UCT engaged in many activities designed to promote conscious water usage in the wider community.

1. PaWS / Future Water — community living-lab engagement in Mitchells Plain (ongoing through 2024)

UCT’s PaWS living lab in Mitchells Plain involved community workshops, stakeholder consultations and on-the-ground interventions (stormwater pond retrofit) that included local residents and City officials. These activities were community-facing trials to improve local water resilience, and the project’s outputs/guidance draw on the 2019–2024 living-lab engagements. A living lab is defined as a real-world, user-centred environment where people co-create and test innovative solutions, foster user-driven innovation and learn through collaboration and experimentation. In our case, the stormwater pond is an experimental space that has been co-developed by the research team together with residents and other stakeholders. We wanted our work at the stormwater pond to provide answers to a range of questions including hydrology (the movement of water), water quality, policy, local stewardship and engagement, as well as biodiversity and urban design, all of which are related to our overall study. PaWS (Future Water) living-lab activities in Mitchells Plain included workshops and co-design with residents in 2024 to test blue-green interventions and encourage local, conscious water-use practices.

2. UCT public outreach / behaviour-change activities (2024)

UCT documented several public-facing activities in 2024 that were designed to nudge behaviour and raise awareness about water use — for example student/staff projects displayed in public campus spaces (‘Flush and go or flush and grow’) intended to provoke reflection and behaviour change, plus research communications that target broader communities (e.g., reporting on research into willingness to use alternative water sources).

Flush and go or flush and grow?

With this unconventional display, students placed a toilet in the middle of the plaza to get their peers and staff to think about “waste”, specifically in relation to using the toilet. According to Rise Tanino, a research assistant in UCT’s Future Water Institute, the display aimed to encourage a different level of thinking regarding each individual’s daily water practices. The display also formed part of the broader urine-to-fertiliser work currently led by UCT’s Professor Dyllon Randall. This project focuses on developing innovative methods to collect, treat and transform human urine into valuable products.

These are practical outreach tools supporting conscious water use beyond campus boundaries.

3. Senior UCT researchers giving public talks and policy-facing presentations

Associate Professor Kirsty Carden (Director, Future Water Institute) gave presentations and public addresses in 2024 about Cape Town’s “Day Zero” lessons and how universities and cities can drive water-sensitive practice. These talks (e.g., Universities South Africa conference presentation, Oct 10, 2024) are aimed at wider institutional and policy audiences and help translate university research into practical guidance and advocacy for off-campus water-wise action.

4. Ongoing outreach and public communications (social media, year-end posts, project updates)

Future Water’s public channels documented community-facing activity and seasonal wrap-ups for 2024 (project events, community engagement, field days), signalling continued public engagement and outreach beyond campus boundaries. These posts and news items show active communications of practical work to the wider community and stakeholders.

UCT-led displays, research communications and outreach events in 2024 promoted conscious water habits and informed community-level messages on alternative water sources.