STI sector was guided by the 1996 White

Paper on Science and Technology. To keep pace with major

shifts in global and local economies over the past 20 years the

policy was recently updated, resulting in the release of the 2019

White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation. This White

Paper intends to increase the contribution of STI to address the

socio-economic challenges faced by South Africa. New policy

shifts relate to changes associated with the 4IR and enhancing

the innovation culture in society and government, for example.

It supports social and grassroots innovation, and increases the

focus on inclusivity, transformation and linkages in the National

System of Innovation (NSI).

Newly released report indicates progress and challenges to realise the potential of science,

technology and innovation to meet South Africa’s social and economic development goals.

Article by Petro Kotzé.

CAPACITY BUILDING

Feature

The Water Wheel September/October 201947

Finally, says Dr Mjwara, the indicators report monitors the

socioeconomic outputs related to the White Paper policy intents.

These include the support of innovation for social and grassroots

innovation and the adoption of a broader concept of innovation

beyond research and development (R&D).

Key ﬁndings

The report ﬁndings are clustered into six broad categories.

They are (1) research and development (R&D) expenditure;

(2) STI human capital; (3) STI funding and support, scientiﬁc

publications and patents, innovation and entrepreneurship, and

(6) innovation for inclusiveness and social impact.

Key concerns raised by the report include that South Africa has

lost its competitive advantage in terms of medium-technology

exports when compared to the average of other upper

middle-income countries. The country dropped from 44th to

67th position on the Global Competitiveness Index between

2007 and 2017, and from 38th to 58th position on the Global

Innovation Index between 2007 and 2017.

The report notes that during the same period (2007 to 2017)

Government signiﬁcantly reduced the funding of business

expenditure on research and development (BERD) from 21.67%

to 3.07%. The report states that it is unclear if this reduction in

funding is at the initiative of government or as a result of the

slowing down of economic activity experienced by the business

sector. “The latter might be the real situation as BERD, as a

percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), decreased from

0.58% in 2007 to 0.39% in 2017. The deceleration of innovation

at ﬁrm level resulted in a deterioration in the country’s rankings

in both the Global Competitiveness Index and the Global

Innovation Index.”

Another concern is the decline of private sector investment in

R&D. As a result, South Africa did not reach its target of 1.5% of

the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) spent on research

and development. Instead, spending reached only 0.82% (in

2016/17) regardless of government spending more on R&D than

its allocated budget during the same period.

The NSI can loosely be described as a country’s collective eﬀorts

to foster technological innovation, and includes the higher

education system, private and public institutions. In his foreword

to the 2019 White Paper, Dr Phil Mjwara, Director-General

of the Department of Science and Innovation, remarks that

though the NSI has shown good progress since the adoption

of the 1996 White Paper, challenges remain. These include

fragmented policies across government, and the need to

expand partnerships with business, academia and civil society.

Furthermore, the NSI is signiﬁcantly underfunded, and the

participation of black people and women at the highest levels

(e.g. as professors) remains too low.

Progress towards meeting the goals of the White Paper is

stipulated in indicator reports and, an updated analysis has

just been released. The 2019 South African Science, Technology

and Innovation (STI) Indicators Report provides an overview of

the performance of South Africa’s NSI, and the state of science,

technology and innovation in the country. Over and above, it

evaluates the contribution of the NSI to achieving South Africa’s

development objectives.

A measure of STI progress

Dr Mjwara explains that the report is based on the South African

Innovation Scorecard, a framework that consists of public

sector activities (so called ‘enablers’), ﬁrm activities in STI and

outputs. “Most of the enablers that are monitored through the

indicators report form part of the White Paper policy intents,”

he says. Dr Mjwara names examples of policy intents to include

strengthening governance of public NSI institutions; expansion

of the NSI; strengthening of government’s role as enabler for

innovation; upgrading and expansion of research infrastructure;

and improvement of levels and eﬃciency of STI funding.

According to Dr Mjwara, the indicators report is also useful

to monitoring policy intents related to the support for, and

collaboration with, the business sector and the improvement of

innovation to revitalize existing sectors (so-called ﬁrm-level STI

activities).

Capacity building

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

Capacity building

Still, there were also plenty to feel positive about, as indicated in

South Africa’s performance in each of the speciﬁed categories:

Research and development expenditure

• South Africa’s target of 1.5% gross expenditure on research

and development (GERD) as a percentage of the country’s

gross domestic product (GDP) target is on par globally

(though, as stated, it was not realized)

• Government funding of research and development (R&D)

was more than its budget, but aggregate levels of gross

private sector investment in R&D has declined in recent

years

Science, technology and innovation human capital

• South Africa matches other upper middle-income countries

in terms of the production of human capital capacity

(formal qualiﬁcations), but lags behind in terms of the

deployment, development and know-how of its human

capital

• South Africa had a higher portion of female researchers

than the global average. Locally, the ratio of male to

female researchers is 55.9% (male) and 44.1% (female) in

comparison to the global ﬁgures of 61.9% (male) and 38.1%

(female)

• White researchers made up the largest portion at 50.5%

with African researchers the second largest portion of

32.2%

• There has been a decline of South African researchers in the

business sector, from 47.2% in 2008, to 36.1% in 2016. The

projected ﬁgure for 2019 is even lower, at 29.3%

• Doctoral graduates have increased from 67.1% in 2008, to

54.7% in 2016 and then to 73.3% in 2017

Science, technology funding and support

• For the ﬁrst time, government funding of R&D was more

than its allocated budget. In the year 2016/17 government

funding was R16 428 billion, in comparison to a budget of

R14 851 billion.

• Government funding of R&D for the higher education

sector is on the increase, rising from a share of 45% in

2010/11 to 56.1% in 2016/17

• Government funding for R&D for the business sector

continued to decrease, dropping from a share of 9.6% in

2008/09 to 2.8% in 2016/17

• The total estimated number of business incubators in SA

are 105, 57% of which are supported by the public sector

The NSI in practice

In his keynote address during the launch of the 2019

South African Science, Technology and Innovation

(STI) Indicators Report, Mjwara highlighted some

of the projects undertaken by the NSI that are

contributing to the core long-term objectives of the

new White Paper. Highlighted projects include:

• The Spatial Temporal Evidence for Planning in

South Africa tool, or stepSA, developed by the

CSIR. This decision-support tool provides an

overview of regional scale settlement patterns,

enabling the proﬁling of speciﬁc settlements

and the analysis of demographic and economic

trends of a set of settlements of a similar scale

and type. The data supports planning for

eﬀective service delivery and the prioritisation

of long-term, high-impact public investment in

cities, towns and rural settlements.

• The Isidingo Drill Challenge is intended to

encourage the design and prototyping of a new

and innovative rock-drill concept to be used in

deep-level mining. It is hoped that a substantially

improved innovation will speed up the mining

process, increase production, reduce energy

waste and enhance worker safety.

• The development of lithium-ion battery packs

for stationary and mobile energy storage

applications with the company Maxwell and

Spark. The batteries are cost eﬀective, reduce

carbon emissions and operate at lower noise

levels than conventional energy systems.

• The possibility of battery technology to convert

diesel-powered taxis to reduce the greenhouse

gas emissions of the transport sector.

Scientiﬁc publications and patents

• South Africa experienced an increase in the number of

scientiﬁc publications per million inhabitants during the

identiﬁed period, from 192 in 2008 to 350 in 2017. This is

more than the global average of 307

• South African scientiﬁc publications experienced an annual

growth rate of 7% (between 2008 and 2017)

• For research areas related to the 4IR South Africa has the

highest world share of scientiﬁc publications in AI and the

IoT. We have a global share of 1.01% (AI) and 0.68% (IoT)

• South Africa is lagging behind the average patent

applications per million inhabitants for upper middle-

income countries. The global average is 592, but South

Africa has seen a decline from 42 in 2008 to 38 in 2017. This

has been highlighted as a concern, as forecasts would have

the country remain at 37 patent applications per million

inhabitants for a three year period, until 2020

The Water Wheel September/October 201949

Capacity building

• The highest number of patents were granted to universities

and science councils. In the past eight years was 38 was

awarded to the CSIR and 31 to Wits

Innovation and entrepreneurship

• Several key institutions of the NSI are contributing

signiﬁcantly to the success of operation Phakisa (a

government initiative to fast-track achievements related to

the targets of the National Development Plan) across the

areas of ocean economy, mining, chemical and waste and

biodiversity economy

• South Africa has lost it competitive advantage in terms

of medium-technology exports when compared to the

average of other upper middle-income countries. The trend

likely to continue beyond 2020, when South Africa is likely

to rank below the lower middle-income countries in terms

of the export of low-technology products

Innovation for inclusiveness and social impact

• South Africa is ranked 113th on the Human Development

Index. This is relative to the average for upper middle-

income countries (which is 90th). The cause is low ranking

in life expectancy at birth component, where we are listed

161st out of 189 countries.

• Factors that prove challenging for South Africa’s ranking on

the Social Progress Index are personal safety (ranked 135th

out of 146 countries), health and wellness (ranked 102nd)

and nutrition and basic medical care (ranked 100th).

• The country also lags behind many world economies

(including most low-income countries) in adopting

renewable energy technologies for electricity production.

This indicates the presence of carbon lock-in caused by

abundance of relatively cheap coal deposits in the country.

STI for economic and social democracy

According to Dr Petrus Letaba, Senior Specialist STI

Measurements and Evaluation for the National Advisory Council

on Innovation (NACI), the results indicated by the reports

can also be used as indicators of the success of South Africa’s

economic and social democracy.

“In terms of social democracy, the indicators report highlights

key societal areas, derived mainly from the Social Progress Index

and Human Development index,” he says. Some of the social

challenges highlighted by the report are our low ranking on the

Human Development Index mainly as a result of our low ranking

for short life expectancy at birth and, in terms of the Social

Progress Index, our low rankings for personal safety, health and

wellness and nutrition and basic medical care. Letaba says “the

indicators report therefore highlight these societal challenges

for potential solutions from the innovators, policymakers,

entrepreneurs, inventors and scientists.”

“On the economy, the indicators report recognises the role

of small, medium and micro enterprises for upliftment of

South African economy,” explains Dr Letaba. “However, these

companies often struggle to access the innovation value chain

at the expense of large monopolies and oligopolies.” According

to Dr Letaba, these are covered in the report under issues such

as technology-based incubators and entrepreneurial universities.

Dr Letaba says that as the indicators assess the performance

of the South African NSI over time, they should be used as

guidance for stakeholders in the public and private domains,

and in other research institutions and the likes. The indicators

highlight areas of progress that could be as a result of the

success of current initiatives, policies and plans, he says. “The

report also alerts to areas that warrant further intervention in

order for the country to fully address the challenges facing

society and economy,” he says. “Some of these challenges

may stem from a number of historic issues that need diﬀerent

transformative approaches in order to address them.”

Sources:

• 2019 South African Science, Technology and Innovation

Indicators Report, published by the National Advisory

Council on Innovation

• 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and

Innovation, published by the Department of Science

and Technology

• The national system of innovation concept: an

ontological review and critique, by Sibusiso T. Manzini

for the CSIR

The Water Wheel September/October 2019

At a glance

100-YEAR-OLD WASTEWATER TREATMENT

PLANT STILL SERVING THE CAPITAL CITY

The oldest infrastructure at the Pretoria’s Daspoort Wastewater

Treatment Works might have been constructed more than

a hundred years ago, but this has not prevented it from still

providing an essential service to Pretoria.

South Africa’s administrative capital was founded in 1855 and

became the centre of government in 1910 during the founding

of the Union of South Africa. By 1904, the population of Pretoria

had reached nearly 40 000. At this time, the town engineer, HD

Babcock, submitted the ﬁrst plans for a sewerage system to

the Town Council. Although his plans included a wastewater

treatment plant, construction on the Daspoort Wastewater

Treatment Plant did not start until 1913.

Completed in 1920 to the design of Town Engineer, F Walton

Jameson, the plant is located on the banks of the Apies River,

adjacent to the central business district, and today is one of ten

sewage treatment plants serving the residents of Pretoria. The

ﬁrst works at Daspoort comprised screens, grit removal channels,

primary sedimentation tanks (Dortmund tanks), 16 biological

ﬁltration units, and separate sludge digestion in rectangular

tanks. The design capacity was about 9 Ml/day.

Although various improvements and extensions have since been

made to the plant the original biological ﬁlters are still in use. The

plant has a current capacity of 55 Ml/day.

The Water Wheel May/June 2016

Upfront