This was a 3 months desk-based project that included analysing the application WASH climate vulnerability assessment in South Africa. Key activities included the following:

  1. Identification of suitable case study sites where socio-hydrological research had already been undertaken to support a further assessment of climate vulnerability – also taking into account key climatic/ecological regions within South Africa to establish the geographical focus of the vulnerability assessment.
  2. Development of a methodology – in collaboration with colleagues at University of Bristol - for the desk- based climate vulnerability assessment that was consistent with the approach being followed in Nepal and Bangladesh.
  3. Interrogation of the relevant current literature on South African climate vulnerability assessments in the context of WASH.
  4. Undertaking the assessment in the two selected case study sites (Musunda Village in the HaMakuya Chieftaincy area in Limpopo province and Prince Albert in the Western Cape province of South Africa), and producing a report on the findings, with recommendations on future application of the methodology – as contribution to the development of global guidance for the WHO based around the South African case study.
  5. Contributing to joint academic outputs in the form of a journal paper and/or conference proceedings.

Read the publication: Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Vulnerability among Rural Areas and Small Towns in South Africa: Exploring the Role of Climate Change, Marginalization, and Inequality

Funder: Bristol University

Duration: 3 months

Team: Kirsty Carden, Amber Abrams, Charles Teta, Katinka Waagsaether

Closed

The South African framework and guidelines for WSD (Armitage et al., 2014) were published by the Water Research Commission (WRC) in 2014. At the same time, the WRC initiated a project to develop and manage a 5-year WSD Community of Practice (CoP) programme as a means of facilitating the implementation of WSD in South Africa, and specifically focused on the knowledge sharing and capacity development required to encourage a WSD shift in the water sector. This programme was led by Dr Kirsty Carden and other academics from the then Urban Water Management research unit (relaunched as the Future Water Institute) at the University of Cape Town with the first phase completed on 31 May 2019.

This initial phase of the CoP programme was successful in achieving purposeful engagement with a wider group of stakeholders and promoting knowledge integration in the field of WSD. It showed that such an approach has the potential to generate new understandings about innovative practices and reflexive learning within WSD in South Africa, and to develop knowledge connected to policy development and change to influence planning and design towards water sensitive cities.

The Phase I CoP also highlighted some gaps and/or shortcomings however, specifically in terms of the necessity for broader engagement with a wider group of stakeholders and for an expansion of the CoP (and strengthening of its profile and impact narrative) in areas other than large metropolitan cities.

Historically, water systems have been developed using a linear design approach, i.e. source, treat, transport, distribute, collect, treat and dispose. This technologically-driven and resource-intensive approach is removed from the citizens it serves, resulting in technocratic solutions and the fragmentation of the management of the urban water cycle. Water sensitive settlements require a cyclical, systems approach which, in simple terms, assumes that everything in the world is connected. Read more here about waster sensitive design.

A second phase of the programme – also led by Dr Kirsty Carden from the Future Water research institute – was thus established to run from 31 May 2019 to 31 March 2022, with the overall aim of facilitating a more widespread uptake of WSD in South Africa.

Funder: Water Research Commission

Duration: 2015 - 2019

Team: Kirsty Carden

Closed

A pilot socio-hydrological assessment of water management was conducted in Prince Albert and Swartland municipalities to understand how local institutions have adapted to water scarcity. Read the report of the pilot socio-hydrological assessment.

Closed

Funder: Knysna Municipality

Duration: 2018 - 2020

Team: Neil Armitage

Closed

Read publication: Diarrhoea among Children Aged under Five Years and Risk Factors in Informal Settlements: A Cross-Sectional Study in Cape Town, South Africa.

Funder: NRF

Duration: 2017 - 2018

Team: Aqiel Dalvie

Closed

<p>FW together with Zautari developed urban water security indicators that are applicable to African

FW together with Zautari developed urban water security indicators that are applicable to African cities. The indicators are aligned to the City of Johannesburg water security strategy and they will be used as a benchmark to track the implementation of the water strategy.

The project activities include:

  • Investigating and reviewing the indicators used in cities that have been benchmarked across the world for water services.
  • Selecing and/or improving the relevant indicators, through workshop or discussion with the ICLEI Africa.
  • Co-producing any additional indicators that can contribute to effective performance or outcome tracking, in relation to urban water systems.
  • Co-establishing a detailed, understandable, and easy-to-use 5-mark rating system relevant to the city’s context.
  • Co-developing a methodology for rating these indicators with urban water stakeholders.
  • Use the developed methodology to co-host benchmarking workshops with relevant CoJ stakeholders to arrive at an overall rating for Johannesburg

Funder: International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)

Duration: 3 months

cities. The indicators are aligned to the City of Johannesburg water security strategy and they will be

used as a benchmark to track the implementation of the water strategy. </p>

 

<p><strong>The project activities include:</strong></p>

 

<ul>

<li>Investigating and reviewing the indicators used in cities that have been benchmarked across the

world for water services.</li>

<li>Selecing and/or improving the relevant indicators, through workshop or discussion with the

ICLEI Africa.</li>

<li>Co-producing any additional indicators that can contribute to effective performance or outcome

tracking, in relation to urban water systems.</li>

<li>Co-establishing a detailed, understandable, and easy-to-use 5-mark rating system relevant to the

city’s context.</li>

<li>Co-developing a methodology for rating these indicators with urban water stakeholders.</li>

<li>Use the developed methodology to co-host benchmarking workshops with relevant CoJ stakeholders to

arrive at an overall rating for Johannesburg</li>

</ul>

 

<p>Funder: International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)</p>

 

<p>Duration: 3 months </p>

 

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Closed

Future Water is partnered with the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities Institute at Monash University and with Aurecon to apply the Water Sensitive Cities transition planning process to Cape Town, South Africa. Read more about these efforts here.

Duration: 2020 - 2021

Team: Kirsty Carden

Closed