Green Water Infrastructure in Franschhoek: Inside the Water Hub's Stiebeuel River Project

Prof. Kevin Winter (UCT)

What does sustainability look like in practice? Over the past 8 years, UCT's Water Hub has been quietly repurposing the old Franschhoek wastewater treatment plant. Highly contaminated water from an under-serviced informal settlement is fed through large biofiltration beds (stone aggregates, biochar, coarse sand). In the process, bacteria, pathogens and 90% of nutrients are removed. Evidence suggests that drugs and pharmaceuticals are adsorbed by as much as 80%. A portion of this cleaned water is used to irrigate food gardens managed by women from the informal settlement: an innovative connection between food, energy, water and waste.