During 2024 the University of Cape Town (UCT) — principally through its Future Water research institute, affiliated researchers, and interdisciplinary projects — actively cooperated with municipal and other government actors on water-security research, pilot projects and policy-relevant work.

Evidence includes (1) direct project co-design and meetings with City of Cape Town officials on nature-based and managed-aquifer recharge pilot work; (2) researcher contributions and outputs in 2024 that inform municipal water strategy and alternative water-source planning.

Together these items show sustained, practical cooperation between UCT and public authorities on water security in 2024.

1. UCT Future Water / PaWS (Pathways to water-resilient South African cities) - ongoing living-lab work that engaged City officials

The PaWS project (led by UCT Future Water in partnership with the University of Copenhagen and funders) used Mitchells Plain as a living lab and explicitly held meetings with City of Cape Town officials and their consultants to identify suitable pond sites and to co-design interventions (stormwater pond retrofits, managed aquifer recharge, nature-based solutions). The project documentation and UCT news writeups state that meetings with municipal officials were part of the project activities. This project was active through 2024 as part of a multi-year programme to design and test city-scale, nature-based approaches to augment water supply resilience.

Future Water has held multiple meetings with relevant City officials to site and co-develop the stormwater intervention. PaWS is a concrete example where UCT researchers and City officials worked together on pilot infrastructure and research that targets urban water security.

2. UCT research outputs in 2024 relevant to municipal policy and practice

UCT researchers published and communicated studies during 2024 on alternative water sources and public willingness to use recycled water for non-potable uses. UCT’s Teboho Mofokeng. a lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering and a PhD candidate in the department’s Water Research Group – a subsidiary of the Future Water Institute, said awareness campaigns were effective to ensure residents develop water-conscious behaviours. Both the City of Cape Town and the eThekwini Municipality implemented successful water-wise awareness campaigns during their recent national droughts. Using Cape Town as a case in point, Mofokeng said her research findings show that respondents’ water choices stem from their pro-environmental behaviour – demonstrating the long-term success of the city’s water-wise awareness campaign. These campaigns recognised and encouraged water-saving efforts – using water maps that highlighted households’ attempts to save water; and leveraging community engagement programmes to contribute to adopting long-termpo-environmental behaviours among residents. However, she added, the eThekwini Municipality’s campaign was less interactive and centred primarily on education. So, while 86% of residents there indicated that they understand the importance of being water savvy, they had not yet developed
pro-environmental behaviours.

Mofokeng said her research and participants’ responses come at just the right time – as discussions and work get under way to review and potentially replace the country’s dated sanitation pipe network infrastructure, which was built in the 1970s. She said replacing or upgrading the pipe infrastructure presents an opportunity to rethink conventional water supply systems and consider dual supply networks where feasible

The research was framed to benefit decision makers and city planners, being directed at or intended for government policy and municipal water programmes.

Regional (provincial/state)

The Western Cape Government’s Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning co-runs The Water Hub with UCT’s Future Water Institute and is funding an expanded pilot to improve water quality - working to tackle water security challenges for municipalities.

The Water Hub is a collaborative effort between the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, and the University of Cape Town’s Future Water Institute. The Water Hub is situated at an abandoned wastewater treatment works outside Franschhoek and has been retrofitted to trial and demonstrate, at scale, the success of using nature-based solutions to filter highly polluted urban runoff from the informal Langrug Settlement and back into the Stiebeuel River.

Anton Bredell, Western Cape Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning said the Western Cape Government, together with €400 000 funding from the Bavarian State, are now in the process of commissioning a 2-year joint project at the Water Hub, which will see the expansion of the existing treatment beds and adding a new system of filtration. The objective is to reliably treat water to remove chemicals and microplastics at a constant flow of around 1250 liters per hour. Further focus is also being given to enhancing the Water-Energy-Food nexus to secure production in these areas as well as to improve ecosystem stability and develop the circular economy.