The public are reminded to join the City’s Collaboration Platform as one of the channels to have their say on the City’s proposed Integrated Waste Management and Water Services Sector Plans. These are out for public comment until Friday, 26 November 2021. Feedback so far has been slow, and we are hopeful that many more residents will take the opportunity to have their say before the comment period closes. Read more below:

The City of Cape Town is encouraging the public to comment on the draft Water Services Development Plan 2022 – 2027 and the Integrated Waste Management Plan 2022 – 2027 which sets out how it intends to achieve its objectives over the next five years.

These sector plans are a component of the City’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which guides and informs all decisions and priorities as well as planning and development in the City over the next five years. The proposed plans aim to bring us closer to our goals of improved water security and water sensitivity, improved basic services, and diverting more waste from landfills.

As part of the efforts to encourage participation and foster meaningful engagement, the public will, for the first time, have the opportunity to use the City’s Collaboration Platform to interact virtually with City officials to discuss and share their ideas and comments on the draft sector plans. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 26 November 2021.

The draft Water Services Development Plan 2022 – 2027
This plan is a legislative requirement. It also needs to be reported to the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) as per the Water Services Act.

Key elements of the plan include:

Sustained focus on implementing the New Water Programme, which aims to provide an additional 300 million litres of water per day through desalination, water reuse and ground water, to help navigate future drought shocks.
Significant investment into reticulation infrastructure as part of the measures to address pollution of inland water bodies. This includes an accelerated water and sewer pipe replacement programme over eight years as well as refurbishing pump stations, with a focus on the top 20 strategic facilities, to help reduce sewer spills.
Ongoing upgrades and extensions of wastewater treatment works to cater for growth and development, and ensuring treated effluent is compliant with licence requirements.
Enhancing basic water and sanitation services in informal settlements, wherever legally and technically permitted
Improving the planning and implementation of asset management across all branches.
Support for innovation and use of smart and cutting edge technology, in both infrastructure upgrades and billing/metering systems.
Water and Sanitation are services that impact on us all on a daily basis, and the department has set out plans for how to achieve commitments towards water security and water sensitivity. This includes the City’s New Water Programme (NWP), which forms part of the Water Strategy: Our Shared Water Future, and to build resilience to the effects of climate change, and future droughts that are expected to be more frequent and severe, and to ensure a safe, reliable water supply for generations to come.

In addition, the health of waterways remains a priority for the City, and therefore, we will continue to invest in sanitation infrastructure. While these investments are vital, it is important for all of us to remember that we collectively need to work together to help address and reduce sewer overflows and blockages, and looking after the infrastructure by thinking twice about what is flushed down toilets and rinsed down sinks. We also ask that residents report missing manhole covers and report any dumping of objects into the sewer system through manholes should they see this happening.

We remain committed to improving basic water and sanitation services in informal settlements wherever possible and we will continue to work with colleagues in the Human Settlements Department to achieve this.

Overall this sector plan is applicable for all, as we all have a relationship with water, whether living or doing business in Cape Town. The Water Service Development Plan (WSDP) is your opportunity to influence priorities for the running, development and maintenance of our water and sanitation infrastructure over the next five-year IDP period. Take time and submit your comments.
The draft Integrated Waste Management Plan 2022 – 2027
In terms of the National Environmental Management Waste Act, Act 59 of 2008, a municipality is required to develop an Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) as part of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process.

The draft IWMP aligns to the National Waste Management Strategy 2020 and provides key action plans for waste diversion, managing waste as a resource and the integration of waste pickers into the municipal system. It also includes waste awareness drives promoting a culture of compliance with a zero tolerance toward littering and illegal dumping.

This draft IWMP supports the Provincial 2nd Generation IWMP’s objectives, namely;
• Strengthened education, capacity and advocacy towards Integrated Waste Management
• Improved integrated waste management planning
• Implementation for efficient waste services and infrastructure
• Effective and efficient use of resources and improved compliance with environmental regulatory framework

The draft IWMP also defines the current status of waste services provided by the City, identified gaps, challenges and socio-economic trends used by the city to plan for the provision of waste services and to allocate resources where they are mostly required.

The draft IWMP aligns with the City’s intent to provide all residents with access to basic services, in providing or enhancing waste management services to informal settlements and backyarders. Service strategies and plans in the draft IWMP are furthermore informed by recorded trends in formal and informal settlement growth, spatial planning, management information, operational data, statistical analyses, resource efficiency, reduction in carbon footprint, reduction in transportation costs, trends, demand assessments as well as strategic and resilience considerations.

Waste has the potential to create opportunity, and the City is excited to be exploring ways in which diverting waste from landfills can further benefit our residents. Through the City’s 4th Generation Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) we want to create inclusivity and with the public’s input materialise a plan that defines the City’s future waste strategies. We want to hear from our residents, so please submit your comments and ideas.

The Water and Waste Directorate would like to encourage all residents to take some time to look through these draft sector plans and let us know your thoughts and ideas about how they might be able to improve your experience as a resident. With the new online interactive platform available to engage City officials directly, we hope to see residents getting in touch and discussing plans together with them.

Collaboration Platform
The City of Cape Town launched an online collaboration platform, where residents can share ideas about specific challenges the City is facing.

The City launched the Collaboration Platform as a pilot project and encourages members of the public to participate digitally.

To view and comment on these sector plans on the City’s Collaboration Platform, the public can join the platform by registering using these steps on their digital device (mobile phone; tablet or desktop):

• Enter this link into your Internet browser: https://www.capetown.gov.za/ideas
• Register on the platform using your email address;
• Create your profile by providing a username and password (you can submit input anonymously);

After successfully registering, members will be able to navigate to the topic: Comment on the City’s draft 2022-2027 water and waste sector plans and submit feedback on these draft plans.

Residents are encouraged to regularly log into the CCT Collaboration Platform and engage on the new topics.

Source: City of Cape Town