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Sustainable Infrastructure Handbook South Africa Volume 2 The Essential Guide

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Sustainable Infrastructure The Sustainable Infrastructure Handbook Handbook South Africa Volume 2 South Africa The Essential Guide The Essential Guide EDITOR Llewellyn van Wyk

PROOFREADER Simon Lewis

CONTRIBUTORS Llewellyn van Wyk, Kerry Bobbins, Stephen Koopman, David Baggs, Laura Conde, Cathy Dippnall, Gail Jennings

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Edward Macdonald

PEER REVIEWERS Llewellyn van Wyk, Peta de Jager LAYOUT & DESIGN Charlie Kershaw

DIVISIONAL HEAD OF SALES Annie Pieters PROJECT MANAGERS Pitso Trinity Maholela, Deon Baatjes

ONLINE MARKETING GSA Campbell

DIRECTORS Gordon Brown Andrew Fehrsen Lloyd Macfarlane

MARKETING MANAGER Nabilah Hassen-Bardien

EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES LvWyk@csir.co.za

CLIENT LIAISON OFFICERS Lizel Olivier Natasha Keyster

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Sustainability and Integrated REPORTING HANDBOOK South Africa 2014

ISBN No: 978 0 620 45240 3. Volume 1 first published October 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any way or in any form without the prior written consent of the publisher.

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ToTal SouTh africa head office geTS green makeover June 3, 2015 - Total South Africa’s head office Total South Africa aims to increase its overall in Rosebank, Johannesburg underwent a major market share within South Africa and cement its makeover to allow for future growth, while identity as an innovative brand of reference among improving the group’s environmental footprint. its customers. The new building provides sufficient The building is now complete and Total South space for growth and allows for a better working Africa’s 550 head office employees relocated environment for its existing staff, while improving back to the the newly-renovated Rosebank office the group’s overall environmental impact. on May 25, 2015.

The renovation of the Total South Africa’s building Total South Africa is targeting a level 4 Green Star is in accordance with Total’s Committed to Better rating through the Green Building Council of South Energy strategy, which started in 2013 when Africa (GBCSA), which will require adherence to the company opened a future-first, eco-friendly strict environmental building guidelines. service station in Fairlands, Johannesburg.

“Total South Africa considers itself more than just These new service stations feature energy-saving an energy company – we intend to lead the way and recycling initiatives that improve the impact in creating sustainable energy solutions that are on the environment and surrounding communities. environmentally friendly and have a positive impact This five-year project aims to revamp 100 service on people and communities whom we interact with. sites per annum.

Our new building demonstrates this and we are proud to be the first multi-national petroleum For more information, visit www.total.co.za group in South Africa to truly embrace the next era of energy production and efficiency,” says Total South Africa’s CEO Christian des Closières.

The

Sustainability and Integrated REPORTING HANDBOOK South Africa 2014

EDITOR’S NOTE There can be little doubt that the delivery, operation and maintenance of infrastructure are among the biggest challenges facing human settlements. In almost all countries infrastructure investment is less than it should be, and the quality of infrastructure services is deteriorating. For many millions in the world access to water and sanitation remains a far-off dream.

Governments continue to struggle to find the right balance between investment and maintenance, and between reducing backlogs versus new expansion. Most often the capital required is beyond the financial reach of governments, which is one of the reasons that the World Bank, among others, are operating in that domain. Developing countries are especially challenged in this regard although it impacts on developed countries as well: the United States has seen the condition of its infrastructure deteriorate over the past five years.

The status of infrastructure in South Africa is captured in the SAICE Infrastructure Report Card. In the 2011 report the following summarises their findings: • Water – deterioration in the ageing bulk water infrastructure; persistent, serious salination of key river systems and eutrophication in many dams and rivers; level of water supply in certain systems has fallen below the 98% assurance of supply as recommended in the National Water Resources Strategy; focus on quantity but not quality makes water service unsustainable; water wastage still too high; • Sanitation – serious problems with management of many wastewater treatment works; wastewater leakage and spillage still too high; • Solid waste treatment – landfill sites are not well managed; hazardous and health care risk waste disposal is a concern; • Electricity – major investment is needed to meet future needs; however, the country’s infrastructure is ageing, especially at local distribution level.

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I would not expect to see much change over the medium term as there are those (myself included), who argue that the problem is systemic, and that a new infrastructure paradigm needs to be created and implemented. This new paradigm, it is suggested, needs to be built on a bottom-up approach rather than the centralised, top-down approach currently being implemented. The argument is based on the hypothesis that population growth is demanding a continuous upgrading and expansion of infrastructure to keep pace: where infrastructure backlogs exist – such as in South Africa – it is almost impossible to maintain the required rate of expansion. The model that is therefore under consideration is one in which the city is broken down into cells, having a walking distance of roughly 20 minutes and pursuing an agenda aimed at achieving infrastructure independence at that scale. From the cell, a series of networks is installed to move services around as demand and circumstance require.

It is at the cell level that green infrastructure becomes relevant: technologies now exist which can function at a number of scales, from the individual plot to the block to the city quarter. At the same time, green infrastructure provides access to nature (a feature increasingly removed from our cityscapes) and contributes to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions due to the nature and scale of the technology.

It is against this background that this green infrastructure handbook is so critical: the discourse around alternative paradigms for infrastructure delivery needs to commence sooner rather than later, and this handbook hopes to make a significant contribution to that narrative.

Sincerely Llewellyn van Wyk Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

LLEWELLYN VAN WYK

The Sustainable I Handbook

Llewellyn joined the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in 2002 where he is a Principal Researcher in the Building Science and Technology Competence Area of the Built Environment Unit. He has delivered several keynote papers at international and national conferences and workshops. Llewellyn is the author of a number of published papers on the subject of sustainability and the constructed environment and has contributed book chapters to a number of international publications. He has received a number of design and best paper awards for his work as an architect and researcher.

CATHY DIPPNALL

Cathy Dippnall specialises in writing and communication services. She previously worked as a journalist at The Herald (Port Elizabeth), Sunday Times, Star and community newspapers, the George Herald and CXpress. Currently her services include writing for various publications, including Leadership magazine and Explore SA, government departments and businesses.

South Africa The Essential Guide

DAVID BAGGS

David is CEO of Global GreenTag (Pty) Ltd and Program Director of Global GreenTagCertTM, a life-cycle assessment based ecolabelling and product rating program. He is a multi-award winning architect specialising in green building design and world renowned sustainability and green materials expert, with over 35 years experience in sustainable development. He has been voted one of Australia’s Top 50 Green Leaders and is listed in the Top 100 Sustainability Leaders Globally.

GAIL JENNINGS Gail Jennings has a post-grad certificate in sustainable transport planning from the University of Washington, and an MA Linguistics from the University of Stellenbosch, in which she examined the role of metaphor and mythology in constructing the narrative of the private vehicle lifestyle. She has worked as a researcher, writer and editor for 25 years; in 2008 founded the transport policy journal MOBILITY, and has recently joined UNEP as an NMT researcher. Ms Jennings has published and presented widely on NMT, particularly cycling, and has planned the NMT network for three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in South Africa.

KERRY BOBBINS Kerry is a researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory focusing on the provision of ecosystem goods and services, water governance and policy, mining impacts on the environment and landscape restoration. Kerry holds an MSc in Geography from Rhodes University, South Africa.

LAURA CONDE-ALLER Laura has worked for WESSA (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) for over 13 years as a Regional Manager in the Eastern Cape and as the National Water Programme Manager. She has managed a wide range of environmental learning and sustainability projects across South Africa with specific focus on building capability towards catchment management and sustainable livelihoods.

STEPHEN KOOPMAN Stephen is currently employed as the Research and Development Outcomes Manager at the CSIR’s Energy Centre. Before that he was the Renewables Technologies Manager in the Eskom Research, Testing and Development Department (RT&D), Sustainability Division. In this capacity he was responsible for supporting the Eskom Renewables Business Unit with relevant research in CSP, Wind, PV, Waste-to-Energy and Ocean Energy technologies. Before joining Eskom RT&D he was the Eskom Regional Energy Services manager responsible for Energy Efficiency & Demand Side Management in one of Eskom’s regions spanning three provinces/states. His qualifications include a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering and a BCom, numerous short courses and more than 20 years related experience in the electricity industry, of which three-and-a-half years are in the Renewable Energy R&D space.

CONTENTS Using Eco-Engineering Systems To Re-Imagine An Integrated Water Resource Management Strategy Llewellyn van Wyk

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Sustainable Drainage System Llewellyn van Wyk

32

Towards An Energy-Autonomous Campus Stephen Koopman

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Mapping Green Infrastructure Networks In The Gauteng City-Region, South Africa Kerry Bobbins

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Getting Sustainability Assessment Right!

David Baggs

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Framing the Watershed Management Approach in the South African catchment management context Laura Conde

88

Integrating NMT infrastructure with public transport Gail Jennings and Cathy Dippnall

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42

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USING ECO-ENGINEERING SYSTEMS TO RE-IMAGINE AN INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY Llewellyn van Wyk

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Introduction and Background As noted in the 2nd UN World Water Report, “key challenges of contemporary water management can only be understood within the very broad context of the world’s socioeconomic systems (UNESCO 2006:3). The report notes that changing demographics and population movements; shifts in geopolitics, with new country boundaries and alliances; fast developing information and communication technologies; plus the impacts of climate change and extreme weather conditions are all making the world “a more challenging place for decisionmakers” (UNESCO 2006:3).

It is against this background that water managers must administer what is becoming an “increasingly scarce and fluctuating resource” (UNESCO 2006:3).

The report also argues that an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach is required to consider all these factors and issues simultaneously in order to secure the equitable and sustainable

ECO-ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

management of freshwater (UNESCO 2006:3).

Water resources management must recognize the differing challenges presented by the type of human settlement: human settlements vary from the very low-density scattered single dwellings typically associated with rural development, through villages and small towns, to the higher densities associated with cities and ultimately, mega-cities (UNESCO 2006:10).

Half of the global population (and most of the world’s economic output) is located in urban areas (UNESCO 2006:10). Very often these human settlements are not located in the optimal geographic location, for example, low-lying coastal areas or water-stressed areas. Johannesburg and Pretoria are cases in point: Johannesburg was developed as a consequence of the discovery of gold, despite the city not having local and sustainable freshwater resources. Apart from being major consumers of freshwater resources, human settlements are also “the

Figure 1: The Hydrological Cycle (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle)

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major polluters of water resources” (UNESCO 2006:10). Human settlements therefore provide a critical context for future water management.

State of the resource It is stated that the water challenge is not about sufficient freshwater resource in the world, but rather its uneven distribution (UNESCO 2006:11). This poses significant challenges to water managers, especially where there is a mismatch between availability, distribution and human settlements. Within this highlevel mismatch are lower-level mismatches, including increased water use, competition and pollution, together with “highly inefficient water supply practices” (UNESCO 2006:12).

To sustainably manage freshwater resources requires an understanding of the solar-powered hydrological cycle (Figure 1). The hydrological cycle begins with the evaporation of water from the earth’s surfaces (land, lakes and oceans); the formation of clouds through the condensation of the moist air; the dispersion of this moisture around the globe; and its final return to the surface as precipitation (University of Illinois 2015; Environmental Science 2006:237). Once precipitation reaches the Earth’s surface, some of it evaporates through transpiration; some of it seeps into the ground as subsurface flow (where it may recharge aquifers or seep back into lakes, streams, rivers and ultimately the ocean), while the remaining balance is runoff, which empties into lakes, streams and rivers and is, ultimately, carried back to the oceans where the cycle begins again (Environmental Science 2006:237).

It can be observed that the ‘unevenness of distribution’ begins in the hydrological cycle: water evaporated from one geographical area may be discharged as precipitation to a different geographical area, which may be many of thousands

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of kilometres away and even in another country. For example, Canada, which has only 0.5 per cent of the world’s population, has one-fifth of the world’s freshwater resource, while China, which has onefifth of the world’s population, has only 7 per cent of the resource (Environmental Science 2006:237). In addition, water also goes through different phases – liquid, solid (ice) and gas (vapour) – within the hydrological cycle. Thus, while the mass of water on earth remains fairly constant over time, the state, dispersion and storage of this water into major reservoirs of ice, fresh water, saline water and atmospheric water is variable depending on a wide range of climatic variables (Environmental Science 2006:237). The glacial and interglacial cycles exercises a significant influence on the dispersion and storage pattern: during the last ice age glaciers covered almost onethird of the earth’s landmass, resulting in an increase in sea level decrease of about 122m (USGS 2008). On the other hand, during the interglacial or warm period experienced about 125 000 years ago, sea level increased by 5.5m (USGS 2008). It is thought that about three million years ago the oceans could have been up to 50m higher (USGS 2008). Scientific climate change projections suggest that the hydrological cycle will intensify over time, with a reduction in precipitation in subtropical land areas (IPCC 2007). This drying out is projected to be strongest nearest the poleward margins of the subtropics, for example the Mediterranean Basin, South Africa, southern Australia, and the south-western United States (IPCC 2007).

While 71 per cent of the world’s surface is covered by water (Figure 2), only a small fraction of that (about 2.5 per cent) is freshwater (Environmental Science 2006:238). This is due, in large part, to 78 per cent of global precipitation occurring

1

Figure 2: Distribution of the earth’s water over the oceans (NASA 2015). Of that amount, only 1.3 per cent (0.014 per cent of the total) is accessible fresh water distributed into lakes, biota, rivers, atmospheric water vapour, and soil moisture (Environmental Science 2006:238). This chapter focuses on the integrated management of runoff as, by definition, a catchment deals with surface water and other fresh water runoff.

Defining catchments A catchment — also known as a drainage basin, drainage area, river basin or water

ECO-ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

basin (Lambert 1998:130) — is an area of land where surface water from rain, melting snow, or ice is collected by the natural landscape and converges to a single point where it joins another body of water (Hunter Water 2015; Lambert 1998:130). Typically all rain and runoff water eventually flows to a stream, river, lake, ocean, dam or groundwater system. Catchments drain into other catchment areas in a hierarchical pattern, i.e. smaller sub-catchment areas combine into larger catchment areas (University of Delaware 2008). As can be seen in Figure 2 above, surface water and other freshwater constitutes the water collected in catchment areas for storage and distribution. Catchment areas are therefore almost completely dependent on runoff.

The conventional approach to water catchment considers only natural features, as identified above by Lambert (1998:130).

Figure 3 below depicts a typical river basin, in this case the Steenbras River basin in the Western Cape of South Africa. Runoff collects and drains from the top right-hand

Figure 3: Steenbras River Dam and Basin

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corner of the image towards the Steenbras Dam which comprises two dams (the upper and lower dam). Excess water runs off toward the ocean, in this case False Bay which is part of the Atlantic Ocean, as shown in the lower left-hand part of the figure.

Other feeder dams are visible in the lower right hand of the figure. This configuration is typical of the dams of the Western Cape, and for South Africa.

The conventional approach to the planning and management of water resources assumes that the statistical properties of past water history remains unchanged over time and does not display any non-stochastic trends (Garcia, Matthews, Rodriguez, Wijen, DiFrancesco, and Ray 2014:vii). Garcia et al note that this assumption is widely referred to in the scientific and engineering literature as ‘stationarity’, meaning the past is a good predictor of the future (2014:vii). However, the hydrological cycle, as already addressed in this chapter, is “both extremely sensitive to climate shifts and very difficult to predict” (Garcia et al 2014:viii). This is critical as water resources will likely be the principal medium by which climate change impacts are felt and mitigated (UN Water 2010). In addition, over time the upstream runoff could be affected by land use changes, including more intensive agriculture and urbanization.

Garcia et al note (2014:4), the “assumption that stream-flow was a stationary process facilitated the generation of a plausible ‘future’ sequences of stochastic inputs”. The notion of ‘stationarity’ has been recently challenged by an opposing notion of ‘nonstationarity’, which has subsequently been further adapted through the recognition that time series are not simply stationary or non-stationary, but may be stationary in some components and non-stationary in others (Garcia et al 2014:4). More critically, if decision-makers have overestimated

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their ability to reliably and predictably plan for the future, then a serious crisis arises as to how decisions in, inter alia, water supply and sanitation, are made (Garcia et al 2014:5). Ultimately, Garcia et al (2014:5) quote Matthews, Wickel and Freeman (2011), who argue that “a sustainable vision of water resources management must encompass both ecological and engineering perspectives on non-stationary change”.

Garcia et al (2014:10) note that “traditionally, freshwater ecosystem management decisions have been after and in response to water infrastructure and management decisions” and that shifts in risk assessment may be used as an opportunity to “better integrate these perspectives through ‘ecoengineering’ systems that include more flexible environmental allocations – which can better balance operational, user, and environmental allocations – and that link dynamic ecological and engineering performance markers”.

Case study of catchment management in the Western Cape Stationarity is clearly evident in the history of water catchment and dam construction in the Western Cape. There is a series of parallel ranges that form part of the Cape

Figure 4: The Cape Fold Belt (Source: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fold_Belt)

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Figure 5: Catchment areas serving the Greater Cape Town Metropolitan Area Fold Mountains of the Western Cape (Figure 4). The Cape Fold Belt is a fold and thrust belt of late Paleozoic age which affected the sequence of sedimentary rock layers of the Cape Supergroup in the Western Cape (Shone and Booth 2005). The rocks involved are generally shales, which persist in the valley floors, and the erosion-resistant sandstones, which form the parallel ranges (Figure 5). The Cape Fold Belt extends from Cape Town in the southwest in a northerly direction to the Cederberg Mountains, and in an easterly direction to Port Elizabeth.

The portions of the Cape Fold Belt that are used as catchment for the Greater Cape Town Metropolitan Area are shown in Figure 5. Dam construction commenced very early in the history of colonial settlement in Cape Town (Table 1 tabulates the history of dam construction in the metropolitan area). From Table 1 it is clear that most of the dam construction in the 18th and 19th century took place on the Table Mountain range, shown

circled on the left of Figure 5. Once these catchments were exhausted, development shifted to the area circled on the right of Figure 5, commencing with the construction of Steenbras River Dam in 1921 (see also Figure 3) and progressive development of catchments extending to the north and east. These opportunities are practically exhausted and future water management strategies are based on water augmentation schemes (City of Cape Town 2005:12).

The sustainability of this approach is questionable: from Table 1 it can be seen that the response to meeting increasing demand has been to build more dams.

In many ways, dam construction is a proxy for urban growth: the dates in Table 1 reflect population growth in Cape Town driven by the influx of settlers post-1820; preparation for and post-war settlement during and after the South African War of 1899-1903; post-First World War settlement after 1918; post-Second

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Table 1: Chronology of dam building in the Greater Cape Town Metropolitan Area World War settlement after 1945; and rapid urbanization from the 1950s onwards.

Exploiting eco-engineering solutions With traditional catchment areas exploited, new solutions have to be found to ensure a sustainable freshwater supply to the Greater Cape Town Metropolitan Area.

Eco-engineering provides at least two opportunities.

Aquifers As stated earlier, the geological formation of the Cape Peninsula indicates that, after the formation of the Cape Fold Belt Mountains, the ancient landscape was at a much higher elevation than its current elevation, as shown in Figure 6 (Compton

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2004:24). Subsequent erosion of the softer rocks resulted in the lowering of the elevation to its current status stopped only by the harder and erosion-resistant basement rock layers comprised of shales and granite as shown in Figure 6 (Compton 2004:24). The softer rocks weathered into a 50km wide sandy plain known locally as the ‘Cape Flats’ (Compton 2004:24).

While early colonial settlers believed that the Cape Flats was a sand bar extending between the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south, our current knowledge indicates that the sand is a thin layer of decomposed soft rocks overlain on erosion-resistant shales and granites (Compton 2004:24; Maclear 1995).

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Figure 6: Geological cross section through Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fold_Belt) Because the geological rock formation is uneven, it is highly likely that the basement surface is uneven as well, resulting in peaks and valleys. Each valley is, therefore, potentially an aquifer. The potential of this aquifer (or the aquifers known as the Cape Flats Aquifer Unit – CFAU) was recognized

by Maclear (1995:1): he notes that the generally shallow water table – 3.75m below the surface on average – and medium- to coarse-grained nature of the saturated sands “result in a primary aquifer of significant exploitation potential” (Maclear 1995:2).

Other known aquifers are shown in Figure 7 and include Albion Spring, Atlantis Aquifer (comprising two aquifers, namely Witzands and Silwerstroom), Newlands Aquifer and the Table Mountain Group Aquifer (City of Cape Town 2006:3) In addition, Maclear (1995:2) classifies the quality of the groundwater as ‘fresh’ due to its salinity range of 300-1000mg/l total dissolvable solids TDS (i.e. falling within the acceptable limits for drinking water). Maclear

argues for the exploitation of the aquifer for its water-supply potential. Estimations of the capacity of the CFAU vary: Maclear conservatively calculated at 53.4mm³/yr, or the equivalence of 20 per cent of the total water supply to the Greater Cape Town Metropolitan Area (1995:3). Table 2 indicates

Figure 7: Aquifers in the Greater Cape Town Metropolian Area

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Table 2: Water supply and population statistics for the GCTMA and CFAU area (1995). the water supply potential of the CFAU as calculated by Maclear (1995:3).

Maclear (1995:3) calculates the water supply of the CFAU using annual rainfall: however, the recharge rate assumes that all available rainfall is absorbed as groundwater, whereas runoff in increasingly urbanized areas is collected through an elaborate stormwater system and discharged to the sea. The sustainable management of the CFAU would require eco-engineering solutions where rainfall is not diverted to a stormwater system but is, instead, carefully managed and treated to recharge aquifers.

In addition, eco-engineering solutions could include other strategies such as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) described elsewhere in this handbook in a separate chapter. This would include, inter alia, greywater absorption. Maclear argues that the “localised use of the CFAU can provide sufficient groundwater for small-scale use such as garden irrigation” (1995:3) but ecoengineered solutions would enable its use for human consumption. Adelana and Xu, on the other hand, estimates the water supply volume as 18 billion litres per year and suggest that this could meet more than two-thirds of the basic water needs of the population in the GCTMA (UNEP 2006:265278). A City of Cape Town report estimates the capacity of the CFAU as 128mm³ (million cubic meters) and the recharge rate at only 18mm/annum (2005:3).

The above calculations also assume a single usage i.e. aquifers are recharged, water is extracted, and disposed of and the cycle starts again. Clearly this is not sustainable: urban sprawl severely restricts

the ability to recharge aquifers even as it increases demand. Three strategies are required: firstly, the precipitation loop must be closed by minimizing disposal of surface water to the sea; secondly, multiple use must be made of available water through recycling and reuse; and, thirdly, demand must be reduced through the application of water-efficient and water-free fixtures, including sanitation systems.

Rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting is an eco-engineering technology used for collecting and storing rainwater collected from rooftops, the land surface or rock catchments.

Rainwater harvesting systems consist of three principal components, namely the catchment area, the collection device, and the conveyance system (GDRC 2015).

For purposes of this chapter, emphasis is placed on rooftop capture.

In the most elementary form of this technology, rainwater is collected in simple storage tanks located at the edge of the rooftop. Further sophistication sees the

Figure 8: Typical rainwater installation

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installation of a conveyance system (such as a gutter) to convey the water to a more convenient collection point through the use of a downpipe. More recent sophistication places a filter at the gutter and downpipe joint in order to capture and remove organic and inorganic material before entering the storage tank. As the rooftop is the main catchment area, the amount and quality of rainwater collected depends on the climatic conditions of the location (annual precipitation and wind speed), the area of the rooftop, and the type of roofing material used (GRDC 2015). The collection device could be a cistern or water tank located either above or below ground.

The significance of recognizing rooftops as catchment areas is that it extends the conventional application of catchment areas as described in Figures 3 and 5 to include urbanized areas. Thus, water-capture and -storage is de-linked from the traditional development of mountain catchment, as reflected in Table 1.

In addition, rainwater harvesting technologies are simple to install and operate, and these can be undertaken and managed by the local community using local materials. Rainwater harvesting is convenient as water is stored at the point of use, with the owner of the system having full control of how and when it gets used, thereby reducing the operation and maintenance costs. The range of collection devices has a lower environmental impact than the traditional collection devices, such as dams and reservoirs. Rainwater harvesting can provide a continuous source of water supply (especially for the poor and rural populations) as water collection and storage capacity can be adjusted to suit the local climatic conditions and programmatic requirements.

Conclusion As noted in the beginning of this chapter, water managers must administer what

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is becoming an “increasingly scarce and fluctuating resource” (UNESCO 2006:3). The chapter notes that an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach is required to consider all these factors and issues simultaneously in order to secure the equitable and sustainable management of freshwater.

The chapter also notes that such IWRM must recognize the differing challenges presented by the type of human settlement, including the supply and demand nexus and the polluting impacts of human settlements. The chapter also observes the ‘unevenness of distribution’, which begins in the hydrological cycle: water evaporated from one geographical area may be discharged as precipitation to a different geographical area, which may be many thousands of miles away, perhaps even in another country, thereby placing additional stresses on water security.

The chapter notes that surface water and other freshwater constitutes the water collected in catchment areas for storage and distribution, and that catchment areas are, therefore, almost completely dependent on runoff. More specifically, the chapter observes that the conventional approach to water catchment considers only natural features.

The chapter notes that the conventional approach to the planning and management of water resources assumes that the statistical properties of past water history remains unchanged over time and does not follow any trends (Garcia, Matthews, Rodriguez, Wijen, DiFrancesco, and Ray 2014:vii) an assumption widely referred to in the scientific and engineering literature as ‘stationarity’ meaning, the past is a good predictor for the future (2014:vii). However the hydrological cycle, as already addressed in this chapter, is “both extremely sensitive to climate shifts and very difficult to predict” (Garcia et al 2014:viii).

This is critical as water resources will likely

1

be the principal medium by which climate change impacts are felt and mitigated (UN Water 2010). What is equally true is that, over time, the upstream runoff could be affected by land use changes including more intensive agriculture and urbanization. As Garcia et al note (2014:4), the “assumption that streamflow was a stationary process facilitated the generation of a plausible ‘future’ sequences of stochastic inputs.” The notion of ‘stationarity’ has therefore been recently challenged by an opposing notion of ‘non-stationarity’ which has subsequently been further adapted through the recognition that time series are not simply stationary or non-stationary but may be stationary in some components and non-stationary in others (Garcia et al 2014:4).

More critically, if decision-makers have overestimated their ability to reliably and predictably plan for the future, then a serious crisis arises as to how decisions in, inter alia, water supply and sanitation, are made (Garcia et al 2014:5). Ultimately Garcia et al (2014:5) quote Matthews, Wickel and Freeman (2011) who argue that “a sustainable vision of water resources management must encompass both ecological and engineering perspectives on non-stationary change.” Garcia et al (2014:10) note that “traditionally, freshwater ecosystem management decisions have been after and in response to water infrastructure and management decisions” and that shifts in risk assessment may be used as an opportunity to “better integrate these perspectives through

ECO-ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

‘eco-engineering’ systems that include more flexible environmental allocations – which can better balance operational, user, and environmental allocations – and that link dynamic ecological and engineering performance markers.”

The chapter describes the stationarity approach manifest in traditional freshwater supply management making use of water management history in the Cape Peninsula. It then argues that the adoption of eco-engineering systems, such as aquifer management and rainwater harvesting, can better balance operational, user, and environmental allocations.

More critically, the chapter argues that redefining catchment to include aquifers and rooftops recognizing rooftops extends the conventional application of catchment areas as described in Figures 3 and 5 to include urbanized areas. Thus, water capture and storage is de-linked from the traditional development of mountain catchment as reflected in Table 1. Essentially, every building, street, parking area, and garden becomes a catchment area, a collection device, and a conveyance system.

The chapter argues that adopting this approach (i.e. making what was once con­sid­­er­ed to be part of the problem part of the solution, into an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) strategy) will contribute to securing the equitable and sustainable management of freshwater.

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ECO-ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

1

References • Hunter Water 2015. What is a catchment? [Online: available at: http://www.hunterwater. com.au/Water-and-Sewer/Water-Supply/Our-Drinking-Water-Catchments.aspx) [Accessed: Friday, 02 October 2015].

• Lambert, D. 1998. The Field Guide to Geology. Checkmark Books. pp. 130–13. ISBN 0-8160-3823-6 • University of Illinois 2015. A summary of the hydrological cycle. [Online] Available from: http:// ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/hyd/smry.rxml [Accessed: Wednesday, 07 October 2015].

• Miller, G. 2006. Environmental Science. United States of America: Brooks/Cole.

• NASA 2015. Salinity. [Online] Available from: http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/ oceanography/physical-ocean/salinity/. [Accessed: Wednesday, 07 October 2015].

• USGS 2008. The water cycle: water storage in oceans. [Online] Available from: http://ga.water. usgs.gov/edu/watercycleoceans.html. [Accessed: Wednesday, 07 October 2015].

• IPCC 2007. Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Washington.

• UNESCO 2006. Water: a shared responsibility. [Online] Available from: http://www.unesco. org/water/wwap [Accessed: Wednesday, 07 October 2015].

• Garcia, L., Matthews, J., Rodriguez, D., Wijen, M., DiFrancesco, K., and Ray, P. 2014. Beyond downscaling: a bottom-up approach to climate adaptation for water resource management.

AGWA Report 01. Washington: World Bank Group.

• UN Water 2010. “Climate change adaptation: the pivotal role of water.” Policy brief.

• Matthews, J., Wickel, A., and Freeman, S. 2011. “Converging currents in climate-relevant conservation: water, infrastructure, and institutions.” PLoS Bio 9(9):e1001159.doi:10.1371/ journal.pbio.1001159.

• Shone R. and Booth P. 2005. “The Cape Basin, South Africa: A review”. Journal of African Earth Sciences 43 (1-3): 196–210. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.07.01 • Compton, J. 2004. The Rocks and Mountains of Cape Town. p. 24-26, 44-70. Double Storey Books, Cape Town.

• Maclear, L. 1995. Cape Town needs groundwater. Technical Report No. Gh3868. [Online] Available from: http://www.wellcore.co.za/downloads/CapeTownNeedsGroundwater.pdf [Accessed: Friday, 09 October 2015].

• UNEP 2006. Groundwater pollution in Africa. The Netherlands: Taylor & Francis/Balkema.

• City of Cape Town 2005. Water resources and water resource planning. [Online] Available from: http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Water/WaterservicesDevPlan/Documents/ WSDP_2011_2012/3_1a_GOTO_4_1_Ch3_WSDP_BULK_RESOURCES_revised.pdf [Accessed: Friday, 09 October 2015].

• GDRC 2015. An introduction to rainwater harvesting. [Online] Available from: http://www. gdrc.org/uem/water/rainwater/introduction.html [Accessed: Thursday, 22 October 2015].

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FOR ALL YOUR CLAY BRICK FORFACE ALL YOUR REQUIREMENTS CLAY FACE BRICK REQUIREMENTS

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Created from nature, built to last Throughout South Africa, clay brick buildings shape our architectural heritage.

The very first clay bricks in South Africa were fired in 1656; since then this unrivalled building material has been used to beat our blistering heat, torrential rain, hail, frost and lightning storms.

Due to its extended lifespan, clay brick is the most economical walling material available today and is uniquely suited to South Africa’s climate and lifestyle.

The long lifespan of clay brick structures is partly due to their impressively high loadbearing capacity, dimensional stability and compressive strength. These properties also minimise the risk of cracking, ensuring the structural integrity of buildings.

Health & Safety Clay brick has a maximum fire rating as its total in-combustibility cannot contribute to the start or spread of fires.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) are emitted as gases from certain products, and can result in both short and long-term health damage, including lung disease and cancer.

“Clay bricks are completely inert – they do not release VOC’s or toxic fumes that reduce air quality,” confirms Jonathan Prior, Executive Director of the Clay Brick Association of SA. “Brick masonry does not promote mould growth, even if wetted, and is easily cleaned when needed. Clay bricks contain no pollutants or allergens and are resistant to ants, borer and termites.”

Kingswood College in Grahamstown was built in 1894 and its gracious main building is a proud testament to clay brick masonry.

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

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The science of sustainable buildings This attractive 8-Star energy efficient home located outside Sydney, Australia, has provided the building industry with meticulous “real world” statistics on environmentally responsible construction.

It now acts as a long-term research facility to evaluate long-term energy performance, with around 140 sensors measuring every­thing from internal temperature and humidity to noise and thermal bridging.

The house combines several construction materials, including insulated cavity brick

walls, a concrete floor slab (formed using a stackable polypropylene dome system) and a timber frame structure. Additional sound screening insulation reduces interior noise.

However, it is the “heavyweight” clay masonry walls that slow the passage of heat from the outside in, a process called ‘thermal lag’. This substantially reduces daily temperature and humidity swings during hot days and cold night.

The CSR 8-star House uses 85% less heating and cooling energy than the average home built before 1990. Photograph courtesy of CSR Limited, Australia.

Australian Home Energy Star Ratings In 2003, the Building Codes Board of Australia introduced ‘Star’ ratings as an indicator of the heating and cooling energy required to achieve an acceptable level of comfort, based on the Australian climate that is so similar to South Africa.

Most houses built prior to 1990 were rated as 1-Star, and today the average Star rating for newer Australian homes is 3-Stars. A 6-Star home uses around 70% less heating and cooling energy than the 1-Star home, while this 8-Star home requires 85% less than the average 1-Star home.

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Sustainable Design Elements Sustainably designed buildings are energy efficient, water-efficient and resourceefficient. They address the well-being of the occupants by considering thermal comfort, acoustics, indoor air quality and visual aesthetics in the design. They also consider the impact of a building’s construction, operation and maintenance on the environment, and the environmental impact of the building’s constituent materials.

“A sustainably designed building considers all of these aspects through the entire life-cycle of the building, not just during construction, but in the course of operation and maintenance,” says CBA’s Vice-President and Marketing Director, Musa Shangase. “Every sustainable building is unique, designed specifically for its site and the requirements of the people who will live and work there. The versatility and durability of brick facilitates its usefulness in sustainable design.”

Musa points out that people tend to focus on one aspect of sustainable design, such as energy use or environmental impacts.

He proposes that high-performance, sustainable buildings should consider all components of design: • Environmentally responsive construction methods, materials and products.

• An energy-efficient building shell based on a scientific energy analysis.

• Thermal comfort.

• Acoustic comfort.

• Visual comfort and aesthetics.

• Renewable energy and the ability to recycle materials.

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• Durability, safety and security.

• High-performance electric lighting and effective use of daylight.

• Water efficiency.

• Life-cycle rather than only construction cycle cost analysis.

Riverwalk Office Park, Gauteng. Photograph courtesy of Apollo Brick.

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

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Does R-Value really measure Energy Clay Brick is not only an extremely dense Efficiency? material, but it is usually built as a double In many countries, wall thermal resistance layer. Therefore, a clay brick shell ensures (R-value) is the sole determinant of energy that a brick house remains warm in winter, efficiency. and in summer it stays cool and comfortable Buildings in Europe focus on dealing with for longer, mitigating the need for expensive extreme cold. Most energy costs are used in heating or air-conditioning. Clay bricks keeping warm, so double glazing, insulated outperform the majority of alternative walls and roofs and tight sealing of windows walling systems in thermal comfort. and doors are all critical.

Here in South Africa, R-values are only For further information: one measurement to consider because The Clay Brick Association of South Africa most of the year our objective is to cool Website: www.claybrick.org.za our homes, rather than heat them. South African buildings require high thermal mass Use the convenient online map-based to achieve both optimum warmth in winter proximity search on our website to find the as well as cooling in summer. nearest clay brick supplier to your construction “R-Value is a theoretical figure that project. measures a material’s resistance to conductive heat transfer, but it does not factor in the time taken for heat to traverse a layer of high mass,” reports CBA Technical Director Nico Mienie. “To account for both factors we need to measure the thermal diffusivity or CR.-value.

(Thermal Mass).”

Eight years of empirical study at the University of Newcastle in Australia into the thermal performance of different wall construction materials gives statistics under “real world” conditions, in a climate that is very similar to South Africa.

In the study, dwellings of different walling materials yielded a wide range of thermal comfort levels, even though they all had the same R-Values.

“When calculating actual energy savings and thermal comfort, the R-Value needs to be considered Despite similar R-Values, the energy use of a clay brick together with the density of the structure under “real-world” conditions is considerably material,” reports Nico. less than for other walling materials.

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SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

Llewellyn van Wyk

SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

2

Background and context Conventional human settlement formation creates hard surfaces which impede the natural absorption of rainfall into the ground. Water collected from these hard surfaces has to be conveyed to some end destination, where it is discharged. This has a number of negative consequences, namely: • The construction, operation and man-­ age­ment of a significantly large stormwater collection and disposal system.

• Risk of flash flooding if the system is blocked or is inadequately designed.

• Potential for malfunctioning under extreme rainfall events.

• Potential downstream flooding.

• Potential pollution dispersal.

• Potential contamination of groundwater sources.

• Groundwater reservoirs are not replenished.

• Waste of a scarce resource.

• No amenity value.

A sustainable drainage system (SuDS) however, is designed to reduce the potential impact of new and existing developments with respect to surface water drainage

discharges (Shama 2008:1). The aim of a sustainable drainage system is to “replicate natural systems along with the policy and technological interventions”(Shama 2008:2) – hence its classification as Green Infrastructure (GI).

Figure 1 illustrates the natural water cycle, the conventional urban water-cycle, and a sustainable urban water-cycle.

According to Shama (2008:5) the goal of SuDS is to: • Harvest, treat and release surface water runoff slowly back into the environment rather than discharge it, untreated, into the sea or a river.

This objective is achieved “by using cost effective solutions with low environmental impact to drain away dirty and surface water run-off through collection, storage, and cleaning” (Shama 2008:5).

Failures of a conventional drainage system In a conventional drainage system as typically employed by most municipalities around the country, surface water that occurs from rainfall and, as a result of other

Figure 1: Urban water management cycle (from Hoban and Wong, 2006)

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

2

activities (such as car washing), is removed by using an underground pipe reticulation system designed and constructed to convey surface water away immediately. However, as noted by Shama (2008:4), this system poses four problems: i) As this system is designed and constructed to prevent local flooding using a specific flow rate of water, it is unable to capture any fluctuations due to change in the volume of water. ii) Captured water, including rainwater, is not used to recharge groundwater sources, thereby excluding its reuse. iii) All pollutants in the catchment area are captured and conveyed to a discharge point, usually a body of water such as the ocean or a river. These bodies of water become the receptacle of urban pollutants which in turn (in the case of an inland body of water) becomes polluted. iv) Streams used to accept runoff become “eroded due to increase in the high flow of urban runoff”.

As Sham (2008:4) notes, “conventional drainage systems are therefore unable to control poor runoff quality”. Consequently, conventional drainage systems are “an unsustainable option impacting both the terrestrial and aquatic environments” (Sham 2008:4).

The need for a paradigm shift in surface water management As noted above, conventional surface water systems are uni-functional: their focus is to collect water from one point and dispose of it at another point. It is unconcerned with addressing two critical challenges facing water management, namely quantity and quality, as it neither harvests nor enhances. As Ashley and Nowell (2010:1) note, “it is incumbent on policy-makers and professionals to seek multi-value benefits from any new or adapted infrastructure

SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

wherever possible”. The multi-value, also known as multifunctional, benefits of SuDS is also referred to by Ashley and Nowell (2010:1) as “the SuDS triangle of quantityquality-amenity”. The quantitative benefit is the easiest to calculate as it is a function of annual rainfall and collecting area, whereas the qualitative and amenity benefits are more difficult to calculate. The easiest of the qualitative benefits to measure is the quality of the water being disposed of under conventional drainage systems versus that of SuDS collection and management.

The amenity benefit is equally difficult to measure as it is “an outcome of the variability of scenarios and differing demands associated with urban design” (Ashley and Nowell 2010:2). The amenity benefits may come in many forms, including visual amenity, the amenity value associated with increased bird-life, and/or the benefit arising from green banks and associated parks. Ashley and Nowell (2010:2) note, however, that “the link between surface water management and quality of place is a vital concept and is successfully delivered in many countries, such as the USA (where low impact development (LID) and GI approaches are used interchangeably) and Australia as part of water-sensitive urban design (WSUD).” They cite USEPA 2008 and Ashley 2009 as evidence of these claims.

Sustainable drainage system components Glerum notes that there are “many different SuDS components and those used will often depend on the specific characteristics of the site where the SuDS are to be built and the effect the designer is trying to achieve” (2011:1). Nonetheless, SuDS components can be divided into seven separate groups that operate at different levels and have different effects on landscape. They are shown in Table 2 on the following page.

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37

SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

2

Table 2: Typical SuDS components (Glerum 2011:2)

Figure 1 below shows an example of how some of these components have been used

Figure 1: Components of a typical SuDS installation

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

2

Approaches to SuDS in existing urban environments Although SuDS components can be more easily applied to new developments, it can also be applied in retrofits. Any existing hard surface can be replaced with one or more of the seven groups that are identified in Table 2. Clarke (2011:1) identified the following different methods of retrofitting: • Street trees and planting – an important aspect of the urban environment as they are usually the only significant vegetation in a street and can provide links between open spaces and parks.

• Green roofs and green walls – can be incorporated into sites where there are few opportunities for other green infrastructure measures. They can provide

SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

important ecosystems that help link green networks through cities.

• Permeable pavement – the system­ atic replacement of impervious pavement with permeable pavement is a method successfully adopted in the city of Philadelphia in the USA. This can be applied to both pedestrian and vehicular surfaces.

• Restoration of water courses – previously heavily modified water courses can be restored to create slower and more natural response to heavy rainfall, while also restoring the watercourse to its natural channel.

• Improving an existing park of grass land – existing open space can be redeveloped into any one or all of the groups constituting SuDS.

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SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

2

Table 1: Valuing the multiple benefits of green infrastructure (adapted from Wise et al, 2010) Benefits from green infrastructure Ashley and Nowell (2010:3) have tabulated the benefits arising from SuDS-related green infrastructure as shown in Table 1.

Ashley and Nowell (2010:3) cite evidence from studies undertaken in the USA (USEPA 2007) and the Center for Neighbourhood Technology CNT (Wise et al, 2010) that demonstrated that using LID or GI for surface water management is cheaper than using buried drainage systems even when

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

comparing capital and operating costs. Ashley and Nowell (2010:4) also cite the Genecon (2010) valuation toolbox for economic development related to GI which identifies 12 benefit groups, namely: i) Climate change mitigation and adaptation. ii) Water and flood management. iii) Quality of place. iv) Health and well-being. v) Land and property values.

2

vi) Investment. vii) Labour productivity. viii) Tourism. ix) Recreation and leisure. x) Biodiversity. xi) Land management and products from the land. xii) Other, e.g. transport and education.

SuDS and landscape design Glerum notes that “SuDS that are based on existing features of a site are the most appropriate method of providing efficient drainage to new developments” (2011:1).

Glerum (2011:1) refers to the “SuDS philosophy which calls for the inclusion of: 1. SuDS on the surface: where possible, SuDS should be used on the surface as much as possible.

2. A management train: using several SuDS components in series.

3. Source control: managing runoff as close as possible to where it falls as rain.

4. Sub-catchments: characterising areas into land use and drainage type.

Glerum notes that the management train is particularly important and that it “starts with

SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEM

prevention, i.e. good housekeeping and site design that reduces and manages runoff and pollution” (2011:1).

Conclusion As stated in the beginning of this chapter, conventional human settlement formation creates hard surfaces which impede the natural absorption of rainfall into the ground. Water collected from these hard surfaces has to be conveyed to some end destination where it is discharged resulting in a number of negative consequences.

On the other hand, a sustainable drainage system (SuDS) is designed to reduce the potential impact of new and existing developments with respect to surface water drainage discharges.

Apart from the ecological benefits deriving from this approach, it is also incumbent on policy-makers and professionals to seek multi-value benefits from any new or adapted infrastructure wherever possible.

SuDS provides a multi-functional solution to urban water management. More critically it supports the main objective of urban water management: water quantity (managing supply and demand) and water quality.

References • Ashley, R. and Nowell, R. 2010. Surface water management and green infrastructure. London: CIRIA. • Clarke, L. 2011. Delivering green infrastructure in the existing urban environment. London: CIRIA. • Genecon 2010. Green infrastructure valuation toolkit. [Online] Available from: Glerum, J. 2011.

SuDS – a developing landscape. London: CIRIA. • Hoban, A. and Wong, T. 2006. “WSUD resilience to climate change.” 1st International Hydropolis Conference, Perth WA, October 2006.

• Shama, D., 2008. “Sustainable drainage system (SuDs) for stormwater management: a technological and policy intervention to combat diffuse pollution.” 11th International Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, Scotland.

• Wise, S., Draden, J., Ghalayini, D., Grant, J., Kloss, C., MacMullen, E., Morse, S., Montallo, F., Nees, D., Nowak, D., Peck, S., Shaik, S., and Yu, C. 2010. “Integrating Valuation Methods to Recognize Green Infrastructure’s Multiple Benefits.” Low Impact Development 2010: pp. 11231143. doi:10.1061/41099(367)98

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

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TOWARDS AN ENERGYAUTONOMOUS CAMPUS "Blueprint for a distributed, renewables-based interconnected energy system"

Stephen Koopman

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

3

Background and context South Africa’s endowment with worldclass solar and wind resources, combined with recent strong cost decreases for solar and wind technologies, makes renewable power generation now a cost-competitive new-build option in the country, and will be one building block in South Africa’s journey towards a more diversified energy mix.

However, for the successful deployment of renewable and clean energy technologies on a large scale, significant research is required on technology level, and from an energy-system integration perspective. New cross-cutting technologies, such as energy storage, power-to-gas/-liquids, demand-side management and grid-related information technologies to manage bi-directional power flows are required to enable the stable operations of an energy system with a large share of renewables.

The CSIR Energy Centre’s research will be brought to direct application on the CSIR’s campuses across the country.

Renewable energy technologies is fairly new to South Africa and, although, the country has done very well in introducing the technology at utility scale, there is still very little progress in the embedded generation/small-scale domain. It is also important to note that the introduction of renewable energy generation is foreign to the South African electricity grid (at all levels), and some development work is already being done to address high- and medium- voltage networks. Of particular interest is the low-voltage network as very little progress is evident in this category.

Some key questions remain in this sector, e.g. how should low-voltage networks of the future be planned to cater for embedded generation, how will the current networks respond to large volumes of embedded generation, what should be the control methodologies to be applied, what are the

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

operation and maintenance philosophies to effectively manage this, and many more questions. A real-world energy-autonomous campus with a mix of renewable energy technologies (solar PV, wind and biomass/ biogas) will assist in creating a platform to address the abovementioned questions.

Purpose of the project The aim of the project is to create an Energy-Autonomous Campus by supplying energy from the three primary energy sources: solar, wind and biogas from biogenic waste. The power generators will be combined with electricity and heat storage, integration of electric and hydrogen-driven vehicles, power-to-liquid and power-to-gas processes, demandside management and energy-efficiency measures. The other CSIR campuses across the country will gradually become part of the programme where, in the long-term, supply and demand will virtually be balanced across all CSIR campuses, which will form a Virtual Power Plant.

This project will stand as a real-world research platform for designing and operating a primarily renewables-based energy system at the lowest possible cost in R/kWh. This platform will be used to demonstrate in a real-world setting of significant size (> 10 MW total installed capacity) how a future energy system that is based on fluctuating and dispatchable renewables can be designed and operated in the most cost-efficient manner.

The research platform will attempt to address specific questions relating to gridintegration, optimal energy mix, energy tariff regimes, possible trading of energy between CSIR campuses and other potential customers who require green energy (using wheeling arrangements). The project will also address the demand-side component of the energy equation by identifying,

3

developing and implementing energy efficiency and load-management initiatives.

It will also at the same time allow technology demonstrators and technology development in different renewable energy and associated technologies, different control/management philosophies, the functioning of a smart grid and its impact on the main electrical network.

The project will be led by the Energy Centre with support from Facilities Management, and in close collaboration with other relevant CSIR research and support units. It is also envisaged that Eskom will collaborate with the CSIR with this initiative, as the utility has research questions relating to management

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

of an electricity network/system with a significant component of renewables. Eskom will benefit greatly from the technology knowledge-base to be developed and can improve the understanding of the changing utility model where consumers can become producers of energy, i.e. the development of “prosumers”.

The aim is to have a fully-functional, integrated, energy-autonomous plant by 2020 with all components at the CSIR Pretoria campus as mentioned above.

Project objectives Development and establishment/con­ struction of renewable energy plant(s)/

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47

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

3

source(s) to supply the CSIR campus and to provide a platform for research regarding different tech­nologies, management and control meth­od­ologies and its impact on the main grid.

The research questions will range from technology choices and grid integration to the changes in the regulatory framework and pricing mechanism. This will provide critical input to the energy policy direction to be decided on by the South African government.

A fully functional energy-autonomous system will be implemented on the campus by 2020, although some components

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

thereof will be completed in phases prior to this milestone.

Measures of success are: • A high percentage of annual energy demand on the campus is provided from renewable energy sources at low costs.

• Technology demonstrators have successfully been implemented.

• Commercialisation with involvement of South African industries has been stimulated.

• A numbers of research questions regarding distributed renewables-based energy systems are answered.

3

• CSIR Energy Centre has built capacity to advise the renewable energy fraternity (incl. government) regarding least-cost design and deployment of energy systems, and best practices and technology options to be considered for the future.

Business case The business case for the project is as follows: • To demonstrate in a real-world setting of significant size (> 10 MW total installed capacity) how a future energy system that is based on fluctuating and dispatchable renewables can be designed and operated in the most costefficient manner.

• This will at the same time be a commercially run and operated research platform to allow technology demonstrators and technology development on top of that platform.

• To supply the CSIR energy demand across all CSIR campuses in South Africa from renewable energy sources (wind, solar, biomass/-gas) and, by doing so, creating a Virtual Power Plant across the campuses that is built on distributed renewables, including energy efficiency, dispatchable loads, energy storage, and more early-stage developments, such as power-to-gas and power-to-liquids.

• In order to cater for an increasing share of renewables in the energy supply system of the future, a platform needs to be created to allow for/facilitate the evaluation of the real-world impact of renewable energy technologies on the main grid (Eskom and/or the municipality). This ranges from questions relating to the optimal mix of renewables to the behaviour of the grid as a result of the implementation of renewable energy. This real-world platform can be used for a number

•

•

•

•

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

of future, yet-to-be-identified studies by industry (suppliers of technology, project developers, funders, etc.), academia and government, as it will be a unique facility on the continent. This will place the CSIR Energy Centre in the advantageous position of providing a platform for numerous studies, earning revenue either through research to be conducted on behalf of the industry, or sharing/leasing a portion of the platform for the introduction of supplier-specific technology to be evaluated.

Funding for the Energy-Autonomous Campus programme will be secured by the CSIR Energy Centre.

All assets of the Energy-Autonomous Campus programme will be in the asset base of the Energy Centre for the duration of the implementation of the programme.

Once the entire programme is finalized, the assets in their entirety can be moved into a separate CSIR department/unit that is solely responsible for operating the CSIR energy system (CSIR’s own energy-utility function).

The energy generated from the renewable plants will be fed into the CSIR campus electrical grid, which is managed by the Facilities Management (FM). FM therefore receives electricity from the City of Tshwane (CoT ) and from the Energy Centre (EC). Regardless of what the underlying cost of power generation is (which is a function of the technology deployed), the Energy Centre will charge Facilities Management an energy charge below that of the City of Tshwane’s energy charge applicable at the time. The Energy Centre will pay rent to Facilities Management for the use of land and roof space and will, furthermore, pay a fee for the operations and maintenance of the assets.

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SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

3

Scope definition The aim is to supply energy to the CSIR campus from the following three primary energy sources; i.e. solar, wind and biogas over the 5- to 8-year horizon. This project will also integrate electric vehicles, demandside management and energy-efficiency measures to ensure a balanced approach.

A “state-of-the-art” control/management system will be employed to ensure optimal dispatch of the appropriate resource (supply- and/or demand-side) and that all the different actual operation modes are properly recorded for analysis.

The project will exclude any fossil-fueled generation options.

Deliverables The main objective of the programme is to design, build and operate a CSIR energy utility that will be capable of securely supplying the campus’ energy needs from renewable energy sources at competitive cost. This objective entails: • Install approximately 8 MW of PV on all rooftops of the CSIR buildings at the

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• •

•

•

•

•

Pretoria campus and another few 100kW on rooftops at other CSIR sites across South Africa.

Install approximately 3MW of wind turbines on the CSIR Pretoria campus.

Install approximately 5MWel of biogas-fired gas engines, where biogas is produced through anaerobic digestion from muni­cipal waste; the biogas will be stored onsite for the gas engines to be able to provide the flexibility that is required to balance wind/PV supply.

Conduct an energy efficiency audit across all CSIR facilities (current demand: 30 GWh of electricity per year) and implement energy efficiency measures.

Identify dispatchable/non-essential loads that can be utilised as a demand-side part of the system operations.

Model and simulate the entire CSIR Virtual Power Plant across all campuses to optim­ise mix of renewables and dispatch regimes.

Identify need for energy storage in the form of batteries and heat storage and implement technologies.

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SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

• Operate the system as a commercially run Virtual Power Plant.

• Use the operational system as a platform to demonstrate technologies that are further away from commercialisation (e.g. large-scale electrolyses, subsequent power­to-gas and power-to-liquids processes).

• Connect electricity and transport sector by integrating electric vehicles into the CSIR car fleet and by establishing a hydrogen fuel station on campus for later integration of hydrogen-driven vehicles; in the long-term, establish a fuel station with carbon-neutral, own-produced synthetic diesel and petrol to supply to conventional CSIR car fleet (CO2 + electricity from renewables + H2O --> carbon-neutral synthetic fuels).

• The end-result will be an energy-autonomous campus supplied by renewable energy and integrated with the electricity grid of the municipality and/or Eskom. This will result in reduced energy consumption from the grid (materializing in significant savings) and could potentially facilitate feeding (and selling) excess energy into the grid and provide a real-world platform for research initiatives.

Risks A separate risk management plan for the programme will be developed and approved by the Programme Steering Committee (PSC). It may entail, but is not limited to, the following: • Programme funding is not approved, or reduced, resulting in a change of scope.

• Delays in execution as a result of external factors (e.g. permitting).

• No successful bidders for the different components of the project.

• Inability to find suitably qualified personnel to ensure proper execution of the project.

• Lack of necessary skills and resources to provide the necessary support from other CSIR departments (e.g. Facilities, Management Services and Procurement).

• Lack of, or reduced support from, external partners.

• Health and Safety risk during construction and operations.

• Human resources (loss of resources and how continuity is managed, human capital development).

• Unknown.

Assumptions, constraints, dependencies and success criteria The following assumptions are made: • Funding will be available for the entire project.

• Provision will be made for escalation of unforeseen costs.

• The CSIR strategy includes active partici­ pation in the renewable energy sphere.

• Acquisition of suitably qualified human personnel.

• Suitable service providers will be contracted to deliver on the different components of the project.

• Support from the CSIR units identified to assist with the project (i.e. Facilities, Management Services and Procurement).

Conclusion As stated in the beginning, some key questions remain in this sector, such as how should low-voltage networks of the future be planned to cater for embedded generation, how will the current net­works respond to large volumes of embedded generation, what should be the control methodologies to be applied, what are the operation and maintenance philosophies required to effectively manage this, and many more.

It is hoped that a real-world energyautonomous campus with a mix of renewable energy technologies (solar PV, wind and biomass/biogas) will assist in creating a platform to address the abovementioned questions.

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ADVERTORIAL

AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES Jurie Swart | CEO African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) As Africa becomes an increasingly attractive investment destination − underpinned by strong GDP growth; favourable demographics characterised by a rapidly urbanising population and rising middle-class; reduced political risk and improved corporate governance − the role of infrastructure in the development of the continent becomes more apparent. According to EY’s 2014 Africa Attractiveness Survey, over the past four years Africa has improved from an attractiveness ranking of eight to being the second most attractive investment destination.

INCREASING CONFIDENCE IN AFRICA AS AN INVESTMENT DESTINATION

Source: EY’s 2014 Africa attractiveness survey

2014 GDP GROWTH FORECAST

Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook: “Recovery strengthens, remains uneven” April 2014

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ADVERTORIAL

While the improvements in the perception of Africa as an investment destination are striking, this has not resulted in similar increases in foreign direct investment (FDI). Over this period, India received more global FDI than the whole African continent combined. To this end, EY notes in their Africa Attractiveness Survey that the inadequate supply of infrastructure is the second most problematic factor for doing business in Africa, after corruption and political risk.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICIT CHASM

Effective infrastructure is vital for the economic growth and development of Africa and, while there have been significant improvements in the quantity and quality of infrastructure across the continent, there is still a critical shortage of funding allocated to the sector. According to the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, in 2014 sub-Saharan Africa rated 2.15, the lowest score globally, compared with a score of 2.85 for East Asia.

Africa’s energy shortage is well documented. The 48 countries making up sub-Saharan Africa, with a population of around 1.1 billion people, generate roughly the same amount of power as Spain, a country of some 47 million people. Overall, only about 32% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population have access to electricity. In the transport sector, less than a quarter of sub-Saharan African roads are paved, yet roughly 80% of freight and 90% of passenger traffic rely on roads for transport. The African Development Bank estimates that bridging the infrastructure deficit in these two sectors alone could add up to 2% to Africa’s annual GDP growth.

In late January, in an article entitled “Foreign investment in Africa – A sub-Saharan scramble”, The Economist noted: “In some respects it is no surprise that Africa has become such a popular destination for business investment. It certainly needs more capital – an extra US$93 billion a year for infrastructure alone, the World Bank reckons. Consumer demand is growing, and industries are being liberalised.”

While this infrastructure spending requirement has arisen from historic underinvestment, bridging the gap remains a challenge. With current infrastructure spending in the region estimated at US$50 billion a year − two thirds by African governments and citizens, 8% by multilateral and bilateral donors and the rest from the private sector − the funding gap is still estimated at about US$45 billion a year.

AFRICA INFRASTRUCTURE: THE INVESTMENT GAP URBAN POPULATION BY REGION, 2000 – 2050

Source: UN Population Division, World Urbanisation Projects

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ADVERTORIAL

ESTIMATED GAP BETWEEN REQUIRED AND ACTUAL ANNUAL INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE WORLDWIDE

Source: World Economic Forum

AN OPPORTUNITY-FILLED FUTURE

Funding this infrastructure deficit (the so-called infrastructure funding gap), is becoming increasingly important for the region’s governments. A PwC survey in November 2014 on the trends, challenges and the future outlook for capital projects and infrastructure in East, Southern and West Africa corroborates this “opportunity-filled future” for infrastructure development in sub-Saharan Africa. By their count, public infrastructure spend in the region is expected to increase at an average of 10% a year to reach US$180 billion a year by 2025 with sectors with the highest budget allocations expected to be transport (36%) and energy (30%).

The IMF notes, however, that in many countries an increase in the public spending levels has not had a direct correlation to the quality of infrastructure. This may be due to timing lags between spending and project completion. As such, the strengthening of planning, appraisal and execution capacity is key to increasing the absorptive capacity of infrastructure spend.

The inclusion of private funding is therefore seen as critical to not only bridging the funding gap, but also to enhancing the skills and effectiveness of the infrastructure projects.

PLANNED INCREASES IN ANNUAL INFRASTRUCTURE SPEND ACROSS AFRICA’S SEVEN MAIN ECONOMIES* (US$ BILLIONS)

* Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania Source: PwC Capital projects and infrastructure spending: Outlook to 2005

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ADVERTORIAL

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: AVERAGE PUBLIC INVESTMENT VERSUS CHANGE IN QUALITY OF INFRASTRUCTURE SCORE. 2006-13

Source: IMF - Regional Economic Outlook: sub-Saharan Africa Africa’s funding needs are likely to be met in a variety of ways: internal funding, a mix of government funding and government bonds, a mix of private sector and government funding and private sector debt and equity – the latter two are expected to be by far the most important.

A COMPELLING INVESTMENT CASE

For investors, the most compelling argument for investing in African infrastructure is that infrastructure focuses on a region’s fundamental needs. Underpinned by increased demand, as a result of high GDP growth rates and an increasingly middle class and urban population, infrastructure investment promotes secondary industry growth. PwC estimates that improving infrastructure to the level of middle income countries would result in the addition of 3% and 4% to the annual GDP growth rates of Kenya and Nigeria, respectively.

The infrastructure investment spectrum has a broad range of risk/return profiles and characteristics. Infrastructure generates predictable cash flows and competitive real returns over the long term. The combination of the critical requirement for core infrastructure and the development of the private investment programmes is driving a strong pipeline of infrastructure opportunities, through which investors are able to generate strong risk-adjusted returns.

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ADVERTORIAL

But, with these exciting private market investment opportunities in Africa, come the challenges. While Africa’s economic and demographic future dynamics are compelling, and the political and business environment has improved dramatically over the past few decades, investing in Africa still needs to be approached carefully. So the key to unlocking the full return potential of any infrastructure project for investors is to navigate these successfully.

Infrastructure investors in the PwC survey identified the following top five challenges facing their projects in Africa: • Availability of funding • Policy and regulatory environment • Political risk • Availability of skilled resources in the market • Internal capacity to plan, manage and implement capital infrastructure projects.

TOP CHALLENGES FACING CAPITAL PROJECTS

Base: 95 respondents Source: PwC Capital analysis

While the availability of funding is likely to be addressed if the growing investor interest in private market materialises as predicted, it will require a focus on adequately addressing the remaining risks in order to free up these capital flows.

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ADVERTORIAL

MULTILATERAL ORGANISATIONS HELP ADDRESS RISKS The policy and regulatory environment and political risk are the biggest macro-risks to investors. Infrastructure investments are typically structured with a government as a key stakeholder in the projects. This, by its nature, exposes the projects to an element of political risk, particularly where projects are realised over a long period of time that may span more than one political regime. These risks are being addressed in many ways by multilateral agencies, like the World Bank’s Multilateral Guarantee Investment Agency, the Private Investment Development Group and the African Development Bank, and project financiers themselves.

Among these are the loan guarantees provided by the multilateral agencies to encourage funding by reducing the exposure private funders have to a government failing to meet its obligations.

For instance, the African Development Bank and the European Union launched the Infrastructure Investment Programme for South Africa (IIPSA) last year – a €100 million fund providing alternative and innovative financing that is undertaking infrastructure development projects in South Africa or projects that cross two or more borders of the Southern African Development Community countries. These enhancements all support the bank-ability of a project and are increasingly being seen as crucial to transacting in many jurisdictions.

The involvement of the private sector in policies to reduce the infrastructure deficit is, in many cases, considered a key success factor. Not only due to the

access to additional funding sources, but also through the access to the skills, capacity and governance discipline the private sector brings.

Increasingly, private investors in subSaharan Africa are having to become involved in infrastructure projects at an earlier stage of development than would typically be considered in developed markets. The addition to this private sector discipline brings an enhanced level of experience to the development of feasibility assessments, project structures and contract negotiations.

While infrastructure projects in Africa have historically been characterised by delays and cost overruns, the experience private investors bring in not only assessing the risks but also in the appropriate allocation of these risks to the various counter-parties – developers, contractors, lenders, governments and investors − supports the realisation of a successful project, where the stakeholders are able to participate and manage the risks within their expertise and control.

So what should you be looking for in an investment manager if you are considering getting exposure to Africa’s private markets?

As with any investment opportunity, success is determined by the quality of the manager of the assets: their track record, investment philosophy and process and the investment resources available to them. However, in Africa, there are the additional considerations that need to be factored in: how they manage or offset the political and project risks.

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MAPPING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS IN THE GAUTENG CITY-REGION, SOUTH AFRICA Kerry Bobbins

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS

4

Abstract The concept of green infrastructure (GI), or the interconnected natural and manmade ecological systems and semi-natural landscape features, has emerged as an approach to understand how ecological systems function as a component of the urban landscape. A GI planning approach has been used to address the increasing demand for infrastructure and services in a more equitable and cost-effective way. To do this, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been used to support decisionmaking at a regional, city or municipal level.

This is through development of a GI map that depicts the extent, quality, and services provided by existing green networks according to a predefined map goal.

By mapping existing GI networks in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR), it was discovered that the state of publicly available data on green assets and infrastructure varies in its availability and quality. This in turn places limitations on the use of data to inform GI decision-making at the local level. As GI provides opportunities for infrastructure and development in the GCR, the findings of this study offer suggestions on how spatial data collection and storage can be improved to support the uptake of GI planning approach in the GCR. Introduction The term green infrastructure (GI) des足 cribes the interconnected networks of natural and semi-natural green assets (and other environmental landscape features), and includes inter alia trees, parks, sports fields, opens space and conserved areas (Ahern, 2007). Cities and regions have started to plan and manage ecological networks for the benefits they provide for society, environment and the economy (Weber & Wolf, 2000). This is because green assets provide multi-functional services

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that can be used to offset a host of urban challenges, such as the urban heat island effect, flooding and air quality (Benedict & McMahon, 2002). As identified by Bolund & Hunhammar (1999), green assets found in urban areas such as parks and green open spaces, for example, can provide services to offset the immediate impacts of urban areas on the environment.

GI can also assist with overcoming urban challenges by filtering air, regulating micro-climates, increasing rainwater drain足a ge and reducing noise (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999). Other benefits include ecosystem-based adaption to climate change and offsetting the costs of traditional built (or engineered) infrastructure (Cilliers, et al., 2013).

GI planning has gained popularity since it was first discussed in the late-1990s by researchers and academics (Mell, 2008).

Since then, a series of GI applications have been championed by state and local jurisdictions in Europe, United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA) (Mell, 2008). In these areas, GI has been used to promote conservation, protect ecology, encourage equitable land development and to inform landscape ecology in urban environments (Mell, 2008). These applications have also been extended to include the management of city parks and recreational areas, restoring urban streams, and managing stormwater (Natural England, 2010, Wickham et al., 2010). In New York, for example, GI has been used to create a sustainable strategy for clean waterways using purposefully designed grey-green infrastructure such as bio swales and green roofs (New York City, 2009). When compared with a traditional approach to stormwater management in New York, the use of GI is said to save taxpayers as much as US$1.5 Billion over a 20-year-period (New York City, 2009).

4

Literature on African cities suggests that the concept of GI has not yet permeated urban infrastructure planning (Cilliers, et al., 2013; Schaffler et al., 2013). That said, there is an emerging body of research on the value of ecosystem services in South African cities – in the form of ecosystem service evaluations and the general mapping of green networks – and this is being used to encourage the appreciation of ecological networks in urban planning. In the City of Cape Town, for example, green assets have been identified to provide multi-functional ecosystem services for society, such as inter alia water runoff regulation, purification of groundwater, and coastal zone regulation (Cilliers, et al., 2013; Cartwright and Oelofse, 2014). In the City of Durban, the connected networks of open space are being managed to enhance water quality in the city as they are identified to provide wastewater treatment services (eThekwini Municipality, 2007; Cilliers, et al., 2013). These applications are forming a basis for the uptake of the concept GI into urban planning in South Africa.

Gauteng City-Region context and focus of the paper The Gauteng City-Region (GCR) is comprised by a collection of cities, towns, and urban nodes that together make up the economic heartland of South Africa.

Gauteng, which is located at the core of the city-region, supports an estimated 1 2272 263 individuals. Projections indi­ cate that Gauteng’s population is likely to increase by 16 million people by the year 2025 and 20 million people by the year 2050 (GCRO, 2012). This places increasing pressure on government to meet the growing need for formal shelter, clean water, sufficient food supplies, adequate energy and waste removal.

Here, investments in GI have the ability

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS

to reduce this pressure by offsetting the cost of basic services and infrastructure provision, while contributing other benefits, such as improved quality of life.

In Gauteng, a strong emphasis has been placed on resource protection and the preservation of indigenous and naturally occurring vegetation (Schaffler et al., 2013). This focus has been guided by various environmental policies and plans drawn up at the level of local government.

There also appears to be an emerging set of strategic discussions around increasing investments in ecological networks for the benefits they provide for communities, such as the reduced vulnerability to natural disasters (Schaffler et al., 2013). In Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality for example, the importance of ecological assets for developmental planning has been stressed by municipal plans, and in the City of Tshwane, a particular focus has been placed on the benefits provided by open spaces and protected areas (Schaffler et al., 2013).

To encourage the uptake of a GI planning approach in the GCR, this paper aims to develop a map or ‘blueprint’ of existing GI, indicating the type and extent of green assets in Gauteng. By reflecting on the state of publicly available data on GI, this study highlights a set a recommendations to inform the collection of digital spatial data in the GCR. It is anticipated that this work will encourage further investigations on the value of GI and on how it can be included in municipal accounting systems and infrastructure plans.

Using a Geographic Information Systems as a support tool to inform a green infrastructure approach A GI project encompasses a shared planning vision for urban and non-urban landscapes and most often includes a plan or ‘blue-print’

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4

of existing GI (Benedict & McMahon, 2002; EPA, 2015). A geographic information system (GIS) is typically used to prepare this blue-print as it allows for existing spatial patterns to be translated into objective and measurable considerations (Câmara et al., ND). A GIS can also be used map multiscalar relationships, patterns, processes, and connectivity in the landscape which makes it a unique tool to quantify and analyse spatial data for visual representation (Ahern, 2007).

Key to the development of a GI project is the availability of green asset spatial data and the ability to model and map the scale, size, and geographic diversity of a particular study area (McPherson et al., 2013). Here it is noted that there is often little baseline information on green assets and this can limit the approach and scope of GI projects (CABE, 2008).

Green networks are mapped according to a particular GI goal and can vary accord­ ing to the local need (Mell, 2008). One method of mapping GI is through the classification of ‘hubs’, and ‘links’ (Benedict & McMahon, 2002; Benedict & McMahon, 2006). More specifically, ‘hubs’ are defined as protected land of variable size, which can be used to anchor the GI network (Weber & Wolf, 2000). ‘Linkages’ or ‘links’ as proposed

by Weber & Wolf (2000) are the features that connect the green network together, creating connectivity between hubs (as described above) and other green features.

The links can create conduits or corridors for the movement of flora and fauna (Varela, 2009). In order to determine hubs and links, a variety of GIS mapping techniques can be used. The simple overlay method, pioneered

by McHarg (1969), incorporates spatially referenced vector layers to determine the suitability of ecological areas (Weber, et al., 2006). Using this method, a new layer is created by merging together a host of existing digital spatial layers (DiBiase, 2014).

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For example, individual layers on watersheds, slope, soils and land use can be merged to create a new layer that indicates agricultural potential (DiBiase, 2014).

Common layers used in an overlay analysis include heritage sites, forests, wetlands, rivers, slope, floodplains, open spaces, protected green areas, air quality, and biodiversity (Weber, et al., 2006). Notably, data layers such as rivers, streams, ridges, and road networks typically comprise links or corridors. Corridors that should be earmarked for conservation are often calculated using a technique called the least-cost path (Weber, et al., 2006). This technique, which is considered to be a general application for determining the most effective route between source and destination, can be used to investigate functions of time, distance or other factors (Briney, 2014). Weber, et al., (2006) explain that in terms of GI planning, the least-cost path method is used to calculate the most suitable ecological path between hubs and is ranked according to ecological integrity.

Ranking for ecological integrity can also vary between GI projects and is dependent upon the expected outcome of the project (Weber et al., 2006). In Maryland (USA), for example, ranking was based on land protection efforts, physiographic regions, climates and substrates (Maryland Department of Natural Resources, 2003).

Other methods for calculating corridors include the block and stick method as outlined by Beier et al., (2011). Here, sticks indicate place-holders for connectivity and occur between two block features. Block features hold a conservation value in terms of local, national and regional planning (Beier et al., 2011). Advances in GI mapping includes the use of morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA), see Wickham et al., (2010), or patch-corridor-matrix models (Chang, et al., 2012). In these applications, the connectivity between hubs is determined

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using land cover and land use data, rather than vector data. These techniques were used to overcome data inconsistencies and to incorporate land cover change over time (Wickham, et al., 2010).

Creating a green infrastructure map for the Gauteng City-Region The overall goal of this GI mapping exercise was to illustrate the type and extent of existing GI networks in the GCR and to reflect on the state of available digital spatial data.

To help guide the data collection process, a list of desirable GI digital spatial datasets were identified. These datasets were chosen as they provided an overview of natural and man-made green assets in the GCR and included public and private green spaces.

A list of the desirable digital spatial datasets is given below.

• River network (perennial and non-perennial).

• Wetlands.

• Ridges (especially non-transformed).

• Nature reserves, conservancies and reserves.

• Bird sanctuaries.

• Farming markets.

• Cemeteries.

• Nurseries.

• Urban trees.

• Stormwater attenuation zones.

• Developed parks.

• Space designated for parks but not yet developed.

• Community gardens or urban agriculture spaces.

• Private and publicly owned unclassified open space.

• Vacant space (including buffer zones around industries, waste facilities etc.).

• Additional (or as yet unknown) ‘green space’ data sets.

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This list was used to guide a digital spatial data collection exercise in the GCR. This exercise involved the identification and collection of data from government departments (national, provincial, and local), institutions and non-profit organisations that house publicly available digital spatial data. Where possible, stakeholder engagements were arranged with representatives responsible for data collection and/or the housing of digital spatial data to find out how institutional structures allowed for the collection and housing of data. Of particular interest here was how the data was collected, what the primary purpose of the data was, and how it was housed and shared.

A total of 374 digital spatial data layers were collected from the identified data housing entities. Data was interrogated for inconstancies in quality, type and the classification of green features. After the interrogation exercise was complete, 75 datasets were selected for use in the final GI map. Many of the 374 layers were excluded from the mapping exercise as they did not align with the desired data list, or they were of insufficient quality to be used in the final map. During the data interrogation exercise, it was also noted that many of the desired layers could not be sourced. These included farming markets, vacant space, nurseries, areas designated for parks not yet developed and urban agriculture.

The 75 selected layers underwent a cleaning process to ensure the final layers were free of topological errors such as sliver, gap, dead end and bow tie data errors, and any overlapping features were removed.

Digital spatial data attribute tables were also updated and data was set according to a common datum and co-ordinate system.

Where possible, meta-data was captured according to the international standard ISO 19115. To overcome definitional inaccuracies between layers of similar type,

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all layers that depicted identical or similar GI features were merged into a single layer. For example, parks, open space and green space were not classified in the same way across the GCR and as a result, were merged into one ‘open space’ layer.

Digital spatial data layers were then sorted according to data themes that emerged across the 75 cleaned datasets.

Obvious themes included natural and planted vegetation, agricultural land, recreational areas, protected areas, and hydrological networks (Fig. 1.). Data was then sorted according to the five identified data themes. An overview of how data was sorted is depicted in Fig.1, in red.

Publicly available data for GI tended to be collected at the local level and this resulted in a number of inconsistencies around the type and coverage of GI in the GCR. To overcome these inconsistencies,

a 2.5m resolution land cover dataset was sourced and purchased (GTI, 2012). This private dataset was derived using satellite imagery and classified land cover into 12 homogeneous land cover classes. All green land cover categories were extracted from this dataset and were included in the thematic breakdown. A breakdown of the extracted land cover categories are shown in blue (Fig. 1).

Based on data quality and the scale of the mapping exercise, it was decided that the data should be visualised according to the thematic layers as shown in Fig.1. This method allowed for the map goal to be satisfied as both the type and extent of GI networks would be mapped.

The final set of thematic GI maps were created by converting data (sorted under the five themes) into individual raster datasets and then merging these to create a

Figure 1. Thematic overview of data used in the final GI map. Layers in red depict publicly available datasets, and those in blue indicate categories included from the GTI 2,5m land cover dataset

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Figure 2. Final GI maps created for the GCR. Maps depict the varying type and extent of GI networks in the Gauteng (Data source: see acknowledgements) single raster layer for each of the five themes (natural and planted vegetation, agricultural land, recreational areas, protected areas and hydrological networks). In the end, a series of five raster datasets were created to depict each of the data themes listed in Fig.1. To run the GIS analyses and operations, a spatial resolution of 10m2 was used.

Green infrastructure maps of the GCR Overview of GI networks in the GCR: The final maps depict the GCR’s diverse set of interconnected GI networks. Broken down into natural and planted vegetation, agricultural land, recreational areas, pro­ tect­ed areas and hydrological networks (Fig. 2), existing GI networks thread through the various urban and non-urban landscapes of the GCR and, in doing so, provide a host of supporting and provisioning services for society and the environment.

More specifically natural and planted vegetation, comprised by a mix of indigenous and non-natural vegetation,

covers the largest surface area among the five thematic maps created. Here, river areas and ridges form natural corridors or links between environmental features, knitting together the broader GI network. Hubs, or anchor points, are comprised by protected land and reserves and serve to support the regeneration and ecological functionality of GI networks (Fig. 2).

Agricultural land, comprised by large commercial farms and agricultural hubs, is located on the periphery and has been developed to enhance agricultural production and local livelihoods (Fig. 2).

While this land is not considered to be ecologically intact it does provide critical goods and services for society – in the form of food and fodder.

Recreational areas, comprised mainly by school grounds, cemeteries and heritage sites, are not noticeable at first glance due to their relatively small area in relation to the Gauteng province.

Located in mainly in urban areas, these

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features offer a prime opportunity to direct investments in GI and provide much needed urban services. These investments will further support the development of public green spaces that have a cultural value (Fig. 2).

Publicly available data on green infrastructure The findings of this study reveal that while many digital spatial datasets were collected, data was created to meet specific local priorities and this meant data could not always be compared at a provincial level. In particular, many of the data layers were digitised for municipal grey asset registry databases and they were rarely used for environmental planning purposes.

Reflecting on the source and type of GI data collected in the GCR, it also appears that data was not digitised according to the same data standards. This may be due to the fact that there is no single repository that houses digital spatial data on green features or green networks in the GCR. These responsibilities are spread across different national, provincial, and local (district and municipal) government departments and this may led to inconsistencies in the way that spatial data is created, collated, used, and stored.

The underlying institutional structures that guide data collection and the housing of data in the GCR were understood to be limiting factors to the GI mapping exercise. Firstly, a result of varying GIS capacity between departments at the local level, the quality of digital spatial datasets varied significantly across the GCR. Secondly, departments that house GIS data may not know exactly what data they have in their departmental data repositories and data may be stored in a format that is not useful for spatial

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environmental planning e.g. hard copy maps, CAD formats etc. This was found to limit the use and applicability of existing data. Thirdly, datasets were not always compatible each other due to differences in the classification and cataloguing of green features. This made mapping GI across administrative boundaries a challenging task.

Lastly, shifts in local mandates and municipal boundaries over time resulted in datasets that could not be merged at the Gauteng extent and could not be compared geographically or administratively over time.

Quality of publicly available data and data governance concerns During the data interrogation exercise, it was found that many of the publicly available datasets displayed errors or inconsistencies. This rendered many of the collected datasets invalid or unfit for use in the final map. This was largely due to different classification systems being used to record and symbolise data across the GCR. An example of this is shown in Fig. 3 where parks were classified as either ‘parks’, ‘open space’ or both.

Upon further investigation, open space data was observed to be a general category which could include open or vacant strips of land such as roadside verges, tarred surfaces, or abandoned tracts of land with low land value.

Therefore a simple comparison between parks in one municipality and open space in another was not valid. Parks were also often symbolised by points and polygons and this did not align across municipal administrative boundaries (Fig. 3). In addition, the lack of supporting metadata or information about the data was not present and this often rendered these datasets invalid as there was no way of

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understanding how data was collected or how it was categorised.

Figure 3. Misaligned data around municipal administrative boundaries due to inconstancies in the categorization, classification, and symbolization of data (Data source: see acknowledgements) More specifically, maps shown in Fig. 4 (A – D) illustrate some of the data errors found in the collected datasets. Here, it was found that an inconsistent arrangement parks on the periphery did not conform to the local terrain (Fig. 4A); parks were classified over water bodies did not accurately indicate the area of land assigned for recreation activities (Fig. 4B); parks and open space layers do not align across administrative boundaries and introduced inconsistencies in terms of park management (Fig. 4C); and, the classification of parks did not always accurately represent parks on the ground (Fig. 4D)

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS

Figure 4. Overview errors and incurrences in collected park and open space datasets. These maps illustrate the following: A) classification of parks and open space are not consistent and do not appear to be definable on the ground; B) parks classified as water; C) various parks and open space datasets are shown not to align across local boundaries – red and orange polygons; D) parks classified as roads and stands and are uniformly spread (Data source: see acknowledgements) Summary of key findings and recommendations for supporting a green infrastructure approach using digital spatial data The aim of this paper was to map existing GI networks in the GCR to encourage the uptake of a GI planning approach. Towards achieving this, this paper presents a map of existing GI networks, indicating the type and extent of existing GI in the GCR. In doing so, reflections have been made on the state of publicly available data in the GCR. To create a map of existing GI in the GCR, a list of desirable digital spatial layers were identified and used to guide a digital spatial data collection exercise. Despite that fact that over 374 layers were collected, only 75 of these layers could be used in the collation of a final green asset layers for the city-region. To overcome a series data quality concerns, data was sorted into to five thematic areas (natural and planted vegetation, agriculture lands, recreational areas, protected areas and hydrological networks) and a private land cover dataset was purchased and used to supplement publicly available data.

The final GI map visualises data collected under each of the five thematic areas and presents an overview of the interconnected set of existing GI networks that thread through the many urban and non-urban landscapes of the GCR.

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Upon further investigation, it was found that institutional concerns – mandates, funds, and skills – served as limiting factors to the overall quality of GI datasets. Here it was noted that GIS capacity varied between municipal departments resulting in the use of a different data standards. Data was not necessarily stored in a format that is useful for environmental planning, and green assets were classified and catalogued very differently across the GCR. In light of this, the maps produced in this paper should be viewed as an important first step towards informing a GI planning approach in the GCR. It should be said that

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the effective valuing of green assets and ecosystem services can only be achieved after sufficient and accurate spatial information has been collected, allowing ecological systems to be planned and managed as a partners to a grey infrastructure approach.

More specifically, accurate spatial data is critical for understanding how the existing supply of ecosystem services is spread across the city-region and is essential for valuing green existing GI networks. To effectively map the supply of ecosystem service and value existing GI, digital spatial data creation needs to evolve alongside the conceptual understandings of GI as this

4

will allow for informed data collection. That said, this paper indicates the need to engage in policy-related research to guide the collection of spatial information to inform local planning.

Recommendations on how digital spatial data can be used to inform a green infrastructure planning approach in the GCR A set of recommendations have been developed to inform the collection of digital spatial data in the GCR. The first is a co-ordinated centralised data repository at a

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS

provincial or national level. This will allow for existing GI datasets to be stored and shared. In a Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE) policy brief on the need to map GI, a similar repository has been described.

It is suggested that a national shared information repository should be devised for support combined planning between national, regional and local government as it will assist with informing the design, sufficient management, and regular maintenance of green features (CABE, 2008).

Along with this, data standards and definitions should be developed to ensure

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that final datasets can be collated and combined across the GCR. That said, spatial planning programmes completed by consultants should also be governed by a terms of reference that encourages the collection and digitisation of data according to a universally agreed data standard.

In respect of the diverse set of green assets that exist in the GCR, a list of important ecological services should be identified and this should be used to guide GI data collection in the GCR. It is further recommended that services provided by large green features that constitute a large percentage of the GCR land surface area, such as grasslands, should be digitised using coarse resolution imagery. Smaller green features such as trees and parks should be captured by local officials who have a good understanding of the individual green spaces that fall under their jurisdiction. These features can be groundtruthed using a GIS. Acknowledgements This research was partially funded by the South African Department of Science and

Technology (DST) and National Research Foundation (NRF) through ‘Urban Resilience Assessment for Sustainable Urban Development’ project. The author would like to acknowledge Graeme Gotz, Alexis Schaffler and Christina Culwick for their valuable input into this research and the various departments and institutions that shared publicly available digital spatial data.

• Gauteng municipalities: City of Johannes­ burg, City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, West Rand District Municipality, Mogale City Local Municipality, Randfontein Local Municipality, Midvaal Local Municipality and Merafong Local Municipality.

• Gauteng provincial departments: Gauteng Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport.

• National departments: South African National Defence Force, South African National Biodiversity Institute, National Geo Spatial Information, Department of Environmental Affairs, Council for Scientific Research.

References • Ahern, J. (2007): Green infrastructure for cities: The spatial dimension. Cities for the Future Towards Integrated Sustainable Water and Landscape Management. - IWA Publishing, London.

• Beier, P., Spencer, W., Baldwin, R. F. & McRae, B. H. (2011): Toward best Practices for Developing Regional Connectivity Maps. - Conservation Biology, 25(5): 879 -892.

• Benedict, M. & McMahon, E. (2006): Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities.

Washington: Island Press.

• Benedict, M. & McMahon, E. T. (2002): Green Infrastructure: smart conservation for the 21st Century. - Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse, Washington D.C. • Bolund, P. & Hunhammar, S. (1999): Ecosystem services in urban areas. - Ecological Economics, 29(1): 293 - 301.

• Briney, A. (2014): Overview of least cost path analysis. GIS Lounge. [Online] Available at: http:// www.gislounge.com/overview-least-cost-path-analysis/ [Accessed 11 October 2015].

• CABE (2008): Why we must map green infrastructure. [Online] Available at: http://webarchive. nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/why-we-must-mapgreen-infrastructure.pdf [Accessed 21 January 2014].

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• Cartwright, A., & Oelofse, G. (2014): Scoping a process for conducting ecosystem services valuation as part of a green infrastructure plan for the Gauteng City-Region. – Cape Town: Unpublished report for the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO).

• Câmara, G., Monteiro, A. M., Fucks, s., Carvalho, M. A. (n.d): Spatial Analysis and GIS: Primer.

[Online] Available at: http://edugi.uji.es/Camara/spatial_analysis_primer.pdf [Accessed 13 July 2013].

• Chang, Q., Li, X., Huang, X. & Wu, J. (2012): A GIS-based green infrastructure planning for Sustainable Urban Land Use and Spatial Development. - Procedia Environmental Sciences, 12(Part A): 491 – 498.

• Cilliers, S., Cilliers, J., Lubbe, R. & Siebert, S. (2013): Ecosystem services of urban green spaces in African countries - perspectives and challenges. - Urban Ecosystems, 16(4): 681 – 702.

• DiBiase, D. (2014): Map overlay concept. Penn state Geography resources. [Online] Available at: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog482spring2/c9_p6.html [Accessed 12 October 2015].

• EPA (2015): 10 Steps to developing a sustainable community and green infrastructure plan.

[Online] Available at: http://www2.epa.gov/smart-growth/10-steps-developing-sustainablecommunity-and-green-infrastructure-plan [Accessed 8 July 2015].

• eThekwini Municipality (2007): Durban’s sustainability best practice portfolio on Water. Special edition 2007/8. Online] Available at: http://www.durban.gov.za/City_Services/development_ planning_management/environmental_planning_climate_protection/Publications/ Documents/Sustainability%20Best%20Practice%20Special%20Edition%20Water.pdf [Accessed 21 October 2015].

• GCRO (2012): GCRO Data Brief: No. 1 of 2012: Key findings from Statistics South Africa’s 2011 National Census for Gauteng: 31 October 2012.

• GTI (2012): 2,5m Gauteng Land Cover. Pretoria: Gauteng.

• GIC (n.d): How can you engage with green infrastructure planning?.[Online] Available at: http:// www.gicinc.org/methods.htm [Accessed 8 July 2015].

• Maryland Department of Natural Resources (2003): Landscape assessment procedures. [Online] Available at: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/greenways/gi/overview/overview.html [Accessed 11 October 2015].

• McHarg, I. (1969): Design with Nature. - Falcon Press. Nashville.

• McPherson, T., Kremer, P. & Hamstead, Z. A. (2013): Mapping ecosystem services in New York: Applying a social-ecological approach in urban vacant land. - Ecosystem Services, 5(1): 11 – 26.

• Mell, I. C. (2008): Green Infrastructure: concepts and planning. - FORUM, 8(1): 69 - 80.

• Natural England (2010): An Evidence Base for Green Infrastructure in Yorkshire and Humber.

Yorkshire and the Humber Green Infrastructure Mapping Project. [Online] Available at: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/regions/yorkshire_and_the_humber/ourwork/ yandhgreeninfrastructuremappingproject.aspx [Accessed 13 July 2013].

• New York City (2009): Green Infrastructure Plan (GIP): A sustainable strategy for clean waterways. [Online] Available at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/green_infrastructure/ NYCGreenInfrastructurePlan_LowRes.pdf [Accessed 8 July 2015].

• Schaffler, A., Christopher, N., Bobbins, K., Gotz, G., Trangos, G., and Phasha, P. (2013): State of the Green Infrastructure Report. – Johannesburg: GCRO Printer.

• Varela, J. (2009): Central Indiana Green infrastructure: GIS Design and Analysis. - The Conservation Fund.: Indiana.

• Weber, T. & Wolf, J. (2000): Maryland’s green infrastructure – using landscape assessment tools to identify a regional conservation strategy. - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 63(1): 265-277.

• Weber, T., Sloan, A. & Wolf, J. (2006): Maryland’s Green Infrastructure Assessment: development of a comprehensive approach to land conservation. - Landscape and Urban Planning, 77 (1-2): 94 – 110.

• Wickham, J. D., Riiters, K. H., Wade, T. G. & Vogt, P. (2010): A national assessment of green infrastructure and change for the conterminous United States using morphological image processing. - Landscape and Urban Planning, 94(1): 186 – 195.

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W

hen we want to know how sustainable any specific product really is, manufacturers, designers and specifiers, have generally relied on obvious, easy to measure things that have, at best been haphazard. We have used a grab-bag of indicators we thought represented the most important issues and suited measurement e.g. energy and water efficiency, waste, recycling, certification of timber, rapidly renewable, recycled or certified content etc. Unfortunately, when considered over the life-cycle of the product we are finding that life isn’t that simple.

A prime example is how manufacturers are increasingly using renewable energy.

Where they replace coal-fired electricity they not only save greenhouse gas emissions, but save massively in toxic emissions (rarely spoken about by Governments or the fossil fuel energy generators). Electricity is actually the single largest source of environmental mercury after gold mining, and is also responsible for a cocktail of other carcinogens representing: • 43% of the total atmospheric Mercury (Hg).

• 42% of the total Cadmium (Cd).

• 38% of the total Cobalt (Co).

• 31% of the total Antimony (Sb).

• PM 2.5-PM10 small particulates.

• C02, NOx and SOx emissions that cause climate change.

• SOx emissions that cause acid rain.

Products that use renewable or green energy significantly reduce the overall toxicity of the product to the extent that some PVC flooring has lower toxicity and climate impacts than other perceived more ‘natural’ flooring products that have in the past been held to be ‘green icons’, and because of this have sat on their laurels. Products that rely on agribusiness supply chains to produce plant oils have

MEASURING SUSTAINABILIY

to crop large areas of plant to get seeds to press into oils. The fossil fuel energy and pollution generated by the fertilisers, diesel farm equipment, trucking, shipping and processing is considerable and often overlooked in the production and marketing of these ‘renewable’ resources.

So, to progress the discussion about sustainable materials means we can no longer generalise in this way about ‘materials’. We have to talk ‘products’ and, more precisely, about the specific impacts of individual products. Why? Because when we discuss the benefits of ‘this material, or that one’, with the exception of some high-impact products, whole of life impact studies show we will probably be wrong.

Without evaluation of whole-of-life impacts, it is easy to make decisions that sound beneficial but may not be. They may involve much greater transport impacts, or move a large burden elsewhere out of sight, or beyond our attention. A recent example in Australia has been the Government’s banning of incandescent light bulbs to promote more energy efficient lamps such as fluorescents, without implementing mandatory recycling of fluorescents to ensure recovery of the highly toxic mercury present in all fluorescent lamps and tubes and allowing them to go to landfill to pollute downstream soil and waterways forever.

To tease out the increased transport issue involved in promoting recycled products as an end in itself we need to understand that recycling while a laudable strategy, may not be ultimately beneficial for all products.

While there is no doubt that recycling has resource consumption, landfill reduction and pollution benefits, there are offsetting transport impacts and the complexity of globalised trade, where some products may travel 3-4 times from country to country for

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processing and reprocessing that makes assessing the benefits and impacts of recycling far more complex than was the case in the past.

Depending on how and where recycled products are transported and how long the supply chains are, the more significant an issue the impacts of recycling become.

Furthermore, how we decide which benefit or impact is more important, saving resources or minimising climate change?

Quantifying the inherent complexities and trade-offs in sustainability is not easy.

Fortunately, life-cycle analysis (LCA) has developed over the last 30 years or so to assist in this process. LCA is the process of considering all impacts of a product from its raw materials acquisition (‘cradle’) and processing, to manufacture and packaging (‘gate’) and sometimes to the end of a product’s useful life including cleaning and maintenance and potential for recycling (‘grave’ or ‘end of life fate’). Hence you will often hear about ‘Cradle to Gate’ or ‘Cradle to End of life Fate’ depending on the scope and boundaries of the LCA study.

These developments have meant that use of LCA in the building and other sectors such as mining and agriculture has been growing strongly. This is evidenced the increasing use of LCA (and summary LCA reports called Environmental Product declarations or EPDs) by major organisations like the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) in their Green Star® green building rating tools, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) in their LEEDv4 (US and more than 150 other countries including Africa), the BREEAM rating tool (UK and 40 other countries) as well as HQE (France) and DGNB (Germany and 14 other countries).

The importance of LCA and its simplified EPD reporting is that together they provide a more holistic view of products’ impacts across a wider cross section of

MEASURING SUSTAINABILIY

environmental and health impacts than pass/fail ecolabel systems.

What product specific LCA confirms is that life is more complex than being able to talk generically about ‘materials’ because the diversity of supply chains, manufacturing processes, energy supply and the whole complexity of bring products to market means we can only meaningfully talk about specific products, because no two manufacturer’s products are the same even though they might be described as the same material.

Then the questions are: how good is LCA in measuring sustainability holistically? How can industry adopt LCA product assessment practices without have to become LCA and product sustainability experts? What do we do about deciding which impact is more important?

How good is LCA in measuring sustainability?

Quantifying, assessing, balancing and understanding the inherent complexities and trade-offs in determining sustainability is not easy. The concept of life cycle analysis (LCA) was developed to assist. LCA considers all impacts of a product from its ‘cradle’ to ‘gate’, and sometimes to the ‘grave’ or ‘end of life fate’ (sometimes called ‘cradle to cradle’if recyclable.

There are also ISO (International Standards Organisation) standards adopted

by Standards Australia and NZ that deal with how LCA should be conducted (AS/ NZS ISO 14040, ISO 14044), reported via Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs, dealt with under ISO 14025) and their prerequisite Product Category Rules (PCRs) that ensure consistency between EPDs. The benefit of LCA and EPD reporting is a consistent set of scientific metrics that are unweighted, allowing organisations and individuals to decide what is important to them.

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Pitch perfect with a great view When architect Francois van Zyl was appointed to design a seating arena for 600 pupils at Milkwood Primary School in Mossel Bay, he drew on the age-old practice of building amphitheatres.

The term amphitheatre is derived from the Greek language, roughly meaning to view from two sides. Open-air theatres have been in use for over 2 000 years, mostly in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, with some of them able to seat up to 60 000 spectators.

Planners back then understood the superb acoustics achieved in these structures, and consequently today’s urban planners consider similar amphitheatres when designing seating and viewing spaces for public sports or entertainment facilities.

Van Zyl was further inspired by an example of this type of seating arrangement on the Terraforce website. “After an initial

survey of the site, we decided to excavate a half-round shape from the existing embankment and create a seating arena using Terraforce 4x4 Multi Step blocks, 200mm high hollow blocks and concrete pavers,” he explains.

“The Terraforce 4x4 Multi Step block is perfectly suited for creating a first-rate seating arena, and we closely followed the construction guidelines on the Terraforce site, only adding extra concrete reinforcement for the stairways. What was a bit of a challenge was creating a perfect semi-circle, with the surveyor having to check for accuracy every few metres.”

Dan-Jon Building Projects started construction in July 2014 and the project was completed in October 2014, with blocks supplied by Mobicast in George. The civil and structural engineer was Cobus Louw.

“The school is planting trees to round off the appearance of the arena and is planning to order a domed roof, which will turn this facility into a truly multi-functional assembly area,” says Van Zyl. Terraforce Tel: 021 465 1907 Website: www.terraforce.com

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Basement level ventilation, the natural way: In 2014, funded by Acucap investments, work started on interlocking concrete block retaining walls at the new RCS Group Head Office in Mowbray, Cape Town. The walls were designed to achieve natural ventilation at the basement level of the building. The Terraforce retaining wall system, a plantable and permeable concrete block system, was chosen as the most sustainable and cost effective solution.

Says Georg Brand of Dassenberg Retaining, the appointed retaining wall contractor: “We were faced with some challenges during construction: “After the trenches were excavated by hand up to 700mm deep, risk of collapse of the clay cut face slopes was high and shoring - with props and shutter board – was needed to stabilise the embankment. Also, we had to take care not to damage the 11 kVA cable behind the wall. “Because the walls reached up to 5m in height, pre-manufactured Y16 steel starter bars were installed from the top, once the wet concrete was poured into the trenches. Subsurface drainage pipes were installed behind the walls and covered with sand. Additionally, a grinder was used to cut slots into the Terraforce blocks at intervals for drainage weep holes.�

Work commenced in July 2014 and was completed Nov 2014 with some extra work taking place January, March and July 2015 respectively. Finally the walls were landscaped with vegetation with good effect, creating a lush, attractive greenbelt around building.

For more information, contact: Terraforce - Karin Johns Tel: 021 465 1907 karin@terraforce.com • www.terraforce.com

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However, as good as LCA is, because it does assess life cycle impacts at a very detailed level, when it gets into areas that are in themselves highly complex, practitioners have had to develop ways to simplify the studies to ensure that can be characterised in comparable ways.

A prime example is how LCA assesses impacts of product ingredients on health using ‘DALYs’. DALY is defined as ‘the quantitative indicator of burden of disease that reflects the total amount of healthy life lost to all causes, whether from premature mortality or from some degree of disability during a period of time’. As a measure, DALYs can only be calculated using macro level data that can be quite ‘coarse’, i.e., not detailed and not really meaningful to individuals. DALYs can not really inform us if this product or that product will promote asthma, allergies, give people headaches, make babies sick, or make it harder to concentrate when you are trying to work as many common product ingredients do. They can only communicate ‘this product creates more ill health, or is more healthy than that one’, in general terms.

The same situation applies to other life cycle issues like, physical biodiversity impacts on plants, animals and soils (LCA is very good as assessing chemical impacts on land, water and air), social and corporate social responsibility or CSR issues, e.g. employment conditions, legal compliance, corporate transparency, social and biodiversity restoration programs etc., and how products interact with each other, building design or other building elements or systems.

Hence if we want more detailed, holistic sustainability information, if we want product labelling to me more informative, we need to go ‘beyond LCA’ and study and quantify these issues. Let us consider human

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health and ecotoxicity as an example of how this complexity can be managed and ultimately simplified.

Understanding the complexity of human health and ecotoxicity assessment With health impacts, individual ingredients and all their potential impacts need to be assessed. The typical way to do that is to refer to product Safety Data Sheets or SDS. SDS should contain chemical identifier numbers call CAS numbers that identify the chemicals, and then describe the potential impacts of chemicals with a variety of indicators such a Risk Phrases (R-Phrases) and Safety Phrases (S-Phrases) or more recently Hazard Statements (H-Statements) or ‘Toxicity Indicators’.

R-Phrases give a general indication of the potential effect of a chemical. They can be represented by either a number or a phrase (e.g.’ R39 Danger of very serious irreversible effects’). They can be listed as single numbers to denote separate statements or with an oblique (/) linking more than one number that denotes a combined statement of the phrases involved in the impacts of a specific substance.

H-Statements are replacing R-Phrases under the newest of the EU’s REACH legislation and the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) legislation recognised by countries such as the USA and Australia (e.g. H400: Very toxic to aquatic life).

However the H-Statements do not include several key risks that countries like NZ have added to their Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act to ensure soil toxicity and vertebrate and invertebrate life like bees are included in hazard assessments (something other countries will need to consider as they move toward mandatory use of GHS and H-Statements).

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The GHS Toxicity Indicator abbreviations used to classify the toxicity impacts of products are:

But as each of these studies gets more complex we face a dilemma. Either somehow the industry as a whole is going to learn how to assess the information and apply the extremely complex knowledge and nomenclature of toxicity to their everyday practice in specifying products, or we will need to find simpler ways to communicate the complexity in simple ways.

The actual need in the industry is for assessment and transparency. Why should the whole industry have to become experts at interpreting health and toxicity information? Once you get past the black and white ‘ban these really terrible compounds’ scenario (this is simple to check), there are tens of thousands of grey area compounds that the safety or non-safety of which boil down to degree of toxicity, concentrations, exposures and indeed risk. The ‘good or bad’ scenario is just way too simplistic……

Expecting the average designer or specifier to understand the complexity that toxicity hazard potential is a function of both risk and exposure is fine conceptually, but in practice unless a simpler way can be found, it means green designers and specifiers will increasingly have to become proficient at toxicity assessments of products.

How to avoid the complexity Using Ecolabels is one way to simplify choosing between eco-preferred products.

All competent ecolabels qualify toxics according to various approaches but the only scheme globally that actually assesses every ingredient against all REACH and GHS R-Phrases and H-Statements, using whole of life ‘Hazard, Risk and Exposure’ toxicity assessment that also assesses known interactions and degradation products, is the Global GreenTagCertTM Certification Program (GreenTag).

Beyond LCA: GreenTag LCARate™ and Ecopoints As mentioned above complex issues like health, biodiversity, synergy, social and CSR are not dealt with in LCA and so we need different ways to measure these other impacts (and potentially, benefits).

The GreenTag certification program is operated by Global GreenTag (Pty) Ltd in Cape Town. It was developed in Australia and is recognised in over 70 countries under various rating schemes.

GreenTag’s LCARate™ (LCARate) certification scheme uses a concept called ‘Ecopoints’ and graphic labels with tiered rating systems to simplify the way sustainability is communicated. They were developed, first in the UK and Europe, and more recently in Australia.

Ecopoints are weighted averages of individual sustainability indicators assessed relative to a baseline. The

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weightings are derived by statistical analysis of rankings by environmental professionals. Products can then be compared according to which product’s Ecopoint is the lowest.

LCARate uses Ecopoints in this way, and takes this further, ascribing a ranking to products based on the Ecopoint, thus enabling a simple comparison of the sustainability outcomes based on Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum ‘Tag’ graphics, Product Scorecards and Certificates, while simultaneously providing deep, robust scientific analysis of products.

In this way, LCA and other sustainability criteria can be simplified and together provide a more holistic view of product and manufacturer impacts across a wider cross section of environmental and health impacts, than both single indicator systems, or LCA alone.

Global GreenTag CertTM uses data produced by LCA to develop two of its six Sustainability Assessment Criteria (SACs), these being: • Life Cycle Impacts.

• Greenhouse Gas (Carbon).

Further investigation delivers the following detailed results: • Human health and Ecotoxicity.

• Biodiversity.

• Social and CSR. • Design Synergy.

Each SAC is scored individually and these are displayed on the Product Swing Tags, Product Scorecards and Certificates. The individual scores are then weighted and added together to make up the ‘GreenTag EcoPoint’; that is then used to award a product its Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum Certification Mark based on the Ecopoint score it achieves.

Both the individual SACs and the Ecopoint are numbers between -1 and

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+1 where +1 is equivalent to the worst case ‘business as usual’ commonly in use in the marketplace.

So the smaller the SAC and Ecopoint Scores, the better, and its even better if the scores are negative, because that means the product is taking away already pre-existing environmental impacts such as reducing existing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

Products like this that reduce existing carbon emissions (rather than just reduce their own emissions) are called ‘Net Positive’.

Where products score negative SAC scores in health or biodiversity, they are called ‘Restorative’. GreenTag is the only product metric globally that provides ‘Net Positive’ and ‘Restorative’ measures.

GreenTag then goes on to produce and publish freely online a Product Assessment Report (PAR) for complete transparency in how the product was assessed and explaining e.g. how the product can be used to maximise ‘Building Synergy’.

GreenTag also then publishes product EPDs that provide the detailed numerical results for the 10 Life Cycle Impact categories (that only building scientists and LCA consultants will really be able to use).

Hence GreenTag provides both a simplified set of metrics for everyday quick use by green building professional and consumers and the deep scientific metrics needed for detailed LCA calculation.

Together these provide more simple yet more detailed and comprehensive than LCA alone. The impact is that we can more easily identify and choose more sustainable products and see those products in a more accurate light.

If for example a mother or a client were wanting to choose products for a nursery or preschool and wanted to pre-screen products to make sure they were the healthiest possible, they could refer to the

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product scorecard (right) and choose only products with a Health and Ecotoxicity SAC score of less than say 0.2 or even better, 0.1.

Likewise the GreenTag Greenhouse Scores can be used to choose products on the basis on their beneficial impacts on climate change, biodiversity or social responsibility impacts.

GreenTag and Green StarSA® GreenTag also operates GreenRate™ (Green­ Rate) a certification program devel­oped to comply with the GBCA’s Materials Calculator credits that has together with LCARate been recognised by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) for their Green StarSA® rating tool ‘Materials Calculator’ credits.

GreenRate uses more or less the same Health and Ecotoxicity and Social Responsibility methodologies that LCARate uses, but it doesn’t use LCA in the assess­ment of the product rating. It does take into account whether the product has an LCA (but not its results), but also takes into account a variety of Priority Assessment Criteria (PACs) as follows: • Greenhouse Gas Accounting.

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Toxicity: Human and Ecological.

Material Extraction.

Water.

Social and Environmental Compliance.

Durability and Fitness for Purpose.

End of Life and Product Stewardship.

Product Emissions.

GreenRate assesses products to Levels A, B and C and is a less complex and therefore less costly assessment process. It is therefore likely to be suitable for smaller manufacturers and start-up companies. Most manufacturers that have a meaningful sustainability message to communicate to the market will choose to do both certifications as when they are done together the cost reduces significantly.

GreenTag is the only certification program globally to use LCA in the assessment of its product ratings and the only ‘net positive’ and ‘restorative’ product metric. It makes sustainable product selection uniquely easy and provides users with progressively more detailed metrics to whatever depth they need to assess the sustainability of their projects or homes.

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ADVERTORIAL

BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT OF MSUNDUZI MUNICIPALITY Objectives After realising that our Municipality have been having negative publicity, #TeamHorticulture felt that it was important to bring positivity within the landscape of the Municipality.

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Then How? #TeamHorticulture decided to plant flowers and vegetables in public spaces, taking care to plant in a way that ensured mutualism in terms of the biological control of pests (certain veggies repel certain insects in flowers, and vice versa).

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As much as we wanted to improve the aesthetic landscape of the Municipality, it was critically important that we used annuals, as these are mostly indigenous and, thus, help to ensure that minimal watering is required for them.

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And vegetables?

A large portion of our staff complement is made up of EPWP individuals, and #TeamHorticulture targeted the majority of them when sharing our harvested veggies.

We also shared it with community members who we had met on the street while watering the veggies, and who had asked us if we could spare any veggies for their families.

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ADVERTORIAL

Community involvement Many community members volunteer to assist us in planting, including #Soccer4Kidz as well as grade 11 learners from Alexandra High, Copesville Secondary and Eastwood Secondary School, who were involved in environmental projects. When kids of this age assist in planting it suggests that we have horticulturists-in-training working alongside us. We have shared our veggies to old age homes as well as children’s homes within the Municipality. We have also assisted crèches and schools in setting up their own produce gardens but, above all, there are a lot of people who donated their own cabbages, spinach, beetroot, kale and cauliflower plants to us, and these gifst ensured that someone somewhere

didn’t sleep on an empty stomach. It is this act of giving that truly motivates #TeamHorticulure.

This project started in the Northern regions, where Eastwood Library, Truro Centre, Woodland Traffic Circle as well as Chota Motala were all landscaped. We then spread our planting to the city centre, targetting Alan Paton Drive, Market Square, Municipal stores, as well as 333 Church Street. We are currently planting Edendale Road, which leads to our Western areas where we planted at eMbali Crèche as our #67minutes contribution. We are also preparing Willowfontein Clinic and are committed to maintaining the areas which have been landscaped already, still while improving the aesthetic status of the city.

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FRAMING THE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT APPROACH IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT CONTEXT Participative Planning and Rainwater Harvesting as tools to improve natural resource protection and beneficial use

Laura Conde

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his concept paper presents a watershed management approach (WMA) as a strategic implementation framework. The approach is underpinned by participative planning, in order to maximise ownership and the contribution of indigenous knowledge, and technically advanced rainwater harvesting (RWH) methods, to simultaneously increase natural resource protection and agricultural productivity, leading to sustainable communal resource use and more resilient and better livelihoods.

Catchments and the ‘Green Economy’: towards improving the ‘Common Good’ In South Africa ongoing land degradation of catchment areas is on the increase. The natural resource base particularly in communal areas is in decline. It is estimated that close to 18 per cent of the natural land cover in the country has already been transformed (DEAT, 2008) and environmental degradation is visible in some areas impacting negatively on water resources. Poor land use management in our catchment areas can increase sediment in reservoirs, rivers and estuaries, linked to loss of topsoil. Inappropriate land use can also perpetuate changes in surface runoff and infiltration capacity of the soil leading to flood events, reduction of groundwater recharge, increasing pollution, loss of biodiversity and broadly reduce the resilience of the system and its assimilative capacity to cope with changes and uncertainty such as climate change risks.

Furthermore, land degradation can have other implications such as financial costs and negative all round effects. It is estimated that soil degradation alone costs South Africa and average of nearly R2 billion annually in dam sedimentation and increased water treatment costs (Ibid.). Over and above these threats, the loss of healthy catchment ecosystems impacts on rural livelihoods directly dependent on the natural resources (e.g. agriculture) and thus perpetuating the poverty cycle in these areas.

Over and above the anthropogenic land use changes and associated environmental risks described above, South Africa is also faced with water scarcity risks with an average annual rainfall of 465mm and a history of deep inequalities regarding the distribution of both land and water (Versfeld as cited in Kahinda et al., 2008). Inequalities of this nature affect particularly the rural poor1 with neither access to water for productive purposes nor access to benefit for other water uses (Cullis and Van Koppen as cited in Schreiner, et al., 2009). Although measures are put in place to address these inequalities the reality is that water supply-demand levels are not being met as most of the water in the country has already been captured, stored and allocated to users while leaving a good proportion of people as “water poor”. At the same time it is recognised in the National Climate Change Response White Paper (NCCRWP) (RSA, 2011) that increasing vulnerability to climate changes will affect agriculture and food security, particularly to smallholder farming communities heavily dependent on rain-fed

1 In 2011, it was concluded that 23 million people (45.5%) of the population were living in poverty (based on the Upper Bound Poverty Line) and 10.2 million were classified as extremely poor, which means they live beyond the Food Poverty Line (StatsSA, 2014).

2 UNEP define the green economy as ‘one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities’ (UNEP, 2011, p.6).

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agriculture as their main livelihood due to the fact that other opportunities are still limited in rural South Africa.

There is an increasing interest in developing a Green Economy2 in the country as an approach to generate jobs, improve livelihoods and reduce vulnerability to the risks posed by climate change. Green economy strategies can not only boost a country’s economic growth, but also improve socioecological resilience, transformation and ultimately contribute to a more equal state. A move from current green economy practice to one of fostering a developmental state would be required (Death, 2014). According to Death (ibid.) this shift would entail ‘social forces and political structures which are able to produce a green economy which prioritises social welfare, tackles poverty and exclusion, and defends non-monetary ways of valuing the natural environment’. With this in mind, catchment restoration initiatives such as the Department of Environmental Affairs’ Natural Resource Management (NRM) programmes have the potential to generate green jobs in rural areas while enhancing sustainable livelihoods capability and well-being. Restoration initiatives such as investments in ecological infrastructure and rainwater harvesting methods can be applied at scale as soil erosion prevention methods and at the same time they can be integrated into local rain-fed irrigation systems and domestic water supplies. The adoption of rainwater harvesting innovations in rural South Africa should at least be investigated as a contemporary approach to improve the country’s natural resources, meet employment demands, overcome livelihood constrains and narrow equity disparities.

Strategic management of watersheds as complex systems Catchments are increasingly understood as complex socio-ecological systems

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involving numerous inter-related elements from the natural environment and the human dimension. These factors and relationships influence land, water and biological resource-use; the way in which they take place can have either beneficial or negative consequences for the system as a whole (Pollard et al., 2011). Biophysical degradation of the catchment in the form of erosion, biodiversity loss and reduced productivity, among other trends, is a widespread concern and occurs within this dynamic complex where people impact the environment and the environment in turn impacts on people. Applied complex systems theory (Lichtman, 2011) shows that an ongoing feedback loop of actions and consequences has potential to rapidly accelerate either degradation (associated with poor management), or beneficial resource use (associated with wise strategic management). When critical thresholds of key elements are reached, positively by design or negatively by neglect, this will lead to a rapid regime shift within the system.

A negative regime shift is associated with progressively unstable systems and equates to a fundamental change of overall system functioning and its potential to provide ecological and economic ‘services’. A positive regime shift equates to increased resilience and productivity.

There is a direct interdependence between healthy catchments and healthy people as people are directly dependent on the services that these ecosystems provide (e.g. water, nutrition, forest products, grazing, etc.). Ecosystems can also act as regulators of climate, provide cultural linkages, economic opportunities and support life on earth as a whole (MA, 2005). Ensuring ecological sustainability requires approaches and strategies that deal with both the biophysical and socio-economic drivers affecting and perpetuating environmental degradation,

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by both managing detrimental activities, and providing incentives to those using the resources so that their activities will both generate increased returns, and reverse the trends of unsustainable development.

A local watershed management approach recognises and responds to the reality of this systems dynamic, and through strategic and reflexive local management processes, is a key opportunity to increasing socio-economic benefits while strengthening the integrity of the socio-ecological system (Denison et al., 2015, Pollard et al., 2011). The approach is underpinned by participative resource use planning, scientific agricultural watermanagement techniques, and knowledge exchange interventions, and ensures local strategies are aligned to higher-level strategic catchment management plans and social development priorities.

Watershed Management Approaches and Rainwater Harvesting: Pointers from international good practice Watershed development programmes are internationally recognised as examples of implementing the ‘ecosystems approach’ through co-operative governance structures.

As evidence of impact derived from this type of approach, Rahendra Singh has been awarded the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize for his decades of work in rainwater harvesting and watershed conservation work in India to support agricultural and environmental water productivity.

Since the 1980s, watershed approaches and technical interventions have been implemented in order to improve natural resource management issues and watershed degradation impacting on downstream users through the increase of sedimentation and flooding concerns. Most recently the focus was broadened to incorporate the potential for sustainably improving incomes

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of the rural poor through strategies for decentralized governance and participatory development of the communities’ asset base, specially the natural assets (Word Bank, 2013) and thus create a more inclusive economic growth model and sustainable livelihoods. Watershed development programmes provide a useful planning tool for achieving both rural development and water resources conservation and management goals. RWH techniques are central to watershed development in poor and marginalised populations who have significant problems of land degradation.

They are used as a way to restore and drought-proofing local ecosystems, capture rainfall and runoff and put it into productive use for enhancing agricultural productivity in rain-fed areas. Furthermore, watershed development programmes, and thus RWH methods, can also be in-line with other water development approaches such as the multiple use system (MUS). MUS adopts a people-centred approach by trying to understand peoples’ multiple water needs (e.g. productive, domestic, cultural, etc.) and their water resource available as a starting point for providing water services to support them in achieving their specific livelihood strategies (Denison and Murata, 2015). Here RWH infrastructure can be developed in order to store rainfall in tanks or reservoirs to support the multiple water needs found in the household and thus contribute towards improved well-being of the family.

In summary watershed management (WSM) is defined as ‘the integrated use and/ or management of land, vegetation, and water in a geographically discrete drainage area for the benefit of its residents, with the objective of protecting or conserving the hydrologic services that the watershed provides and of reducing or avoiding negative downstream or groundwater impacts. WSM is ultimately about achieving

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water resources-related objectives and it is implied that this approach deals with the interaction of land, water and people within complex systems’ (World Bank, 2013).

Furthermore, WSM frameworks are guided by the following components (Ibid.): 1. Consideration of the micro-watershed as a building block for planning and watershed development.

2.

D ecentralized and participatory development where the development aspirations of the poor themselves take stage.

3. Stakeholder inclusion.

4. Capacity building and information sharing.

5. Sustaining outcomes through linking conservation to livelihoods.

6. Monitoring and evaluation.

Watershed Management and Integrated Planning Scales within South Africa’s policies and regulatory frameworks Generally most human activities that occur on land affect the water cycle, with RHW being no exception. According to the National Water Act (Act No.36 of 1998) considers stream flow reduction activities as land-based activities that reduce stream flow, and therefore RWH needs to be established as a stream flow reduction activity as it has potential for diverting considerable amount of surface runoff, depending on the scale, from the watercourse. Having said that, RWH generally captures water from high rainfall incidence events and has the dual effect of making water available for catchment

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restoration and productive use, as well as acting as ‘sponges’ in the same way the wetlands do. This effect can reduce the peak flows and increase the base flow by recharging the springs and rivers in the system. In hydrological terms, RWH makes more water available from peak rainfall. It would be necessary to understand these effects in an integrated manner as the effect of RWH may bring more benefits than those anticipated.

As alluded to above, typically watershed plans are developed at the scale of microwatersheds (1 – 500 ha) but it is worth noting that if these plans are carried out in isolation within a larger catchment system, there is no certainty that at the required scale (e.g. river basin) the goals of protecting and conserving hydrologic services and/ or managing negative downstream and groundwater impacts are being met unless carefully integrated with higher level objectives. In South Africa Catchment Management Agencies have the broad purpose of managing water resources within their areas of jurisdiction, or river catchment boundaries, for the ultimate benefit of all stakeholders by setting up broad hydrological and developmental objectives.

Therefore, these agencies or structures can potentially regulate, monitor and coordinate implementation of watershed plans at subcatchment level.

Consequently, a decision support system is required in order to inform the potential impact of RWH applied at scale (Kahinda et al., 2008) as well as decision-making structures driving an Integrated Water

3 Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is a comprehensive, participatory planning and implementation tool for managing and developing water resources in a way that balances social and economic needs, and ensures the protection of ecosystems forM future generation (source: GWP Tool Box for IWRM) a way that balances social and economic needs, and ensures the protection of ecosystems for future generation (source: GWP Tool Box for IWRM).

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Resource Management (IWRM)3 and water resources planning at the basin and/or sub-basin levels in order to make the most viable recommendation that is both socially, economically and environmentally sound. This is supported by the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (Act No. 107 of 1998) stressing the need for an integrated approach for implementation of any RWH, and does not include RWH as one on of the activities requiring Environmental Impact Assessments.

Some examples of these decision support systems (DSS) are the RHADESS (Rainwater Harvesting Decision Support System) which aims to indicate the RWH suitability of any given area and to provide the means for quantifying and qualifying potential impacts associated with its wide scale adoption in the South African context; as well as, the SACWAT III (South African Crop Water Use Assessment Tool) formally adopted by the Department of Water and Sanitation as the nation water use planning tool.

5. Rainwater harvesting techniques to reduce erosion and boost agricultural production RWH at scale is being considered globally as a tool that can be adopted to ensure the hydrological functioning of catchment areas.

RWH can address land use degradation as well as enhance rain-fed crop production and domestic water supply. RWH should be considered as relevant engineering and contemporary innovation that builds on traditional water management techniques.

RWH also helps to reduce the growing demand placed on the country’s limited water resources. The integration of RWH into watershed development and thus catchment management plans and projects ties into national Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) priorities through the participatory formulation of strategic responses that deal with resource

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degradation and development outcomes.

Rehabilitation, remediation and restoration of degraded ecosystems through RWH is not only one of the techniques applied to ensuring sustainability of the watershed functioning and delivery of critical services (e.g. stream flow regulation, maintenance of base flows) but is one of the practices with the potential to unlock employment opportunities, sustainable development and human-wellbeing. RWH can provide opportunities for wage employment or “green jobs” associated to the manpower required in the application of these techniques at scale (i.e. contour bunds).

6. Technical overview of rainwater harvesting methods and techniques in watershed management approaches The term rainwater harvesting refers to collecting, conveying and storing rainwater for various end uses being agricultural production, domestic purposes or environmental/ conservation outcomes. There are various RWH definitions found in the literature with Oweis widely regarded as an authority. He describes RWH as “…the concentration, collection, storage and use of rainwater runoff. RWH can be developed for human consumption, environmental purposes and a number of productive activities such as agriculture” (Oweis et al., 2001).

Furthermore, RWH has the following components (Kahinda et al., 2008): • A catchment area where water is harvested. It can be a rooftop, path, road, communal land, etc.

• A storage facility or conveyance system where water harvested in the catchment area is stored. The storage can either be a reservoir (surface and subsurface water infrastructure), the soil profile, etc.

• A targeted area where the harvested water is used. The targeted area can be households, crops, plants, animals, enterprise, etc.

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• T he management of the RWH systems created.

In practice, RWH involves applying methods and techniques in a way that water is a) intercepted or captured; b) slowed down so it doesn’t flush away everything in its path; c) channelled to where it is needed; and d) stored for use either directly into the soil profile, groundwater or/and in tanks or containers (DWAF, 2010). However, the potential for RWH as a water resource

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needs to be viewed in two ways; the ‘upper limit potential’ and the ‘demand potential’.

The upper limit potential or RWH yield determines the kind of RWH technique needed to be applied to meet the demand potential or purpose for which RWH is being introduced, as well as taking into account its economic viability, financing and implementation capacity. For example, RHW for restoration of grazing area and/ or rain-fed cropping ‘the emphasis is on techniques that improve the infiltration

Table 1: Rainwater harvesting methods (adapted from DWAF, 2010)

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Figure 1: The ‘in-field’ RWH method, reduces soil-erosion, increases profitability and drought resilience (from Botha et al., 2003) capacity and the water holding capacity of the soils, and on shaping the runoff path to channel and concentrate water where it is needed’ (DWAF, 2010:64). It requires working from people’s priorities and their capability to turn this resource into a valued practice.

Different techniques have been developed for the built environment (e.g. homesteads, villages, towns and urban areas), cultivated areas (e.g. dryland and irrigated production in crop fields and home-based gardening) and uncultivated areas (e.g. grazing, natural veld, mountains areas, conservation areas, etc.). Their catchment area or scale varies from rooftop, micro-catchment areas (< 1000 m), to macro-catchment (1000 m – 200 ha) and large catchments (200 ha – 50km2).

Further to this, a number of approaches to categorization of rainwater harvesting have also been fostered such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which deals with water harvesting for production; the RHADESS for South Africa uses a categorization according to the catchment area, to name a few (Ibid.). An adaptation of the FAO categorization is proposed in the table below so as to identify the techniques suitable to meet ecosystem restoration, agricultural and domestic needs in rural South Africa. RWH methods are therefore distinguished on scale of runoff collection, the end use or purpose and the medium of storage.

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Selected RWH examples from the many applicable to South Africa are shown below.

These can be applied at micro-catchment scales (Figure 1) and macro-catchment scales (Figure 2), the latter taken from the international award-winning Meret Watershed Project in Ethiopia.

Benefits associated to RWH development include: 1. Environmental/conservation (Denison et al., 2011): • reduce soil erosion and thus siltation of the streams, rivers and estuaries from harvesting and managing runoff from roads and steep slopes • increase base-flow and thus stream and river recharge •m itigate flood peaks 2. Water supply-demand and municipal service delivery (DWAF, 2010): • less pressure on municipal services to provide bulk water infrastructure, operation and maintenance costs • release pressure on irrigated agriculture and on water resources 3. Poverty reduction, economic development, improvement in general well-being and health, and gender equity (Kahinda et al., 2008):

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Figure 2: Integrated implementation of multiple RWH techniques at watershed scale (from Desta et al., 2005) • improved diet and food security from increased crop production • improved household economy from new income earning opportunities • p rovision of clean water, adequate sanitation and improved health.

• reduce vulnerability to drought, helping resource-poor farmers deal better with the risks involved in rain-fed agriculture • gender equity by reducing the burden on poor rural people, with less time spent in collecting water (particularly for women and children) • reduce vulnerability to drought, helping resource-poor farmers deal better with the risks involved in rain-fed agriculture In overall, the adoption of RWH methods and techniques should be considered within a watershed approach as a integral solution to enhance the resilience capacity of any

catchment system. Application of RWH in this context will better equip the watershed system and agricultural sub-systems adapt to climate changes, and continue to develop in order to meet attainable human development aspirations and well-being.

On-going reflexivity in both the way RWH is applied, and integrated into the watershed activities, allows better ways of responding to emergent issues, mediated through participatory and co-developed watershed management plans, from rural communities to higher level governance structures.

RWH as a Green Economy innovative response towards restoring watershed services and achieving developmental outcomes Contemporary approaches to watershed management and rainwater harvesting align to a more cooperative management

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orientation to the management of water resources and supporting ecosystems. In Wasting the Rain (1993), William Adams illustrates how studying the development of indigenous water resources on the African continent was almost inseparable form understanding African environmental history. He drew on literature on land use, food production and ecology and the role of indigenous water development and knowledge in informing conservation discourse (Denison, 2009). His observations and conclusions can be considered in line with current watershed development thinking as one approach to meet national economic demand, promote environmental conservation and improve human wellbeing; an all round strategy towards a ‘green economy’ or developmental state as described in the sections above.

As land resources deteriorate and the demand on freshwater resources increases in South Africa, interest in building on some traditional technologies such as rainwater harvesting is rising amongst environmental, rural development and government agencies. These have evolved, through Water Research Commission and Agricultural Research Council applied research studies over the last 20 years, as highly scientific and locally appropriate responses to sustainable development. Together with participative resource planning, and implementation modalities, RWH brings targeted technical solutions to the inexorable challenge of

agricultural-water deficit, while achieving catchment protection by reduced soil erosion, increased base flows and increased groundwater recharge, through the direct incentive of increased agricultural productivity.

The watershed development framework provides an inclusive and coherent framework for implementation. Watershed approaches and strategies that foster “participatory planning at watershed scale to ensure cooperative governance in implementation and integrated water resource management” (Pollard et al, 2011; World Bank, 2013; Denison et al., 2015) are demonstrated to be able to play a significant role in achieving rural development targets envisaged for the country. These include job creation, sustainable agricultural livelihoods, gender equity and empowerment, as well as ensuring healthy management of our natural resources.

The WESSA (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa), Umhlaba Consulting Group, the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the Wild Coast Forest and Farmers Organisation (WCFFO) are working towards demonstrating watershed planning and innovative rainwater harvesting development as an example of a catchment management project that has revived traditional land management and water resource approaches as an solution to improve the ecosystems services and hydrological function of the Lower Mzimvubu and Oxkraal Catchments in the Eastern Cape.

References • Beinart, W. (2003). Rise of Conservation in South Africa: Settlers, Livestock and the Environment 1770 – 1950. In Denison, J. and Wotshela, L. (Ed.). Indigenous Water Harvesting and Conservation Practices: Historical Context, Cases and Implications. WRC Report No. 392/90.

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• Botha JJ, van Rensburg LD, Anderson JJ, Hensley M, Macheli MS, van Staden PP, Kundhlande G, Groenewald DG, Baiphethi MN. (2003). Water Conservation Techniques on Small Plots in SemiArid Areas to Enhance Rainfall Use Efficiency, Food Security, and Sustainable Crop Production.

Water Research Commission Report No. 1176/1/03: Pretoria,South Africa.

• Cullis, J. & Van Koppen, B. (2008). Applying the Gini coefficient to measure the distribution of water use and benefits of water use in South Africa’s provinces. Final unpublished draft, 14 August.

• DEAT (Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism) (2008). State of the environment: Land degradation. DEAT, Pretoria.

• Death, C. (2014). The Green Economy in South Africa: Global Discourses and Local Politics.

Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, 41(1), 1-22.

• Denison, J., Smulders, H., Kruger, E., Ndingi, H. and Botha, M. (2011). Development of a Comprehensive Learning Package on the application of water harvesting and conservation .

WRC Report No.493/11. Water Research Commission. Gezina. Pretoria.

• Denison, J., Wotshela, L. (2012). Indigenous Rainwater Harvesting and Conservation Practices in South Africa, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), Special Edition, Irrig. and Drain. 61 (Suppl. 2): 7–23.

• Denison, J., Murata, C., Conde, L., Perry, A., Monde, N., Jacobs, T. (2015). Empowerment of women through water use security, land use security and knowledge generation for improved household food security and sustainable livelihoods in selected areas of the Eastern Cape.

Water Research Commission Report No. 2083/15. Gezina. South Africa.

• Desta, L., Carucci, V., Wenden-Agenehu, A., Abebe, Y., (2005). Community Based Participatory Watershed Development: A Guideline. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

• Kahinda, J. M., Sejamoholo, B. B. P., Taigbenu, A.E., Boroto, J. R., Lillie, E. S. B., Taute, M. and Cousins, T. (2008). Water Resources Management in Rainwater Harvesting: An Integrated Systems Approach. WRC Report No. 1563/1/08. Water Research Commission.

• Lichtman, M. 2011. Understanding and Evaluating Qualitative Educational Research. Sage Publications. California, USA. 313pp.

• MA. (2005). Ecosystems and human well-being: A framework for assessment. Washington D.C., USA: Island Press.

• Pollard, S., du Toit, D., Biggs, H. (2011). A guide to complexity theory and systems thinking for integrated water resources research and management. WRC Report No. KV 277/11. Water Research Commission. Gezina. South Africa.

• Oweis, T., Prinz, D., and Hachum, A. (2001). Water Harvesting: Indigenous Knowledge for the Future of the Drier Environments. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Aleppo: Syria.

• Republic of South Africa. National Planning Commission (2011). National Development Plan [Online]. Available from: http://www.gov.za/issues/national -development-plan-2030 [Accessed:16/04/2015] • Schreiner, B., Pegram, G. and von der Heyden, C. (2009). Reality check on Water Resources Management: Are we doing the right things in the best possible way? Development Planning Division. Working Paper Series No.11, DBSA: Midrand.

• Statistics South Africa (2013). Census 2011. Agricultural Households. Key highlights. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.

• UNEP (2011). Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication. Green Economy Report. Nairobi: UNEP. • Versfeld, D. (2003). Water for livelihoods: bringing equity and opportunity to the rural poor in South Africa. Proc. Of the International Symposium on Water, Poverty and Productive uses of water at household level, Muldersdrift, South Africa, 228 – 237.

• World Bank (2013). Watershed Development in India: An Approach Evolving Through Experience. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.

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INTEGRATING NMT INFRASTRUCTURE WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Gail Jennings and Cathy Dippnall

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Introduction into NMT infrastructures in Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of pedestrian death fatalities in the world, accounting for 38 per cent of deaths, compared to the global figure of 22 per cent. Pedestrians are easily overlooked in infrastructure planning and only about a third of low- to middle-income countries have policies to protect them.

These statistics provided by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) are a wake-up call for a continent that suffers from poor road conditions, traffic congestion, air pollution and limited transport options.

A few countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Uganda have developed laws and guidelines to keep pedestrians safe, but legislation needs to be implemented and enforced to be affective.

Uganda is an African pioneer in prioritising the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, and other countries would do well to follow its example. However, it is crucial that Uganda and other countries seek international support as they design and implement new policies to keep pedestrians safe.

A pilot project called “Share the Road” was started in Uganda in 2011 after UNEP invited the Ugandan Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) and the Uganda National Roads Authority to the “Share the Road Report Launch and East Africa Workshop” NEP Headquarters in November 2010.

The safety of pedestrians is a foremost concern in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The MoWT has made tangible progress in this area. In 2012, it drafted a policy to protect pedestrians and cyclists, and it has since been made into law.

The policy emphasises the notion that the government is responsible for providing high-quality infrastructure, such as pavements and cycle lanes to serve the

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country’s non-motorised transport (NMT) users. It sets out standards to ensure that the elderly, people with disabilities and pedestrians with small children can use roads and pavements safely.

UNEP continues to work hard to promote the safety of pedestrians and cyclists throughout the continent. It’s Share the Road initiative, which currently focuses on East Africa, has encouraged other countries to pay more attention to NMT. In Uganda, UNEP is working closely with the MoWT and officials to help to design its NMT policy, enhance public awareness and develop pilot projects to improve pedestrian safety (Share the Road: Design Guidelines for NMT in Africa).

What do we mean by integration?

Integration is the act of bringing together smaller components into a single system that functions as one. It is the act of combining into a whole; the unrestricted and equal association of people or things; mixing things that were formerly separated; the process of attaining close and seamless co-ordination or the incorporation (of people or things) as equals.

So, a discussion about the integration of modes of transport is a review of how different modes are connected and how these links are facilitated.

Why integrate walking, cycling and public transport?

When walking and cycling are integrated with public transport, the service is able to: • Facilitate greater transport equity; • Improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists; • Contribute to the built environment and limit harm to the natural environment; • Expand the reach of your services, thus increasing public transport ridership; • Reduce the costs of providing feeder services; and

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• Attract a new public transport ridership with a mode shift from private cares to public transport.

The list will be expanded as input is collected from various stakeholders.

How to facilitate greater transport equity Commuters are all pedestrians and, on every single trip that they take (even those with private vehicles - and especially those using public transport), all start and end with walking (or using a wheelchair). At some point in the day, commuters walk.

Transport equity, or justice, is an equitable or progressive distribution of the benefits and impacts of a particular transport intervention, or its potential to redress a legacy of inequity (Litman, 2010, 2014; Martens & Golub, 2011).

By improving public transport it offers the opportunity to significantly reduce transport disadvantage and its debilitating consequences. However, before starting to plan and implement strategies, the first need to have in mind is that customers need to be able to access public transport in a safe, dignified, sociable and comfortable fashion.

Without the first and last kilometres of access to public transport, the service will not be able to deliver on its transport equity mandate.

Improving the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

Walking is a major form of transport in African cities representing between 50 per cent and 90 per cent of daily trips (SSATP 2015) and therefore making roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists is a crucial component in encouraging people to walk and cycle more often.

Pedestrians constitute the majority of road-traffic injuries and fatalities and, together

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with cyclists: there is therefore a definite need to develop ways of improving their safety.

Improved public transport services result in more pedestrians and cyclists (Tiwari & Jain, TRIPP). It is also important to note that there is a risk of more injuries and fatalities unless there is attendant infrastructure (Tiwari & Jain, TRIPP).

African cities in the main have inadequate infrastructures to support non-motorised transport (NMT) modes upon which many poor people depend, but for many years it had been ignored or underestimated (WHO Global Status Report on road Safety 2013).

Poor levels of NMT accessibility, coupled with unsafe travel conditions, are the inevitable result (Berkeley 2015). Accidents and injury to people could be considerably reduced by building safe walkways and bikeways.

Greater transport equity contributes to natural and built environment When you improve bus and NMT infrastructure, you are able to shift as much as 30 per cent of your bus passengers onto NMT for shorter trips, and this alone will reduce the capacity requirements during peak periods, which concomitantly reduces carbon emissions.

(Bicycles/PT - Bogota Cicloruta cycleway (c) Sean Cooke, UCT) Bus rapid transport (BRT) corridors are usually built along arterial roads or within busy urban routes. NMT facilities and landscaping increases the attractiveness of these routes, making for more inclusive urban corridors. (Impact of improving PT and NMT facilities on CO₂ emissions in Indian cities; Tiwari and Jain, TRIPP) Cycling could have a considerable impact on energy use and CO₂ savings. Cycling can also reduce noise pollution significantly, while the impact of physical activity could vastly improve the health of the population.

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How to expand the reach of your services and increasing public transport ridership If the intentions are to provide public transport for a distance of between 800m to 2 000m of every home, then careful attention must be given to that distance radius.

If it is pleasant and easy to walk along sidewalks and roads then people will be more willing and able to walk for longer distances in a shorter space of time. Thus, the public transport catchment area would be increased, ensuring that the number of potential public transport users is increased, with the result that the number of people who benefit from improved access is increased.

The catchment area of transit stops within walking and cycling distances of 10, 20 and 30 minutes The average speed of a pedestrian is 5km/h, which enables them to cover an average distance of 0.8km in 10 minutes, and about 1.7km in 20 minutes. (Graph of: catchment area of transit stops within walking and cycling distances of 10, 20 and 30 minutes) Thus, the catchment area within 20 minutes walking distance is 8.7km₂. However, the average speed of a cyclist is greater at 15km/h, reaching an average distance of 2.5km in 10 minutes and 5km in 20 minutes. Therefore, the catchment area of a cyclist (78.50km₂) is greater within 20 minutes of cycling.

From an economic point of view, there may not be an improvement in time saving by cycling, particularly if people have been using more direct routes, but cycling or walking to BRT facilities would certainly offer a cost-saving alternative for users in terms of saving on fuel etc.

Reducing the cost of providing feeder services Urban cycle ways can partially replace other transport modes as feeder systems to public transport. If used as feeders for

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public transport, bicycle paths can have a catchment area of anywhere between 7km to 10km.

Therefore, it is significantly cheaper to provide bicycle feeders than motorized feeders, as those operational and capital costs are far greater. Bicycles make particular sense in cities with low-density public transport networks.

A note of caution However, a BRT system may not be accessible to the urban poor due to the cost of fares, so a bicycle network designed only for intermodal transfer or access may result in a transport system that promotes social exclusion. In African cities, bicycle travel is often a main/arterial mode.

3.2. Attracting a new public transport ridership: a mode shift from private car to public bus transport.

“Choice NMT users… choose to use NMT, primarily cycling, as a form of transport, because of the many benefits associated with NMT use, even though they may have access to a motorized mode. These discretionary users require a high quality of services and infrastructure, and may revert to motorized travel if quality is not adequate.

Every journey starts and ends at your own front door and if you have to drive to your public transport station, because the first kilometer is unsafe and inconvenient by NMT, you’ll probably drive the whole trip.”

(Western Cape NMT Strategy, Provincial Government Western Cape, 2009).

From a social aspect, more people will be drawn to using NMT (and, in particular, to cycling) because of improved security for cyclists following the building of bikeways and other projects and initiatives that form an integral part of the NMT/RT system. The total quality of the journey (cycling) will be considerably improved with building bikeways since there is an increase in safety

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for the cyclist, especially in high-density areas with narrow roads and passing lanes.”

(Western Cape NMT Strategy, Provincial Government Western Cape, 2009).

How do we integrate walking a nd public transport?

In order to integrate walking and public transport there needs to be adequate public transport stations and bus shelters. The frequency and placement of bus shelters and bus bays depends on the volume of pedestrian traffic and the need for them in a particular area in order for them to be placed where there is maximum pedestrian traffic.

There should be suitable pedestrian crossings as well as at junctions in order to enable pedestrians to walk safely across roads. Street/location maps and bus timetables should be conveniently placed at bus shelters and bus bays. It is critically important to have adequate street lighting as well as benches and other street furniture at pause areas, bus stops and NBRT stations.

How do we integrate cycling and public transport?

Introduce fare-integration by providing integrated ticketing, for example by buying a ticket that includes parking or even bike rental.

Information integration: by providing information on almost all aspects of travelling in every mode, along with the operational integration of different systems.

Physical integration by making ‘seamless’ trips with transfer facilities continuously improved and provided for, as well as network integration by integrating different hierarchical levels and connecting modes.

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bicycle parking facilities, preferably with the option of long-term storage at major terminals, such as at bus, train or airport terminals.

These bicycle storage terminals could be further improved by providing lockers, showers and toilets for commuters, as well as maintenance facilities for bicycle repairs or parts and facilities to hire public bicycles for day use.

In summary, these questions need to be asked • Does the proposed NMT intervention truly offer equitable access?

• Has the planning, design and operations team given the NMT network as much attention as the ‘motorised’ mode?

• Does the proposed intervention facilitate a single, safe and seamless trip?

• Will this proposed NMT intervention reduce the number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths?

• How does this intervention redress transport disadvantage?

• Will this intervention extend the influence of a public transport station?

• Will this influence operational costs?

• And, finally, will these NMT interventions be enough to persuade YOU and your team to walk or cycle to work, rather than to drive?

Resources and bibliography Please visit www.unep.org, for publications and training resources.

For further information contact Gail Jennings at gail.jennings@unep.org or gail@gailjennings.co.za

How to integrate bicycles and buses In order to suitably integrate bicycles and buses, there needs to be safe and secure

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References • Share the Road: Design Guidelines for NMT in Africa (UNEP Transport Unit and FIA Foundation) “http://www.unep.org/transport/sharetheroad/Countrypages/uganda. asp”http://www.unep.org/transport/sharetheroad/Countrypages/uganda.asp • Integration of Public Transport and NMT: Principles and application in an East African Context (Mark Brussel for UNEP, University of Twente).

• Berkeley 2015. [Online] Available from: “http://its.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/volvocenter/VREF/ACET_FUT_UCB_nonmotorized.pdf”http://its.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ volvocenter/VREF/ACET_FUT_UCB_nonmotorized.pdf [Accessed: date].

• WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013 “http://www.who.int/iris/ bitstream/10665/78256/1/9789241564564_eng.pdf” http://www.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/78256/1/9789241564564_eng.pdf • Bicycles/PT- Bogota Cicloruta cycleway (c) Sean Cooke UCT “http://tct.gov.za/docs/categories/1546/NMT%20%E2%80%93%20Integration%20with%20Public%20Transport.pdf” http://tct.gov.za/docs/categories/1546/NMT%20%E2%80%93%20Integration%20with%20 Public%20Transport.pdf • Impact of improving PT and NMT facilities on CO₂ emissions in Indian cities; Tiwari and Jain, TRIPP) “http://tct.gov.za/docs/categories/1546/NMT%20%E2%80%93%20Integration%20 with%20Public%20Transport.pdf”http://tct.gov.za/docs/categories/1546/NMT%20 %E2%80%93%20Integration%20with%20Public%20Transport.pdf ) • Graph of: Catchment area of transit stops within walking and cycling distances of 10, 20 and 30 minutes. “http://tct.gov.za/docs/categories/1546/NMT%20%E2%80%93%20 Integration%20with%20Public%20Transport.pdf” http://tct.gov.za/docs/categories/1546/ NMT%20%E2%80%93%20Integration%20with%20Public%20Transport.pdf • Western Cape NMT Strategy, Provincial Government Western Cape, 2009 “https://www. westerncape.gov.za/.../final_pltf_framework_document.pdf” https://www.westerncape. gov.za/.../final_pltf_framework_document.pdf • Western Cape NMT Strategy, Provincial Government Western Cape, 2009 “http://tct.gov. za/docs/categories/1546/NMT%20%E2%80%93%20Integration%20with%20Public%20 Transport.pdf” http://tct.gov.za/docs/categories/1546/NMT%20%E2%80%93%20 Integration%20with%20Public%20Transport.pdf

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The benefits of our fly ash for construction:

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GIVING THE SPIRIT OF EKURHULENI A LIFT GET LIFTED WITH A SAFE, RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE WAY TO TRAVEL IN EKURHULENI. LAUNCHING SOON.

USING TRANSPORT TO MOVE EKURHULENI FORWARD For any thriving economy, public transport services represent the veins that bring oxygen and life into its city centres. The services enhance economic activity by providing commuters access to places of employment, business, educational institutions, security, municipal and health care facilities.

The essence of this was captured by the former mayor of Columbian city, Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, who said, “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars, it’s where the rich use public transport.”

Executive Mayor Cllr Mondli Gungubele

In 2008, the City of Ekurhuleni conceptualised the Modal Integration Strategy and Action Plan, which underscored the vision of providing a high-quality and affordable public transport system that all residents can benefit from. As part of this process, the city recognised that transportation and connectivity are important parts of improving the quality of life for all the residents of Ekurhuleni.

This gave birth to Harambee, Ekurhuleni’s bus rapid transit system, created to lead the rejuvenation

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INDEX OF ADVERTISERS

COMPANY

PAGE

Africities 2-3 Ash Resources 107 Ashak Epoxerite 22 City of Tshwane: A Re Yeng OBC Claybrick 76 Claybrick Advertorial 28-31 Ekurhuleni: Harambee BRT 108-111 Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo

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Lafarge IBC Mapei 4 Modena 40-41 Msunduzi Municipality 84-87 Mutual & Federal 56-57 Old Mutual Investment Group IFC Old Mutual Investment Group Advertorial

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Resotec Water 12-13 Rosema Group 27 Shotcrete Africa 72-73 Terraforce 78-79 Total South Africa 6 114

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A Re Yeng launches a CNG bus, a first in Sub-Saharan Africa Creating a greener future for the people of Tshwane does not seem like a distant vision anymore. The procurement of 40 A Re Yeng buses running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has cemented the City of Tshwane’s position towards being a liveable City in 2055.

40 of the 84 new buses expected for delivery for the second phase of A Re Yeng operations, comprises of the 37 x 12 m rigid diesel buses, 7 x 18 m articulated buses equipped with clean-burning diesel-powered Euro V engines and 40 X 12 m rigid buses running on compressed natural gas. 37 of these buses are expected to start coming off the production line from the end of November 2015 and the balance until January 2016.

The City of Tshwane’s A Re Yeng is the first in Sub-Saharan Africa to run on full CNG. The roll-out of CNG powered buses is part of the City of Tshwane’s commitment of providing efficient transport service and transforming the existing system into a more sustainable form of transport. CNG has many benefits, it releases much lower gaseous emissions, it is environmentally friendly, with much lower noise levels, it has low maintenance costs than other hydrocarbon fuel-powered buses and further it will cost the City 40% less to operate a CNG bus.

CNG is a safe and renewable alternative source of energy that is sourced from various gas fields; natural Gas is the only abundant, eco-friendly and economically viable fuel.

The CNG bus was launched on the 24th November during a high profile event at the new A Re Yeng Molefe Makinta station,

Church Square in the CBD. During the launch the Executive Mayor of Tshwane Cllr Kgosientso Ramokgopa said” Tshwane is a trailblazer and trendsetter in this regard as we are the 1st in the Sub-Saharan Africa to operate a full CNG propelled bus”.

The City of Tshwane has chosen CNG because natural gas burns cleaner than diesel, reduces fuel costs by up to 40%; cuts carbon dioxide by 25%; and lower carbon monoxide by 20%; does not produce particulates (ash); cuts nitrogen oxide by up to 90%; it is colourless, odourless and non-toxic; and it is a renewable source of energy.

Ramokgopa further mentioned that “the City seeks to reaffirm its position as a leader on Green technology and other green interventions. The introduction of the CNG buses further indicates that the City wants to achieve a low carbon growth city; reduce emissions and benefit from a first mover advantage in this regard”.

The 1st phase completed (Inception Phase) was between CBD and Hatfield. This phase comprises of approximately 7km of TRT trunk route, 7 median Stations and Feeder routes going via Hatfield, Groenkloof, CBD and Steve Biko Hospital. The inception phase has been well received by the commuters. The average number of passengers per day has been consistent since February 2015 ranging between 3,000 and 4,000 passengers per day; increasing to 4495 passengers daily in October 2015.

There is no doubt that with the additional new fleet the system will operate at maximum capacity on the current inception phase as well as the soon to operate line 1A betweeen CBD and Wonderboom.

For more information on this project, please contact A Re Yeng Tel: 012 358 4848 • Twitter: @A_Re_Yeng Facebook: A re yeng • Instagram: Areyengsm www.areyengtshwane.co.za