Re-establishing a Catchment Forum and having public engagements on the concept designs for Liveable Urban Waterways projects are two of the latest initiatives that echo the City of Cape Town’s commitment to improving inland water quality as well as the ‘liveability’ of rivers in the catchment.
Tackling pollution to improve inland water quality and health of waterbodies in a set of priority river catchments – including the Sand River Catchment – is a key focus for the City, and one of the Mayor’s Priority Programmes. The two recent initiatives are helping to action the City’s commitment and requires collective efforts from all relevant interested and affected stakeholders in this and other river catchments.
The Sand River Catchment area stretches from the Cape Peninsula Mountains between Constantia and Tokai and drains through the southern suburbs, and ends in the ocean at the Zandvlei Estuary. Some of the key tributaries are the Westlake, Keysers, Diep, Little Princessvlei, Mocke, Grootboschkloof, Spaanschemat and Prinskasteel rivers.
The rivers in this catchment area provide important ecological services to Cape Town. They provide flood alleviation, are critical for urban biodiversity, and are important ‘green lungs’ for public recreational use. The Zandvlei Estuary is a nationally important fish nursery.
‘Waterways that are safe, healthy and functional are essential in making Cape Town a water-sensitive city. The City is committed to investing in cleaning up rivers and vleis and combating sources of pollution to improve the health of the urban environment for residents to live, work and interact in,’ said Alderman Eddie Andrews, the Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment.
Sand River Catchment Forum
The City together with stakeholders of the Sand River Catchment, National Department of Water and Sanitation and the Provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning attended the consultative session organised by City’s Catchment, Stormwater and River Management Branch on Tuesday, 7 November 2022.
The re-instated Sand River catchment forum sets the benchmark for collaborative water governance in Cape Town. The forum brings together the City of Cape Town, urban agriculture, community, conservation and businesses groups to discuss investments, developments and issues arising within it. The only way the City can maintain good water quality downstream, is if the river is being protected upstream.
‘Healthy waterways are being increasingly recognised around the world as important economic assets. As Cape Town rapidly urbanises, we need to do everything to protect and restore rivers for all communities and future generations. The relaunch of the Sand River Catchment Forum is an important milestone towards managing environmental water holistically, together with stakeholders and communities,’ said Acting Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Siseko Mbandezi.
Liveable Urban Waterways Programme
The LUWP aims to rehabilitate waterways using nature-based solutions, green infrastructure and water sensitive design approaches.
The Liveable Urban Waterways Programme (LUWP) is well under way in the Sand River Catchment with five exciting river rehabilitation projects in the concept design stage. The projects are Sand/Langevlei canal confluence, Westlake River, Keysers River, Grootboschkloof River, Spaanschemat and Prinskasteel Rivers
These projects, totalling around R50m, collectively contribute to an improvement in ecosystem health, reduction in flood risk, improved access and amenity use of the waterways and better water quality. Some of the projects are also in support of realising the vision for the Source to Sea River Corridor Initiative, which aims to link Table Mountain National Park to Zandvlei Nature Reserve via two river corridors, namely the Diep–Sand and Prinskasteels-Keyers rivers.
‘Following a successful series of co-design workshops earlier in the year, the concept designs are now being presented to the public for further comment and feedback. The first of these was held in Coniston Park on 1 November 2022, followed by the second session in Westlake Village on 10 November 2022. The third session was held at the Alphen Centre on 21 November 2022. Over 100 members of the public, interested and affected parties have attended the feedback sessions. In total over 350 people have participated in all the engagements including the co-design workshops. Thank you to everyone who has been coming to the sessions and being willing to participate in the project to share their comments and ideas too.
‘We all have a role to play in improving the inland water quality in the Sand River Catchment so let’s work together towards this common goal,’ said Councillor Mbandezi.
Source: City Of Cape Town