Multilevel Governance for Urban Water Resilience in Bengaluru and Cape Town

2020 ◽  
pp. 193-211
Author(s):  
Johan Enqvist ◽  
Gina Ziervogel
Keyword(s):  
Cape Town ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
Urban Water

scholarly journals Shape of a water crisis: practitioner perspectives on urban water scarcity and ‘Day Zero’ in South Africa

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-210
Author(s):  
Zachary Bischoff-Mattson ◽  
Gillian Maree ◽  
Coleen Vogel ◽  
Amanda Lynch ◽  
David Olivier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Critical Problems ◽  
Active Debate ◽  
Sound Policy

Abstract The interruption of essential water services in Cape Town, foreshadowed as ‘Day Zero,’ is one of several recent examples of urban water scarcity connected to the language of urgent climate change. Johannesburg, with its larger and growing population and deeply enmeshed water and power infrastructures, is currently regarded as one drought away from disaster. As a result, the lessons to be learned from Cape Town are under active debate in South Africa. We used Q method to examine the structure of perspectives on urban water scarcity among South African water management practitioners. Our results illustrate distinct viewpoints differentiated by focus on corruption and politics, supply and demand systems, and social justice concerns as well as a distinct cohort of pragmatic optimists. Our analysis underscores the significance of public trust and institutional effectiveness, regardless of otherwise sound policy or infrastructure tools. As practitioners explicitly connect domains of competency to solvable and critical problems, integrated systems approaches will require deliberate interventions. Furthermore, urban water crises exacerbate and are exacerbated by existing experiences of racial and economic inequality, but this effect is masked by focus on demand management of average per capita water consumption and characterization of water scarcity as ‘the new normal.’

scholarly journals The urban water metabolism of Cape Town: Towards becoming a water sensitive city

2021 ◽  
Vol 117 (5/6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ffion Atkins ◽  
Tyrel Flügel ◽  
Rui Hugman
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Global South ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Water Metabolism ◽  
Groundwater Storage ◽  
Quality Of Water ◽  
The City

To improve its resilience to increasing climatic uncertainty, the City of Cape Town (the City) aims to become a water sensitive city by 2040. To undertake this challenge, a means to measure progress is needed that quantifies the urban water systems at a scale that enables a whole-of-system approach to water management. Using an urban water metabolism framework, we (1) provide a first city-scale quantification of the urban water cycle integrating its natural and anthropogenic flows, and (2) assess alternative water sources (indicated in the New Water Programme) and whether they support the City towards becoming water sensitive. We employ a spatially explicit method with particular consideration to apply this analysis to other African or Global South cities. At the time of study, centralised potable water demand by the City amounted to 325 gigalitres per annum, 99% of which was supplied externally from surface storage, and the remaining ~1% internally from groundwater storage (Atlantis aquifer). Within the City’s boundary, runoff, wastewater effluent and groundwater represent significant internal resources which could, in theory, improve supply efficiency and internalisation as well as hydrological performance. For the practical use of alternative resources throughout the urban landscape, spatially explicit insight is required regarding the seasonality of runoff, local groundwater storage capacity and the quality of water as it is conveyed through the complex urban landscape. We suggest further research to develop metrics of urban water resilience and equity, both of which are important in a Global South context.

A systems approach to urban water services in the context of integrated energy and water planning: A City of Cape Town case study

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadiel Ahjum ◽  
Theodor J Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Energy Requirements ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Water Planning ◽  
Scenario Analyses ◽  
Urban Water Services ◽  
The City

The City of Cape Town derives the bulk of its present water supply from surface water resources and is the central water service authority for metropolitan consumers. The City is also a provider of bulk water to neighbouring municipalities. An exploration of the energy consumption for water and sanitation services for the City of Cape Town was conducted with an emphasis on water supply augmentation options for the near future (2011-2030). A systems analysis of municipal urban water services was undertaken to examine the energy requirements of supply alternatives and the efficacy of the alternatives in respect of supply availability and reliability. This was achieved using scenario based analysis incorporating a simple additive value function, to obtain a basic performance score, to rank alternatives and facilitate a quantitative comparison. Utilising the Water Evaluation and Planning hydrological modelling tool, a model for urban water services was developed for the City and used to conduct scenario analyses for a representative portfolio of previously identified options. Within the scope of the research objectives, the scenario analyses examines the direct energy consumption for the provision of water services for the City as influenced by external factors such as population growth, surface water runoff variability, available alternatives and the policies that are adopted which ultimately determine the future planning. It is contended that the modelling process presented here integrates energy and water planning for an assessment of water and energy resources required for future growth, and the optimal measures that could be pursued to reconcile the demand for water and the concomitant energy requirements.

Human dimensions of urban water resilience: Perspectives from Cape Town, Kingston upon Hull, Mexico City and Miami

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 100060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Bruce ◽  
Casey Brown ◽  
Pilar Avello ◽  
George Beane ◽  
James Bristow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mexico City ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
Urban Water

Time and Latitude in South Africa

1972 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
J. Hers
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
Royal Observatory ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Astronomical Determination ◽  
Limited Accuracy ◽  
Better Than

In South Africa the modern outlook towards time may be said to have started in 1948. Both the two major observatories, The Royal Observatory in Cape Town and the Union Observatory (now known as the Republic Observatory) in Johannesburg had, of course, been involved in the astronomical determination of time almost from their inception, and the Johannesburg Observatory has been responsible for the official time of South Africa since 1908. However the pendulum clocks then in use could not be relied on to provide an accuracy better than about 1/10 second, which was of the same order as that of the astronomical observations. It is doubtful if much use was made of even this limited accuracy outside the two observatories, and although there may – occasionally have been a demand for more accurate time, it was certainly not voiced.

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