Technical Tours

Important Information:

• All Tours will depart from CTICC at 08:30 (promptly).
• Only paid up pre-booked Tour registrants will be allowed on the Technical Tours.
• Cancellations/no shows will not be refunded.

The Cape Flats Advanced Water Treatment Plant (AWRP) is a crucial component of Cape Town’s efforts to improve water security through advanced water reclamation. Located next to the Cape Flats Wastewater Treatment Works, the AWRP uses cutting-edge technology like ozone disinfection and ultraviolet (UV) treatment to produce high-quality drinking water from purified wastewater. The facility is expected to be completed in April 2027, with construction of its mechanical and electrical systems currently underway.

Groundwater Augmentation:
The AWRP’s primary purpose is to augment the Cape Flats Aquifer, a vital groundwater source, ensuring its sustainable use and availability.

Water Resilience:
It’s a critical part of the City’s groundwater action plan to diversify water supply sources and secure a resilient future, especially against drought and climate change.

The Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) is a facility in Cape Town that recently underwent a significant R2 billion upgrade. Completed in 2024, the expansion increased the plant’s capacity and improved the quality of its treated effluent. Expanded service area: The plant provides improved sanitation services for thousands of residents in Cape Town’s fastest-growing catchment areas, including Khayelitsha, Delft, Mfuleni, Blue Downs, and Eerste River.

Improved effluent quality: The upgrade has led to a significant improvement in the quality of treated effluent discharged from the facility. This helps meet regulatory requirements and reduce the pollution of the Kuils–Eerste River estuary.

Future water security: A major long-term goal is to repurpose the plant as a water recovery facility to improve Cape Town’s drinking water security. Its treated effluent will be sent to the new Faure Water Scheme, where it will be further purified to drinking-water standards. This reused water will then be blended with dam water to augment the city’s supply.

The SASTEP (Sustainable Sanitation and Technological Advancement for a New Era) project in Cape Town aims to pilot innovative, non-sewered sanitation technologies in informal settlements through a partnership between the City of Cape Town, the Water Research Commission (WRC), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These low-energy, water-recycling toilets, such as the Clear Enviro Loo, are designed to be sustainable and dignified solutions for areas lacking traditional sewer infrastructure, with the goal of improving local manufacturing, jobs, and overall community well-being. Initial pilot sites include Nyagatisa in Macassar and Masincedane in Strandfontein.

Sanitation for Dignity:
The overarching goal is to provide access to dignified basic services and enhance human dignity through innovative, non-sewered solutions.

Innovation and Technology:
The SASTEP programme focuses on demonstrating and incubating advanced, sustainable sanitation technologies.

Partnership:
The project is a collaborative effort between the City of Cape Town, which is implementing the pilot in its informal settlements, the Water Research Commission (WRC) as a technology demonstration partner, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) providing grant funding.

Technology and Implementation

Non-Sewered Systems:
The technologies are ideal for informal settlements because they do not require bulk sewer connections.

Water Recycling:
The Clear Enviro Loo Recirculation toilet system, for example, treats wastewater with a membrane biological reactor and ozone disinfection, with the treated water then reused for flushing.

Pilot Sites:
The first non-sewered sanitation technologies were installed at the Nyagatisa and Masincedane sites in September 2024.

Use of nature-based media (biochar, stone aggregates, sand) to filter contaminated water from an upstream densely populated settlement. Removal of nutrients, bacteria and chemicals of emerging concern without adding chemicals or drawing on non-renewable energy. The site also features a biogas digester, the quality of the digestate, and an agroecology farming area showcasing a circular approach to resource reuse and management.

The Paardevlei site was part of an industrial fertilizer and explosives manufacturing plant pre-2007 and contained a historic waterbody that was manipulated from a seasonal to a permanent system. The degraded nature of the system led to a number of rehabilitation interventions, including eradication of alien fish in 2005 and large-scale rehabilitation effort of the wetland area in 2011 – 2013 back to a seasonal system. The City of Cape Town then acquired the land in 2015 with the primary intention to development the bulk of the site. During the process of refining the development plans for the site, the significance and value of the Paardevlei wetland was highlighted. The rehabilitation efforts created a system that now sustains significant bird diversity and the remaining terrestrial areas, which historically supported a substantial botanical wealth as a result of complex edaphic influences. This offers a unique important opportunity to restore elements of three critically endangered vegetation types within this precinct. These factors resulted in the current proposal and efforts to permanently secure the wetland precinct and surrounding terrestrial areas as one of the 24 Nature Reserves within the City of Cape Town.

This technical tour will include an introductory talk on the complicated history of this wetland area, touch on the current water quality and ecological status as well as the desired state of the system as a proposed nature reserve. This will be followed by opportunity to explore the site on foot and discuss the potential threats to the ecological integrity of the wetland. We invite you to join us in exploring the site, the potential threats and contribute your expertise in exploring innovative ways in which to safeguard the wetland from negative water quality impacts associated with the proposed surrounding development.

Special requirements for Disability:
The introductory talk will be housed in a building, followed by a site visit along an uneven but maintained unpaved pathway around the wetland area. The uneven and narrow pathway around the site may be a challenge for wheelchairs. The entrance way will allow for shaded views of the site from a short distance if needed.

PPE (e.g. hat, closed shoes, etc:

• Comfortable footwear (i.e. hiking shoes) for walking an unpaved pathway of approximately 2.8 km long. The trail is generally flat, easy walking and of low intensity.
• Weather appropriate protective clothing (i.e. hat, rain or wind jacket, warm clothing etc.)
• Sunblock
• Additional water for personal consumption
• Any personal snacks if needed for the walk

Onsite Tour Duration/Number of tour slots per day:
Approximately 3 hours tour slot.

• 1 hour for the introductory talk.
• 1 – 1.5 hours for the site walk.
• 30 minutes for submission of ideas or details for mitigation measures.

PPE requirements
Considering that both sites are active:

• Safety boots or at least suitable footwear.
• Hard hats maybe an issue for the SLP River project, as there are overhead cranes, but we should be able to manage strategic areas to visit.
• Safety vests are available, but if additional can me made available it will be appreciated.
• Lastly, note that we will require all to attend the OHS Induction on site as it forms part of the Construction regulation requirement and our work Permit conditions

Security provisions

• Both sites do not have significant security risks.