Featured
Mendy Shozi: Water’s Importance Cannot Be Overstated
Water is scarce, wasted, and taken for granted. It is also a vital source of life and dignity. Mendy Shozi, President of the South Africa Youth Parliament for Water and project manager at Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association, is in her words “water...
Featured
Navigating Resistance: Overcoming Barriers to Regulatory Reform in South Africa’s Water Sector
Introducing new regulations often meets with resistance, and the water sector in South Africa is no exception. Regulation 3630 is an example and stems from various sources, including institutional inertia, stakeholder interests, and socio-economic factors....
Featured
Making Every Drop Count In Gqeberha
Droughts are not new to Gqeberha (formerly called Port Elizabeth). Located in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, Gqeberha experiences a semi-arid climate with erratic rainfall, making it prone to periodic water scarcity. This has inspired a unique partnership...
Featured
Reducing Risk and Building Trust with Bureau Veritas
A world leader in testing, inspection and certification services, Bureau Veritas operates in agri-food, industry, commodities as well as building and infrastructure markets. Water is a critical resource across all these sectors, and as its quality declines, water...
South African Member Committee of World Energy Council Launched
A South African member committee of the World Energy Council (WEC) has been officially launched under the auspices of the Energy Council of South Africa. This committee comprises ten high-level energy professionals from both public and private...
Vivo Energy to Invest Over R10 Billion in South Africa
Vivo Energy, a company owned by global commodities trader Vitol, is set to invest an initial R10 billion in its South African operations following its merger with Engen, as announced by South Africa’s trade minister, Ebrahim Patel, on...
Uncollected Trash Worsens Health Risks Amid Ongoing Pikitup Protest
Residents of Randburg, Cosmo City, and the Zandspruit informal settlement in northern Johannesburg are raising alarms over the health hazards posed by uncollected waste, a result of the ongoing protest by Pikitup volunteers. The protest, which...
East Africa’s waste revolution: Mary Ngechu to share insights at ISWA Cape Town
Mary Ngechu – a sustainability ambassador, environmental enthusiast and social entrepreneur – speaks to Infrastructure News on the value of waste, the waste industry in East Africa and her upcoming keynote address at the upcoming International...
NWRIA: An update
In 2005, government approved plans for the establishment of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA). Kirsten Kelly gives an update about its rationale and status. A lack of water is a constraint to economic growth. There is a...
Water and Sanitation Department is one step closer to establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is one step closer to establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA), to ensure sustainable, equitable and reliable supply of water from national water resources infrastructure....
Sustainability
Building energy performance in the spotlight ahead of COP26
As the world prepares for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in November, measures to minimise greenhouse gas emissions are in the spotlight. The South African National Energy Development Institute has placed...
South Africa faces a tough road to net-zero emissions by 2050
The International Energy Agency (IEA) – of which South Africa is an association country – recently released a report detailing a way forward for countries looking to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and thus give the world an even chance of...
A simple solution to going green, without capital outlay
Many businesses and individuals are aware of the importance of reducing their energy consumption; doing so offers benefits for the environment and a decrease in one’s utility bill. However, one of the biggest barriers to the wider adoption of...
Cape Town launched Africa’s first truly biophilic building
The first biophilic development in Africa has been launched in Cape Town and will see a 24-storey living, breathing mixed-use building take residence on Upper Bree Street in the heart of the cities CBD. This first-of-its-kind building, situated at...
Pick n Pay keeps recycling at top of sustainability agenda
For over two decades, Pick n Pay has placed recycling at the top of its sustainability agenda. The retailer has been one of the key sponsors of the National Beach and River Clean-ups for the past 25 years – the latest of which takes place this...
RecyclePaperZA calls on citizens to recycle paper products
According to RecyclePaperZA, the paper recycling association of South Africa, our country recovered 1.1 million tonnes of recyclable paper products in 2020, putting the paper recovery rate at 69.8%. Today – Friday 17 September – is National...
Events
Industry News
Study links microplastic in human poo with inflammatory bowel disease
A potential link between microplastics and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been flagged up by a new scientific study, reports Bluewater, a world leader in sustainable water and bottle solutions for homes, businesses and public dispensing....
Stop the perennial flooding by effectively utilising the budget
The heavy rainfall experienced in the last few weeks that has caused the tragic loss of lives, livelihoods, and property has exposed how climate change is severely affecting Kenya’s weather patterns and why we should catalyse action in 2022 to...
Bid to develop National faecal sludge management strategy
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) in North West hosted a two-day consultative workshop for the development of a National faecal sludge management strategy for non-sewered sanitation in Klerksdorp and Rustenburg last week. Through the...
Metro News
Back of port solutions being explored to reduce Durban port congestion
The multi-disciplinary Port of Durban Decongestion Task Team continues to collaborate on efforts to alleviate congestion at the Port of Durban and its surrounding road networks. Among the solutions mooted are synchronising the operating hours of...
CESA supporting municipalities towards improved service delivery and wiser spending
The recently released Auditor-General’s report on the latest municipal audit results does not paint a good picture for spending and service delivery on the part of South Africa’s local governments. Auditor-general (AG), Kimi Makwetu states in the...
Opinion
Western Cape construction industry to prepare for COVID-19 peak
Latest epidemiological models have revealed that the COVID-19 infection peak in the Western Cape will take place from late July through early August. By Deon Bester, OHS Manager at the Master Builders Association Western Cape This is both longer...
Engineering
Sponsored Content
SMEC South Africa appoints Logashri Sewnarain as CEO
Engineering and infrastructure consultancy firm SMEC South Africa is pleased to announce the promotion of Logashri Sewnarain to Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective August 1, 2020, following the retirement of Kostas Rontiris. Joining SMEC in...
Covid-19 calls for ‘balanced’ strategy for technical audits
Engineering projects face a growing range of audits, assessment and monitoring, but will Covid-19 restrictions on movement make it difficult for consultants to carry out this vital work? The answer lies in leveraging information systems and...
Building confidence at all-time low
The FNB Bureau for Economic Research (BER) Building Confidence Index has fallen to an all-time low of 4 in the second quarter of this year, following the 13 recorded in the first quarter of the year. The current level of the index...
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Water & Sanitation Africa
The official magazine of the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA), the magazine publishes content dealing with the supply, governance, financing, treatment and measurement of water and sanitation in southern Africa.