The formation of an advisory committee on the quality and cleanliness of Cape Town’s rivers, vleis and waterways

‘I’m pleased to be here in Milnerton today to make two important announcements:

1) The formation of an advisory committee on the quality and cleanliness of Cape Town’s rivers, vleis and waterways. The new advisory committee is called The Water Quality in Wetlands and Waterways Advisory Committee and was approved by Council last week.

2) In a big step forward for transparency, there will now be an open and transparent approach to sharing the City’s water quality data. The City’s water quality data will now be shared publicly on our Open Data Portal.

‘Cape Town has a dedicated community of water activists and experts. Some of them have worked on these issues tirelessly for years. Our government sees these activists as partners and friends in the essential work of cleaning up our waterways. They are not enemies or people to be shut out of our plans. Cleaning up our waterways will be monumentally difficult, and our best chance of success is in working together in strong, and accountable relationships.

‘Both of these announcements will build on these relationships by drawing the activist and expert community right into the heart of our government’s plans to clean up these waterways. Activists and experts who have struggled to access data before, will now see data in full, freely available on our open data portal, and without any of the restrictive terms of use that were applied in the past. We want Cape Town to set an example of openness and data transparency,’ said Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

This committee, previously called the Water Resilience Committee, has been reconstituted to bring together water industry experts, city councillors, community activists, and interested residents.

The terms of reference, the duration of the committee’s term, its membership, and structure have been finalised. They will report to the Mayoral Committee twice a year.

What will the committee do:

‘The committee is created to bring water activists and experts from across the city together to recommend strategies to mitigate water pollution and ensure the long-term protection and restoration of wetlands and waterways in Cape Town. This government has made it clear that Cape Town’s vleis and waterways must be cleaned up for safe recreational use by all residents, and to protect these precious ecosystems. This Committee is one important step on this journey. The Committee will share information openly, to hold one another accountable, and work in a united way on these complex problems,’ added Mayor Hill-Lewis.

Terms of reference

The committee must:

• Communicate with the relevant Protected Area Advisory Committees,

• Host workshops with interested persons and groups,

• Encourage and facilitate strategic partnerships with organisations and stakeholders,

• Encourage the development of Catchment Management Plans for priority catchments,

• Explore solutions and make recommendations related to catchment drainage and sewage outfalls where it affects Coastal Water Quality.

• The committee members will be required to carry out research and inspections related to its activities.

Mayor Hill-Lewis will serve as Chairperson of the Committee, and Cllr Alex Lansdowne, an experienced botanist and conservationist, will manage the Committee and lead its functioning. Alderman Eddie Andrews, who is the Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Councillor Zahid Badroodien Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, and Councillor Maryam Manuel will serve as members from the City of Cape Town.

Additional members include:

Dr. Liz Day (an Aquatic Ecologist),

Professor Jenny Day

Dr. Kevin Winter (Aquatic Ecologist),

Ms Denisha Anand (Community Conservation Specialist),

Phillip McLean (Environmental Compliance Expert),

Sinethemba Luthango (Management at Khayelitsha Wetlands),

and Caroline Marx (Milnerton Residents’ Association member and water activist).

‘I welcome all the members to this new committee and I look forward to working with you as we address these challenges and identify collaborative and meaningful solutions,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

There is a systematic plan that will address the quality of our waterways, which consists of 1,910km of rivers and streams and 4,164 natural and semi-natural wetlands, including our vleis and estuaries.

‘The City faces numerous challenges in cleaning our waterways which ranges from Wastewater Treatment Works that discharge treated effluent into the natural ecosystems, sewage overflow and surcharge, illegal sewage connections into storm water systems and illegal industrial discharge among others.

‘The river systems in Cape Town can unlock social, economic and environmental opportunities for the City. The department is serious about water quality, and we have launched the Mayoral Priority Programme on Sanitation that will see pump stations, reticulation systems, WWTW, and catchments benefit from projects that will deliver cleaner river ways over the course of the term,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Water & Sanitation, Cllr Zahid Badroodien.

‘Our catchments provide critical ecosystem services such as flood mitigation, and recharging the aquifer. Generations of Capetonians know and use our waterbodies for recreational and cultural activities. The ambitious task is to ensure we implement a bold agenda to clean up our waterways, in partnership with the brightest water activists, citizen scientists and academics in Cape Town, to advise us on how to keep our rivers and wetlands healthy for future generations,’ said Committee Deputy Chairperson, Cllr Alex Lansdowne.

Regular water quality data now publicly available via Open Data Portal

‘In the past, the perception has been that the City is unwilling to share information around water quality because it is not readily accessible to the public, with the infrequency of analysis of Portfolio Committee reports not being sufficiently useful either. This has created a scenario where stakeholders source data through other means about the quality of various water bodies in and around the City, and have had no means to compare independent data with the city’s data. The Open Data Portal seeks to meaningfully address this shortcoming,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

Reliability of the data

The data from the City’s Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) will be automatically uploaded onto the Open Data Portal, so that integrity is maintained.

The City is committed to consistently sharing accurate information around water quality in the future, as we enhance openness, accountability and partnerships on this issue.

The data can be found here: https://odp-cctegis.opendata.arcgis.com/documents/inland-water-quality/about

In addition to the inland testing, the City also conducts regular coastal water testing at 90 sites along the Atlantic and False Bay coastlines to determine the water quality at recreational beaches, tidal pools, and coastal monitoring points.

The City also reports on coastal water quality data twice a month. The newest data, as well as the current water category outcome is reflected in a review table and is available to the public on the City website – Coastalwaterquality

Caption: From left: Water Quality in Wetlands and Waterways Advisory Committee members Mayoral Committee Member for Water & Sanitation Cllr Zahid Badroodien, Sinethemba Luthango of Khayelitsha Wetlands, Deputy Chairperson Cllr Alex Lansdowne, Chairperson Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cllr Maryam Manuel, Professor Jenny Day (Water Scientist) , Denisha Anand (Community Conservation Specialist), Dr.Liz Day (Aquatic Ecologist), Caroline Marx of Milnerton Residents’ Association, Zandveli PAAC Chair Dr. David Walker. Not pictured are Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment (Deputy Mayor) Alderman Eddie Andrews, Dr. Kevin Winter (Aquatic Ecologist), and Phillip McLean (Environmental Compliance Expert).

Source: City Of Cape Town