PermalinkJozi’s green spaces impressive 2011-11-20 17:30 –Yolandi Groenewald –Johannesburg –Johannesburg has a reputation for being the world’s biggest manmade forest,boasting more than 10 million trees.
But with mine-dump dust whirling around on a windy day,the constant threat of acid mine drainage and the bleak landscapes for which the City of Gold has become famous,at first glance Jozi is not an ideal contender for South Africa’s greenest city.
And then there are the traffic jams.
Yet a new study on the greenest cities in Africa found that Johannesburg had much to offer. The city leads the pack in cutting down on electricity and planting trees,although its citizens still use an excessive amount of water and few bother to recycle.
Siemens commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to compile the African Green City Index to help understand urban sustainability.
The study compared 15 cities in Africa on environmental performance and policies across categories such as energy,carbon footprint,land use,transport,waste,water,sanitation,air quality and environmental governance.
The cities examined were Pretoria,Cape Town and Durban,Casablanca (Morocco),Tunis (Tunisia),Alexandria and Cairo (Egypt),Accra (Ghana),Lagos (Nigeria),Addis Ababa (Ethiopia),Dar es Salaam (Tanzania),Nairobi (Kenya) and Maputo (Mozambique). Though the results of all 15 cities are only due to be released during the climate change summit in Durban at the beginning of next month,Dr Paul Kielstra,contributing editor of the EIU,gave City Press a preview of how well Johannesburg scores.
“The City of Johannesburg is one of the greenest cities in the index and ranks above average overall,” he said. “Its environmental performance is bolstered by having the second highest amount of green space among the 15 index cities and an extensive bus network,as well as generally robust environmental policies,especially for clean energy and congestion reduction.”
Parks Tau mayor of Johannesburg,said the city would build a green economy into its growth plan. “We have launched the biggest project on converting landfill gas to energy,” he said. But the study revealed that the city’s transport battle hampered its green rating. Johannesburg’s traffic and daily commutes have been rated as some of the worst in the world. And there is little alternative public transport.
The Rea Vaya transport system was described as a beacon of light in tackling greenhouse gases and Tau said the city was in the process of transforming its transport sector to improve air quality in the city. The study described Johannesburg’s green spaces as impressive. The city has more than 2 000 developed parks and each person has about 230m² of green space,compared with the average 74m² per person in African cities. Last year,before the soccer World Cup,the city “greened” Soweto by planting 200 000 trees. A dark patch remains Jozi’s reliance on coal. Just about 90% of the city’s energy is generated by coal. Yet the city has become quite energy efficient and has the lowest electricity consumption among South African cities – 5.6 gigajoule per person as opposed to the average of 6.4 gigajoule.
Johannesburg citizens also love water. The city had the second highest water consumption of all African cities,using 349 litres of water per person per day. The average is 187 litres. The city was also criticised for its poor recycling record.
Indeed walking my 11 month old son around my neighbourhood in the North Eastern suburbs of JHB I am often irked at the thoughtless use of sprinklers on peoples pavements. Most of the water lands up on the road. It is a sheer waste. While the people of Jozi spend plenty of time complaining about high municipal costs,crime,or poor service at public hospitals or spend hours debating Julius ‘JUJU’ Malema’s latest move few people seem to give thought to simply taking responsibility to improve their lives and do their bit for our environment and city. Saving water is vital in our extremely water scarce city and can be so simple.Whether making use of a good old JOJO tank to harvest rainwater,reusing grey water,reducing water used for toilet flushing,recycling swimming pool backwash water or simply not wasting thousands of litres watering your road with a little thoughtfulness and perhaps help from us at Water Rhapsody every person can cut down and conserve water one way or another! As for recycling,it is fantastic that the ‘waste pickers’ are out there doing a great job for those who don’t bother to recycle. Well done Jozi – but there is always room for massive improvements and water being the most precious resource is a great place to start!  2011-11-09 19:59 –Cape Town –The department of water affairs on Wednesday declared the Apies River north of Pretoria,a disaster area. A large quantity of raw sewage has been pouring into the river,located near the Rooiwal sewage treatment plant. The department reached the decision at a recent meeting and insisted that the Tshwane Metro Council take urgent steps to resolve the problem,according to AfriForum,who petitioned the council to address the crisis.
The council has earmarked R11m for maintenance and upgrading of the treatment plant Afriforum claims that the problems at the Rooiwal sewage works are largely the result of inadequate planning and mismanagement
“Another big problem is the insufficient maintenance of water treatment plants by municipalities that is partially due to the prevalence of corruption at municipalities,”a statement from the group said. –News24
It is astounding how disasters like these are allowed to occur. All bodies of water are in fact linked so polluting one river or stream ultimately pollutes the water table,rivers and oceans of the world. Fresh water is the most precious,yet most under appreciated,scarce and abused resource on the planet. Ironically it is also the one resource that all life requires in order to survive! It is time all governments and individuals make water –our life source the number 1 priority! Water Rhapsody enables people and businesses to save significant amounts of water by reusing,recycling and augmenting water supply. This is achieved with our rainwater harvesting,grey water reuse,toilet multiflush and swimming pool backwash recycling systems. Our systems make one more independent from municipal supply and services saving you money on bills and taking pressure off infrastructure and supply.  a rare sight of thick snow in SA 2011-07-27 10:06 –Johannesburg –The snowfall which caused major road closures across the country is over and skies will start clearing soon,a forecaster said on Wednesday. “The snowfall ended last night [Tuesday],”said SA Weather Service forecaster Puseletso Mofokeng. Some rainfall could be expected on the KwaZulu-Natal coast between Durban and Kosi Bay on Wednesday morning,but skies would start clearing from noon onwards. “It is going to remain clear in most of the country.” The Lesotho area would remain cold but no more snow was forecast. A weaker cold front was expected to hit the country on Wednesday night. “During the day tomorrow [Thursday],that cold front would be felt in the Western Cape and southern parts of the Northern Cape,but the cold front is not that strong,”said Mofokeng.
However,people should still prepare for a cold weekend countrywide.
On Tuesday,heavy snow fell in Lesotho,the Ukuhlamba Drakensberg area,the southern Free State,the Mpumalanga highveld and the Eastern Cape highground.
The N3 highway between Durban and Johannesburg remained closed on Wednesday morning,with travellers not being able to go further than the Free State town of Harrismith,the halfway mark between the two cities. Snowfall in South Africa is always exciting as it is not a common phenomenon at this degree. The elements are somewhat unpredictable – and man has yet to (and in my opinion never will) find a way to control nature. We certainly have destroyed parts of environment through poaching and pollution,greed and mismanagement,but nature always finds away to strike back. Water,the planets most precious resource is also the most unappreciated. Here in South Africa water is wasted,polluted and mismanaged despite it being the counties scarcest resource. We are therefore proud to specialise in water conservation systems which enable people to save copious amounts of water on a daily basis. Rainwater harvesting,grey water reuse,toilet multiflush and swimming pool backwash recycling systems ensure you can augment your own water supply during the rainy season,reduce the amount of water used as well as reuse and recycle it. Your municipal water bill can drop by over 90%,while you actively help conserve the worlds delicate planet and resources.  2011-07-21 18:59 –Johannesburg –The Ekurhuleni Municipality has received a cum laude award for the management of its drinking water,its spokesperson said on Thursday. “The minister of water and environmental affairs,Edna Molewa,awarded the municipality blue drop status certification recently,”said metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini in a statement. “She also praised the metro for performing consistently in the quest to ensure that not only residents,but tourists as well,have safe tap water to drink.”The blue drop certification programme for the year 2011 involved verifying the status of drinking water quality and the management of supply systems of 162 municipalities countrywide,”said Dlamini.
- SAPA How refreshing to hear positive news about water. It is criminal what state our water resources are in due to sheer mismanagement,waste,pollution and lack of action. Save significant amounts of precious water with Water Rhapsody Conservation Systems. Rainwater tanks,rainrunners,and pumps are just some of the components that make up the systems we use to help you conserve water,by harvesting rainwater,reusing grey water recycling swimming pool backwash water and reducing the amount of water used for toilet flushing. We can also provide you with a municipal water back up system. Contact us for a quote – save water – save money on municipal bills.  jojo tanks used for a rainwater harvesting system 2011-07-19 20:33 –Bloemfontein –Mangaung Municipality will disconnect the water supply to residents who are behind in paying their accounts,it said on Tuesday. “If not on the indigent register,we take it they can afford and they will be disconnected until they have shown up and arrangements are made,”said Mangaung municipal spokesperson Qondile Khedama. Democratic Alliance councillor Samuel Mpakathe expressed concern at the move.
“Failure to encourage residents to pay for services over the last 10 years has now resulted in a culture of non-payment,which compounds the dire financial situation of the Mangaung Metro Municipality,”he said. Mpakathe said city management should remember that access to water was a constitutional right.
The municipality could not cut off water,but could put in water restricting meters or measures to restrict water usage. He said the municipality should not have allowed arrears to move into the billions of rands before realising there was a problem. Khedama said the municipality had,in the past,urged residents who thought they were indigent to register. “This is an ongoing exercise.”He said the municipality understood its obligation to provide access to free water and electricity,but could only honour this when residents registered as indigents. Khedama said it was wrong to assume that there would be a “blanket disconnection”of water to residents. –SAPA Indeed water is a constitutional right! Sadly though there are many South Africans who don’t have any access to clean water,and those who do often take this precious and scarce resource for granted. We specialise in conserving water using rainwater harvesting,grey water reuse,toilet multiflush and swimming pool backwash recycling systems. We also provide our clients with the option to install a water tank to use for basic rainwater harvesting but also to create a municipal water back up system. Saving water is simple and rewarding and every person should make it a top priority. No water – no life. |  Against a global rainfall average of 870mm per year,South Africa receives a pitiful 450mm,making it the worlds 30th driest country. Water Rhapsody,with 15 years experience in water conservation,is number 1 in South Africa in Grey water recycling systems and Rainwater harvesting systems. Water Rhapsody a WWF Green Trust award winner can save us up to 90% of our municipal water bills |
