Title: THE CITY OF CAPE TOWN: Progressive Interventions for Meeting Growing Water Needs
1THE CITY OF CAPE TOWNProgressive Interventions
for Meeting Growing Water Needs
- Ola Busari, PhD
- Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)
- Midrand, South Africa
- 2nd Annual Mega-City Water Forum
- Atlanta, USA 14-16 May 2007
2Acknowledgement City of Cape Town Documents
- Integrated Development Plan (IDP),
- 2007/08 2011/12
- 5-Year Plan for the City of Cape Town,
- Draft, March 2007.
- Water Services Development Plan (WSDP),
- 2006/07
- 5-Year Sector Business Plan for the City of Cape
Town, February 2006. - Framework for Adaptation to Climate Change in the
City of Cape Town - Prepared for the City by P Mukheibir G
Ziervogel, September 2006. -
3Outline of Talk
- City Location, Features Attraction
- Demography, Economic Growth Services
- Water Services Profile
- Water Demand-Supply Dynamics
- Existing Water Resources
- Resource Vulnerability Storage Fluctuations
- Resource Options for the Future
- Sustainable Services Other Critical Issues
4City of Cape Town Location Map
5City Location, Features Attraction
- Located at the south-western tip of South Africa.
- Total land area of about 2 500 sq km 370 km long
coastline. - Varying topography, including flat plains, hills
and mountains, with the Table Mountain popular
tourist attraction over 1000 m elevation. - Renowned for spectacular events the Argus Cycle
Tour, the Two Oceans Marathon, the North Sea Jazz
Festival - Named the worlds Most Hospitable City by Conde
Nast in 2002, having previously voted it the
worlds Best Value-for-Money City. - Currently adjudged the Cleanest City in South
Africa by the national Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism. - Unique and significant biodiversity occurs
side-by-side with historical, cultural and
heritage diversity, but City is part of a water
scarce region - Much of the rain, averaging just over 500mm per
annum, falls during the winter months May-August
Mean annual temperature is about 17oC. - Paradoxically, water demands are highest during
the hot and dry summer months, calling for
optimal water storage in the preceding winter
months. - Over the years, such demands have been
complicated by unanticipated urban sprawl,
leading to poorly coordinated responses in terms
of public infrastructure investment.
6Demography Economic Growth
- Population 3.2 million, growing at 2.5 pa, and
accounting for nearly two-thirds of the
population of the WC Province. - Rapid growth in black population since mid-1980s,
with the lifting of influx control, pushing up
growth to a high 4.4 during 1991-1996. - The City estimates that 48 000 POOR people move
into Cape Town each year, mostly in informal
settlements along the citys periphery strain on
bulk and link infrastructure. - Of about 850 000 households in the City, 115 000
are make-shift structures in informal
settlements. - Over the last 10 yrs housing backlog doubled,
drug-related crime tripled, HIV prevalence
tenfold unemployment doubled, in spite of a
robust economic growth, currently at about 4 pa.
7Unemployment Growth in GGP
8Services Trends
9Water Services Profile
10Water Services Challenges
- Of 115 000 hhds in informal settlements, 30 000
(26) have no access to basic water water-points
shared by lt25 hhds at distance lt200 m. - 73 000 hhds (63) have no access to basic
sanitation shared toilet, at a ratio of lt5 hhds
per toilet, with hygiene and health education. - Service hindered by uncontrolled mushrooming
expansion of existing settlements on unprepared
land, and high dwelling densities (about 140
units/hectare), with problems of accessibility. - Water sanitation in informal settings are
provided free of charge, since monthly water
consumption is lt6 kl/hhd. - Formal dwellings have a metered house connection
or yard toilet with water tap, and the first 6
kl/month is also free.
11Water Demand-Supply Dynamics
- The City reports a 3-4 growth rate in total bulk
water supplied during the period 1973-2000. - During the year 2004/05, total water supplied was
263 Mm3 or 721 Mega-litres/day, including losses. - In view of growth in population development, it
was estimated, in 1998/9, that potential annual
increase in unconstrained demand would range
between 2.7-3.7. - Managing demand was critical Since 2000/01, the
City has managed to remain below the targeted low
demand curve marked by max 2 growth pa, reducing
actual demand by 20 from unconstrained levels. - With WDM progress was an approval to construct a
126 Mm3 Dam on the Berg River to increase
regional supply by 18 once commissioned in 2007,
providing assurance of supply until about 2013.
12Demand-Supply Dynamics contd
13Key Aspects of Citys WDM Strategy
- Minimizing network and commercial losses.
- Reducing low-income household leaks.
- Controlling Council consumption.
- Ensuring equitable tariffs.
- Ensuring new developments are water-wise.
- Implementing capacity building programmes.
- Promoting alternative technologies and launching
water-saving campaigns. - Fostering a supportive environment for long-term
water conservation and demand management.
14Existing Water Resources
- Regional water requirements are met mainly from
surface sources, accounting for 97 of about 450
Mm3 annual yield. - Groundwater yield, though only 7 Mm3 pa, does not
include the unknown amounts abstracted from
private boreholes. - Most supply to larger Cape Town area comes from
WCape Water Supply System Theewaterskloof,
Voelvlei, Wemmershoek and Steenbras upper lower
dams. - First two dams account for over two-thirds of the
Citys supply, and are operated by the national
water department. - Dams controlled by the City account for only a
quarter of its raw water requirements. - Only about 15 of raw water requirements are
obtained from sources within the city
metropolitan area. - City notes the possible effect of climate change
recently commissioned an adaptation framework,
but plans that potential long-term impact be
explored by system-wide modeling.
15Existing WR surface water
16Resource Vulnerability Storage Fluctuations
- The City is familiar with the stress climate
variability could bring to dam levels and water
management. - The Southern Africa region has witnessed
extensive droughts during 1991/92, 2000/01 and
2004/05, and further variability is expected to
alter the hydrologic regime. - Year 2005 recorded the lowest storage levels in
the WCape system in 5 years, although levels
picked up again last year. - While past experiences suggest that current
mechanisms appear adequate to address
intermittent shortages in future, serious climate
change impacts may call for more robust
strategies.
17Storage levels WCW system (2001-06 01 May)
18Resource Options for the Future
- Key strategy is to reduce dependence on surface
sources to minimize climate-induced variation,
targeting prolific aquifers, effluent reuse and
desalination. - Table Mountain Group holds good groundwater
potential, although investigations still need to
establish optimal recharge rates and sustainable
yields over the long-term. - City intends to improve the level of effluent
reuse beyond its currently under 10, but efforts
need to incentivize industries to recycle
wastewater as well as the reuse of grey water at
household level. - The viability of desalination has improved
significantly, as unit cost dropped with
technology improvements, but energy requirements
remain a serious challenge. - The use of rainwater harvesters is little
explored, but could be encouraged in both
commercial and residential buildings, for
non-drinking purposes.
19Sustainable Services Critical Issues
- Managing water losses Current figures are
difficult to obtain, but unaccounted-for-water
reported as 18 in 2001/02 and 23 in 2004/05
certainly a cause for concern. - Managing infrastructure City admits that
infrastructure maintenance is irregular, even
though an Asset Care Centre was established in
2004 and an asset management strategy is in
place. - Managing operational performance Addressing
operational and financial performance requires
attention to current institutional arrangements,
to enable a ring-fenced water services provider
function.
20!THANK YOU!