Charging for stormwater in South Africa

The social, economic and environmental impacts of poor water quality on South Africa’s urban aquatic systems are increasingly being highlighted by the media. Improving the water quality in these systems will require catchment-wide strategies, including the monitoring and management of point and non-point source pollution collected in stormwater. Significant costs may be incurred; however, international experience suggests that these are outweighed by the benefits. Municipalities across South Africa charge their citizens for potable water and sewerage. Stormwater management, however, is generally funded through municipal rates. Competition with other pressing needs frequently results in the stormwater departments being significantly under-funded – at times only receiving a tenth of what is required for water quantity management. Internationally, an increasing number of cities have introduced a direct charge for stormwater management in order to secure the funding required to manage stormwater and its associated water pollution, and to serve as a disincentive to polluting practices on the part of landowners. In order to ensure adequate funding for stormwater management in South Africa, municipalities need to consider charging for stormwater management either based on an Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) or Residential Equivalent Factor (REF), combined with an appropriate discount scheme for on-site stormwater management. Preliminary indicative rates have been calculated for municipalities across South Africa using the Damage Avoidance Cost (DAC) approach. The results indicate that the amount that municipalities could and should charge varies widely, from ZAR30 (2010) to ZAR110 (2010) per residential unit per month, depending on climatic zone and level of treatment.Keywords: stormwater management, damage avoidance cost, stormwater utilitie

Mitigating the impact of swimming pools on domestic water demand

South Africa is a water-scarce country where the sustainable provision of water to its citizens is one of the most significant challenges faced. A recent study in Cape Town, South Africa, investigated the impact of residential swimming pools on household water demand and found that, on average, the presence of a swimming pool increased water demand by 8.85 kℓ/ month or 37.36%. Should cities in South Africa wish to develop in a water sensitive manner – where water is treated as a scarce resource with economic value in all its competing uses – it will be vital to understand the impact of swimming pools on residential water demand. Should there be a significant increase in water demand attributable to the presence of a swimming pool on a property, it would highlight the need to consider whether it is acceptable for properties to use municipal water to fill them or top them up – especially in water-scarce/stressed areas. This paper describes a study undertaken in the Liesbeek River catchment, Cape Town, to investigate the impact that swimming pools have on domestic water demand. The results support the contention that properties with swimming pools use significantly more water than those without. This study estimated the additional demand resulting from swimming pools at between 2.2–2.4 kℓ/month or 7–8% of total water demand. The data also indicate that the presence of a swimming pool correlates with a higher indoor demand. The study shows the need to reduce the impact of swimming pools. This could include: pool covers to reduce evaporation, the recycling of backwash water, the use of rainwater to top up swimming pools, water use surcharges and, finally, appropriate regulation and enforcement to prevent the use of municipal water in swimming pools – especially during droughts.Keywords: urban water management, swimming pools, water demand managemen