And so it ends...

It's hard to believe we have finished our journey in Tshwane.  We reviewed our recommendations with the Executive Mayor on how to improve the overall water situation.  Although the metro has done so much until now and should be commended for it, they have a chapter of transformation ahead of them to ensure all residents have water and sanitation services in a cost effective manor and water loss is significantly reduced.  At a high level we suggested:

1.  Focus on the people and community:  Ensure appropriate water access for all residents and establish community awareness programs, especially in the informal settlements.  The residents need to understand the scarcity of water in the region and how they can each do their part to conserve water or report leaks
2.  Create strong linkages between water, energy, housing, health, transportation, the private sector:  They are so closely tied and to make long term improvements, everyone must be moving in the same direction
3.  Leverage real time water analytics to assist in their decision making as they continue to update their aging infrastructure.  Turning their data into insight and intelligence will be a key element for them

I have no doubt that with the passion and leadership of the many people we have met, Tshwane will continue to make significant progress on their journey to become a Smarter City and set the example for many other African metros.  Joanne and I had a chance to make another trip to Mamelodi and Plastic View today.  It was great to see the kids again one last time.  In some ways, there is no other way I would have wanted to spend our final day.  This has been an experience of a lifetime - we have learned so much about the water issues effecting Africa, the overall challenges of an emerging region and especially about the warmth and hospitality of the people of Tshwane.

For all the IBMers out there, if you have ever thought about applying for the Corporate Service Corps program, DO IT!  And for everyone else just following along, thanks for your interest and support.

All my best,
Latha

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Final Days

Boyd and I had an opportunity to visit a few factories to understand how water is consumed.  Commercial businesses such as breweries or car manufacturers are some of the biggest consumers of water.  We went to a factory that makes cardboard paper from recycled paper.  It is amazing how much water is needed to make a roll of paper.  If the water input is halted for even an hour, the factory becomes completely unproductive.  We also visited a company which makes various snacks.  I don't know why being near potato based products makes me so happy  :-)

This brings us to the end of our field investigations.  After traveling to almost every corner of Tshwane, interviewing over 50 people, making 20 field visits and combing through thousands of pages of data and documentation, it's time to formulate our recommendations.  We see the Executive Mayor for the final readout on Wedn.  The next 48 hours will be intense...

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Rain, Rain Go Away

It has been raining heavily this week...torrential downpours and strong lightening every night.  We even had quite a bit of haul today.  Although one would think rain is welcomed in water scarce regions such as this, rainwater often goes to waste if not properly harvested and re-used.  It is causing significant floods and mud in some areas which makes it even harder for the water trucks to reach the rural areas.  I worry about the kids we met in Plastic View and how they are dealing with this weather.

The topic of informal settlements is such a difficult one - people are setting up shacks anywhere they see a piece of empty land.  But without proper planning, the consequences for the residents can be high.  Recently, there was a significant pipe burst which killed 2 children because there was a shack built on top of it.  The City is now moving people out of this area completely and relocating them (shacks and all) to another, safer area which isn't sitting on top of the pipe infrastructure.  One of the areas we are looking into is how to detect outdated pipes and potential bursts - perhaps there are new innovative solutions which can help them gain better visibility and prioritize where new pipes and meters should be placed.

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Building Bridges in Mamelodi

Finding strong skills in science and technology continues to be a challenge for most countries including South Africa.  Higher education here has a drop out rate of 45%.  We wanted to spend some time at a local school to promote science with young kids and even show them how fun it can be.  So we headed out to a primary and middle school in Mamelodi called Pfunzo Ndi Tshedza which means 'Education is the Light'.  The principal and educators there are so inspiring - 40 teachers for 1600 children.  They are determined to raise the next generation of citizens who will help transform South Africa.  Several girls welcomed us into the school with a surprise song and dance number.

We leveraged a TryScience experiment to build bridges out of spaghetti and marshmallows.  Once built, the students tested the strength of their bridges by slowing placing nickels on then.  It's always fun to see the reactions on their faces as they drop in each coin - hoping their bridge doesn't break.  The Pretoria News (the local daily newspaper here) even ran an article on it today.  After the experiment, we helped serve lunches to the students.  Mamelodi has some of the poorest of the poor and for many kids, this will be their only meal of the day.

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The Great Divide

We visited another ward in Tshwane today.  What continues to amaze us is that there are places in Tshwane which could be an affluent area in the US or any European city - gated housing communities with lavish homes, plush gardens, Audis in the driveway and people walking their dogs.  The only realty check is that even these houses have electric fences all around since theft and crime in general are so high.

Then, within minutes you will be in another informal settlement.  We spent some time in Plastic View which has thousands of people.  The area gets it's name because plastic bin bags were used to build the makeshift homes.  Here, residents have to get water from a bulk tank.  As soon as the residents see a water truck coming to fill up the tank, they rush to get some before it runs out.  It was disheartening to see kids having to lug around these large water jugs back and forth to their shacks - made even tougher because of the hilly landscape.  Some were even drinking water on the ground through straws.

Despite the challenges, they were so warm in welcoming us.  They sang for us and were so amused with seeing pictures of themselves on Joanne's camera.  And when it was time to go, the kids ran up to Dale and Boyd to hold hands and walk them out.  Just so sweet.

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Atteridgeville

Today started with Dale and I hitting a waste water treatment plant.  Tshwane actually has 14 of them across the region.  Given the challenges with water access and loss, we wanted to understand how these plants operate since the water is released back into the river once treated.  As the population and water needs grow, it will put a larger need on these plants to provide clean water for the local communities.

Afterwards, the full team headed out to the community of Atteridgeville to hear from the residents directly how they view water.  It was certainly eye opening.  We started with a community meeting with all the ward leaders and councilors of Atteridgeville.  Then, we headed out to some informal settlements which are essentially shanty towns where people have taken over some land (illegally) and built shacks to live in.  This is a huge problem across South Africa since these areas often don't have proper water, electricity and sanitation services.

We spoke to many members of the community who shared the difficulties in obtaining clean water.  Some households are lucky enough to have their own water tap but many in the informal settlements need to rely on bulk water tanks which can be upto 500 meters away.  Carrying water from the tanks to their individual homes is a full-time job for some families.  We also noticed huge water leaks everywhere which in most cases are not even reported.  Huge volumes of clean water is being completely lost due to these leaks in the infrastructure.  In some cases, the leaks are so significant that they are damaging the already weak roads.



There was one bright spot.  We stumbled onto a community garden.  Thirteen women in the community were growing veggies to be used at a local hospice.  Despite water shortages even within the garden, they are determined to keep it going to give back to their community!

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Fun and "Game"s on the Weekend

This weekend, a subset of our team (Frank, Latha, Sandra and Joanne) took a break and headed up to Pilanesberg Game Reserve in an attempt to see Africa’s Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, water buffalo, and rhinoceros).

On the way, we stopped for a brief visit at the Sterkfontein Caves, the most famous of 13 excavated fossil sites in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.  We took a guided tour down into the caves and descended 60 meters below ground to see where “Mrs. Ples” (~2.3 million years old) and “Little Foot” (~3.5 million years old) were discovered and excavated.

Then, we headed up to Pilanesberg to experience a game drive.  Our ranger, Mohammad, was extremely knowledgeable about all of the animals and most especially, the birds.  We were able to see three of the Big Five up close and personal – a lion, a herd of elephants and a white rhino family.  In addition, we saw numerous beautiful birds, impala, wildebeest, hyena, zebra, giraffe, fox, warthog, rabbits, hippopotamus, etc.  The variety of species was impressive.   

While we enjoyed the sites, we were keenly aware of water and the preciousness of this resource throughout the weekend.  We noticed large green water tanks on many of the farms and homes by which we drove.  We encountered many bodies of water on our game drive...both streams and lakes.  And, we crossed a bridge across the Hartbeespoort Dam which is fed by the Crocodile River and the Magalies River.  As we crossed the bridge, I pondered exactly how we can help the City of Tshwane to get to the other side of its water challenges.

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Did you know it takes....

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Diving In

We have spent the past few days diving into the City of Tshwane and their water issues.  There are currently 7 provinces and more areas are being added into the mix which worsens the water management and loss concerns.  It is the third largest metro in the world in terms of land mass and there are over 163 reservoirs and 39 water towers.  We are just starting to understand the enormous landscape we are dealing with.

The team has met with many of the water officials in an attempt to learn about the complex water lifecycle from how water comes into the city (through the river, rain water, purchased from Water Agencies), how it is distributed out to the residents, how waste management and recycling occurs to pump water back into the river.  We also visited an industrial park in Babelegi which houses many factories which produce everything from plastic to Maggi Noodles (which got me personally excited) to steel.  These factories are some of the largest consumers of water so it was important to understand how they are managing water and how losses can be prevented.  As we drove around, we started to realize what a challenge the region is up against - there are old meters or completely missing meters everywhere. The amount of time and money it would take to upgrade everything is dainting.

We are also realizing that to help the water problems, we must look holistically at the entire infrastructure from energy to housing to call centers to finance.  Each day brings more questions than answers.

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