President’s comment

Engineering climate change responses that work

The heavy rainfall experienced across South Africa in recent months is incomparable with the catastrophic floods in KwaZulu-Natal and particularly within eThekwini during April 2022. A massive response is required to restore essential services immediately, and then to respond during the rebuild process with infrastructure resilient to climate change.

The tragic number of lives lost, and the knock-on effect in terms of damage to homes, livelihoods, the environment, and supporting infrastructure is on an unprecedented scale.

The severity of the event is underscored by government’s decision to declare a National State of Disaster, which will mobilise funding and support more effectively for reconstruction. This will include interventions in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and in parts of the Eastern Cape that have also recently experienced flood damage.

From a municipal engineering perspective, a massive response is required and the cost is estimated to run into the billions, so making the solutions future-proof is well worth the investment.

Future scenario modelling

In terms of current and future spatial planning, we need more advanced research on extreme weather predictions along the lines of those countries that need to design and build for potential seismic activity in earthquake zones – not easy, of course, given the extensive unpredictability of climate change impacts. But with the information we do have available, we can certainly construct far more robust structures. As municipal engineers, we also need to urgently address the pressing issue of informal settlements within our towns and cities. These settlements occur wherever open land is available, irrespective of whether it is above or below a known floodplain. It’s a potential disaster waiting to happen and can and should be prevented.

Of equal importance is the regular updating of municipal asset management registers, with examples including transportation infrastructure, and water and sanitation networks. Preventative and predictive maintenance is a key factor in ensuring the current and future sustainability of the municipal landscape.

Engagement and ethics

From IMESA’s perspective, our role is to assist and empower our members and to work within the three spheres of government to make municipal engineering processes and projects more efficient and effective. This is crucial for the successful implementation of South Africa’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan, and the revitalisation of our construction industry. Plus, the recent KZN disaster makes this even more of a priority.

Within this context, our responsibility as engineers is to ensure that every design is fit for purpose, and compliant with all applicable standards and specifications. To ensure that this happens in a uniform way, all built environment professionals must adhere to a strict ethical code.

Within our sector, one of my objectives as the 2020-22 IMESA President has been to propose that the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) makes adherence to ethics a compulsory requirement for registration.

85th IMESA Conference

In the meantime, our organising committee is now well advanced on the project and programme management phases for the upcoming 85th IMESA Conference. Delegate registration opens on 3 May 2022, with early-bird rates up for grabs.

This year’s theme – ‘Adapting to our changing world’ – has never been more relevant, as we engineer our way through climate change, and the fallout from global conflicts, to hopefully build a better future.

Bhavna Soni, president, IMESA