June 2008
The Water and Sanitation Department has been blessed over the past few weeks with a number of awards from different spheres and for different reasons. These awards are as follows:
1. Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Sector Award - Domestic Category awarded by Dept. Water Affairs and Forestry
2. Water Institute of Southern Africa Awards at the recent WISA 2008 Conference held in Sun City
- Potable Water Award; overall winner ; Faure Treatment Plant ( Best practices in South Africa) /Bulk Water Branch
- Wilson Award; Second Runner-Up Wildevoelvlei (Best Practices in South Africa). Wastewater Branch
- Wilson Award; First Runner-Up Gordon’s Bay (Best Practices in South Africa) Wastewater Branch and,
- Poster Award; Third Runner-Up; Ms Ansie Smith, Scientific Services Branch
3. On Friday 6 June 2008 the following awards were received from Dept. Water Affairs and Forestry:
- Water Services Authority Checklist Award for achieving 90% overall legislative compliance in Water Services functions
- Water Conservation Award in recognition of excellent water conservation practices and,
- Drinking Water Quality Management Award in recognition of outstanding drinking water quality management practices
These awards speak volumes about the applied quality, commitment and dedication of ALL our Staff in Water and Sanitation in delivering the much needed standard of services to the Citizens of the City of Cape Town. It further speaks of the pride residing within the City of Cape Town that affords it the recognition of leaders within the Water and Sanitation Sector throughout South Africa.
On Thursday evening (23 August, 2007) at Nedcor's new Head Offices in Sandton, the City
of Cape Town won an award for its Water Awareness campaign. This prestigious award,
falling in the Green Trust Award's Water Awareness Category, was presented to the City
of Cape Town, which beat the two other finalists in this category, namely, Rand Water and
Umgeni Water. The Green Trust Awards competition is South Africa's top environmental competition, and celebrates the contribution of individuals and organisations that make environmental concerns their business. The competition was divided into nine categories, as follows:-
- Water awareness award
- Schools project award
- Urban renewal award
- Natural resources award
- Investing in the environment - individual award
- Investing in the environment - corporate award
- Community projects award
- Overall winner (emerging) award
- Overall winner (established) award
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The Water Awareness campaign, initiated by the City's Bulk Water Department in
collaboration with all seven administrations within the City of Cape Town, impressed the
judges with its imaginative, informative, topical and often humorous advertisements that
were to be seen on billboards, in newspapers and magazines, on taxis, and heard on several
radio stations in all three languages. The campaign also established a Waterline to give
water users the chance to comment on the campaign or request further information, as well
as to report leaks and other water wasting activities. An industrial theatre group, Group Africa,
was engaged to promote water awareness both in schools and communities. The campaign
was linked to other water demand programmes, notably the schools competition programme
and the water week programme, which together gave the campaign added impetus,
continuity and strength.
The success of the campaign can be measured by the fact that the City's water savings target
was exceeded and proved that awareness initiatives are vital in helping keep the
water-saving issue alive and giving consumers the tools to make informed and
responsible choices. The competition judges' commented: "When it comes to raising
awareness about saving water, this campaign really hits you in the face. We want to
encourage other local authorities to run similarly innovative accessible campaigns."
For further details, please contact:
Cathrine Wilson, Communications: Water Demand Management
Tel: 021 487 2438
Fax: 021 487 2592
E-mail: clwilson@cmc.gov.za