The City of uMhlathuze in South Africa’s Kwa-Zulu Natal province has been nominated as one of the five finalists for the “Green Economy Change Champions within Local Government Award” for the initiative on the use of drone technology to improve water management and assess non-revenue water. The aim of the awards is to showcase successful sustainability initiatives that have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented by municipalities across South Africa. The awards are jointly hosted by GreenCape, a non -for-profit organization that drives the widespread adoption of economically viable green economy solutions, and the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
Why drone technology for improved water management?
The city was concerned about high unaccounted for water losses recorded for two suburbs within their water supply network. To this end, the leveraging of drone technology proved to be a viable and innovative solution to help the municipality assess the cause of the increased water demand and losses. Through financial support from NatuReS as part of a contribution to the uMhlathuze Water Stewardship Partnership (UWASP), the city received a drone and had three of their municipal officials trained to obtain a drone license to operate it.
The use of drone technology in the two pilot suburbs revealed that the increase in population was the main driver for increased water demand, and that illegal and unbilled connections were the reason for the high unaccounted water losses. With the information obtained, the municipality can now understand the extent of water losses and improve water supply planning in the respective areas. Similarly, this allows them to deploy the right interventions for reducing demand and upgrading infrastructure to address unbilled consumption. Finally, water supply for communities can be improved.
Celebrating the Municipal Green Economy Change Champions
The award ceremony will be showcased during an online event on the 12th October 2022 at 10:00, where the winning initiative will be announced. To join the event live, register here. To learn more about the Green Economy Change Champions within Local Government, click here.
In the informal settlements in the outskirts of Greater Kampala’s Central Business District, improper solid waste management results in the clogging of drainage systems. This, in addition to the seasonal downpours, whose intensification is attributed to climate change, have exposed already vulnerable communities to a high risk of seasonal urban flash flooding. This is intensified by the fact that Kampala’s informal settlements are situated in flood-prone low-lying areas.
Associated with the floods are huge socio-economic losses due to the damage of assets and goods, and disruption of business and work operations. Nakato Caroline, a small business owner and resident of Sembule A Zone in Nalukulongo, states that floods continuously disrupt her retail shop by destroying valuable merchandise and leaving her shop inaccessible to customers. This worsens the financial strain on her family. She cites the insufficient plastic waste management as a major contributor to the clogging of the channels and the consequent flooding in her community.
The game changer:collective action
To sustainably build the resilience of these communities to flooding, the Greater Kampala Integrated Flood Resilience Partnership, supported by the Natural Resources Stewardship Programme (NatuReS), is spearheading community action for flood resilience in two flood hotspots in Kampala’s informal settlements of Kinawataka and Nalukolongo. This partnership is being championed by ACTogether Uganda and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) through a project dubbed “Community Action for Flood Resilience.” ACTogether is a Ugandan Civil Society Organisation affiliated with Slum Dwellers International (SDI) which supports the National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda by facilitating processes that develop organizational capacity at the local level and promote pro-poor policy and practice in Uganda’s urban arena.
The “Community Action for Flood Resilience” project under the partnership empowers and builds the capacity of vulnerable communities to take the lead in the fight against floods. This is done through community-centered behavioural change activities to reduce the quantity of solid waste ending up in the drainage channels.
Community members desilting drainage channels. Copyright: GIZ/Ebong Willy BungaCommunity members alongside the KCCA Weyonje team collecting solid waste in Kinawataka and Nalukulongo sub-catchments.
Through the project, 10 community members (5 from Kinawataka and 5 from Nalukulongo sub-catchments) were trained to become flood control champions, equipped with knowledge on the causes, effects, mitigation, and adaptation measures to the flooding challenges in their respective communities. The flood control champions are community members who were already spearheading awareness and dialogue sessions aimed at sensitizing their fellow community members on issues like malaria etc.
65 residents of Sembule A Zone in Nalukulongo, Rubaga Division, were sensitized on flood risks and mitigation measures by flood control champions trained under the partnership. Copyright: GIZ/Ebong Willy Bunga
Community initiative under a partnership approach
The actions of the trained flood control champions have had a cascading impact in these communities, particularly in terms of a positive mindset change towards communities’ capacities for flood resilience. They organized and conducted community dialogues called settlement forums, as well as community radio talk shows. Through these, the communities have been trained on urban flood risk and practical mitigation measures to enable them to control floods in their areas. Morever, they provided a platform for dialogue with other stakeholders and duty bearers, such as community leaders, on the flooding. These include causes, effects, and ways to collectively contribute to addressing them.
Through the settlement forums, community-led monthly clean-up exercises have been taken up in Kinawataka and Nalukolongo. These have instilled a sense of community and social responsibility among the members. The communities acknowledge their contribution towards flooding through improper solid waste management. In turn, they collect solid waste and desilt clogged secondary and tertiary drainage channels within their surroundings that would otherwise contribute to the flooding. This is further complementing the Kampala Capital City Authority’s (KCCA) solid waste management and flood control efforts.
A map showing drainage channels, 588.79 meters long, cleaned up on 12th August 2022 in Kinawataka during a community clean-up activity. In this clean-up approximately 16 tons of solid waste, predominantly PET plastic, was collected from the channels. Copyright: GIZ
The flood control champions, officials, and community members speak out
As a follow-up to the actions led by the flood control champions and the communities, ACTogether organized community planning and review meetings. In these meetings, the flood champions, community leaders, government officials, and community members shared their experiences and lessons learned from the joint initiative.
Nakato Leticia, one of the flood champions, expressed her excitement and gratitude for being a part of this partnership learning from experts’ proven ways to improve community flood resilience. In addition, she appreciated having a platform to disseminate this knowledge to members of her community.
However, the effects of the community-led clean-up efforts went much further: Nyanzi Bob, Head of the Solid Waste Management Unit at KCCA (Rubaga Division, in which also Nalukolongo is located), shared that they have also improved the relations between the Kampala Capital City Authority and the local communities. This only became possible by working together as partners for a common objective.
For further information about the partnership and natural resources stewardship, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our newsletter!
The circular economy framework brings a new approach to waste and materials management, considering the whole life cycle of resources, while paying attention to sustainable production, supply and management of resources. Transitioning to a circular economy requires a collaborative effort from all sectors and can only succeed through coordination along supply chains and product cycles.
Stewardship has proven successful in promoting circular economies.
The Natural Resources Stewardship Programme (NatuReS) supports multi-stakeholder partnerships in introducing circular economy practices. These partnerships bring together empowered communities, government stakeholders and a strong and engaging private sector to work on eye-level and jointly develop solutions to protect natural resources and promote sustainable economic growth.
During the event, representatives from public, private sector and civil society will share experiences, discuss best practices and reflect on lessons learned from promoting circular economies under a stewardship approach.
Join on the 6th of October to get hands-on insights! The event will take place online via MS Teams.Click here to join!
You will have the chance to listen to and discuss with the following panelists:
Public sector:
Patience Nsereko, Principal Environment Officer NEMA, Uganda
Kasenga Hara, Senior Inspector, National Water Supply and Sanitation Council, Zambia
Water scarcity is a serious risk for South African industries and businesses. New concepts are needed to improve water security. On the 17th of August, NatuReS South Africa, led by representatives from the Atlantis Special Economic Zone (ASEZ), conducted a site visit to the Atlantis SEZ industrial sites and greater Atlantis industrial area. The visit followed the completion of a joint assignment on the development of a Concept and Process Analysis of Net Zero Water for the Atlantis SEZ. Net-Zero-Water means limiting the consumption of water resources and returning them back to the same watershed, so that the resource is not depleted in quantity or quality.
From left to right: Michael Webbster (ASEZ), Amanda Nyingwa (GIZ NatuReS), Kaylyn Jansen (ASEZ), Florenchia Solomons (ASEZ) and Christelle Solomons (ASEZ). Copyright: GIZ NatuReS
For Atlantis SEZ, this means ensuring water resources are collected from sustainable sources and are used efficiently and responsibly, with any produced wastewater being cleaned and reused in that catchment. The visit provided valuable insights about the location of the SEZ’s industrial sites earmarked for further construction, the proximity of the industrial sites to the community and other industrialist, the types of industries that characterize the area, as well as the current socio-economic initiatives the Atlantis SEZ is engaged with.
Prior to the site visit, NatuReS attended the validation workshop for the development of a Net Zero Water Strategy and Implementation Plan for the Atlantis SEZ. The workshop was convened by the advisory Pegasys on behalf of the Atlantis SEZ and attended by representatives from the National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa, Atlantis SEZ Community Stakeholder Network, City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership. The Strategy and Implementation Plan builds on the initial Concept and Process Analysis and defines concrete pathways and actions for realizing the SEZ’s net zero water ambitions. NatuReS is supporting this initiative by serving on the project steering committee and providing strategic technical input.
Atlantis SEZ “Working with Nature” project, initiated in partnership with the City of Cape Town, to remove alien invasive vegetation and develop a biodiversity land bank for indigenous plants to be replanted. Copyright: GIZ/Amanda Nyingwa
