Water, Sewage & Effluent November December 2018 | Page 28

Developing more
water-sensitive cities
What students are thinking — and learning — about water
and wetlands.
By Mike Muller
Blesbokspruit is the only Ramsar wetland in the Gauteng province.
B
efore Donald Trump became
president of the United States and
promised to ‘drain the swamp’,
that was a job for civil engineers — not
politicians. In the earlier part of the 20th
century, swamps were being drained
across the world. One important
reason was that scientists had just
shown that malaria was transmitted
by mosquitoes, and swamps bred
and ‘grew’ mosquitoes, including in
Washington DC, the USA’s capital.
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But times change. Today, we talk
about ‘wetlands’, not swamps. Most
countries (including South Africa) have
signed up to the Ramsar Convention on
Wetlands of International Importance
especially as Waterfowl Habitat. But
the focus has shifted from birds to
biodiversity.
That
poses
challenges
for
engineers and planners. Those who,
like me, have been around for a while
have very clear ideas about what
Water Sewage & Effluent November/December 2018
needs to be done in the water sector
in countries like South Africa. Since
the needs are always far greater
than the finance available, we aim
to respond where the problems are
greatest.
Quite often, that involves building
dams
and
engineering
rivers.
Inevitably, river flows are changed and
local ecology impacted upon. This is
increasingly controversial, especially
if there is a wetland involved.
www.waterafrica.co.za