Development projects at the Keysers River, Grootboschkloof River, Westlake River and Spaanschemat River have been delayed for the next decade due to budgetary constraints.
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This was revealed during a presentation to the Mayoral Advisory Committee on Water Quality in Wetlands and Waterways on 15 March.
About R13 million has already been spent on design and technical planning, and funding was meant to be implemented over the next three years.
The projects form part of the City of Cape Town’s (CoCT) Liveable Urban Waterways (LUW) programme, aimed at rehabilitating the City’s waterways. Many of these are in poor condition due to years of development, changes in land use and pollution.
Zahid Badroodien, the City’s Mayco member for water and sanitation, says the delays were caused by the ‘reprioritisation of the capital budget in accordance with the City’s current borrowing capability and affordability constraints’.
In his budget speech delivered in February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced nationwide cuts to municipal budgets. Badroodien says the City revisits its budget each year based on updated priorities and needs.
‘Prioritisation decisions, inter alia, included the delay of projects not at the execution stage which were either rationalised or deferred,’ he adds.
‘Furthermore, the latest cost estimates for the LUW projects significantly exceeded initial cost projections.’
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According to David Bristow, Zandvlei Trust chairperson and member of the Zanvlei Protected Area Advisory Committee and the Zandvlei Catchment Forum, the LUW programme has been ongoing for several years.
‘It is a pity that budgets for cleaning up our rivers and wetlands have been slashed now just when things were getting going on improving them. On the other hand, we now have a mayoral team that is focused on cleaning up our natural waterways and wetlands, so I see it as a setback rather than the disaster it might otherwise [previously] have been.’
He adds that cuts were inevitable as environmental concerns were at or ‘near the bottom of political agendas’. ‘Cape Town has something like 400km of concreted canals that once were rivers, and this is partly what the LUW programme is trying to address.
‘But currently, the biggest single cause of wetland degradation is sewage – partly because of load shedding and the breakdowns it causes in the city’s pump station network.’
Only two projects are currently going ahead at the Sand/Langvlei Canal and the Vygekraal River. Bristow says these comprise:
- Creating a natural pool or biofilter in the lower Sand-Langvlei river system. It has been described as the largest contributor of solid waste in the Zandvlei Catchment.
- Restoring a section of the Lotus River to show what concreted canals could and should look like.
‘Except for part of the Westlake River, these catchments flow through what I refer to as the ‘Porsche Belt’ – those very green and affluent areas on the mountain slopes way above the noisome Cape Flats (where I live),’ says Bristow.
‘But that is also where much of the chemical pollution derives – from the wine farms, Pollsmoor prison and the thousands of households who illegally backwash their swimming pool water into the stormwater system and from there into Zandvlei.’
He adds that Cape Town’s biggest challenge has been dealing with the large number of poor people who have moved into the city in the last thirty years.
‘It’s a fact that will not go away and has to be dealt with as best as can be. Given that we have hospitals without doctors, doctors without jobs, schools without toilets or teachers, cities without water, and of course that loadshedding thing, environmental concerns are the least of some people’s concerns.
‘Like fresh air, fresh water becomes a concern only when it runs out. It has once before in Cape Town, and it will again. Rich people will get by, by installing rainwater tanks, well points, and water recycling systems. But, as in any kind of disaster, it’s the poor who will suffer the most.’
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‘If the projects that were planned don’t go ahead, we have just binned [R13 million] because any project that the government puts off for 10 years means it’s not happening because all of those environmental impact assessments need to get redone because they’re only valid for a certain time,’ a community member told Daily Maverick.
The entire LUW programme was ‘in jeopardy’, says Carolynne Franklin, a member of Cape Town’s spatial planning and environment portfolio committee and a mayoral appointee to the Zandvlei Protected Areas Advisory Committee.
She adds that delaying the four projects was a ‘short-sighted and obstructive desktop decision’.
‘The first batch of pilot projects is critical to build the momentum required to scale the LUW programme to all city catchments. We have identified over 50 potential project locations in 11 catchments, but cannot tackle this massive task without first building confidence and expertise and testing approaches through this first batch of projects.’
However, he added that the money already spent would not go to waste. ‘Various studies have been undertaken to provide a very important body of knowledge for these rivers and the catchment, and will not be a wasted effort.’
‘There are various other workstreams that are proceeding and producing positive results; for example, partnering with research organisations, publication of case studies, awareness of the need for the programme, and improving catchment governance.’
He added that the socioeconomic and environmental benefits from the projects would be delayed until the projects were implemented.
‘The city will, however, continue with other interventions such as ongoing maintenance (including litter removal, silt management, alien vegetation removal, etc), minor refurbishment … and awareness around dumping of waste programmes, etc.
‘The city has numerous programmes and initiatives geared towards climate adaptation, including various river-related projects. LUW is only one of many programmes and the deferral of four projects will not affect the achievement of the broader goals… We are encouraging collective efforts to continue developing the programme, and finding ways of financing the projects.’
Caroline Marx, a community activist and founder of ReThinkTheStink who is also on the advisory committee for water quality, told Daily Maverick that it is ‘disappointing that projects aimed at protecting Cape Town’s wetlands are being delayed by overall budget cuts.
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Picture: Screenshot of video by the Sandriver catchment City of Cape Town / Facebook