Sustainable drainage systems in the spotlight in George

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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are easy and affordable to implement, according to Prof Neil Armitage of the University of Cape Town.

Armitage, lead author of the Water Research Commission (WRC) Guidelines on SuDS and Water Sensitive Design (WSD), was the main speaker at the locally organised SuDS seminar last week at Protea Hotel King George and gave some examples of how they can be implemented.

He said SuDS mimic nature. "You do the sort of things that would have happened naturally, like filtering through vegetation and the soil, storing in puddles or tanks, and storing underground."

Measures should be implemented at household level so that rainwater is contained in situ on every property. Methods include rainwater tanks, filtration trenches and biofiltration cells, and creating mini wetlands and permeable surfaces.

"It can be as simple as putting in flowerbeds around your house and allowing the water to go to a rain garden, which is a depressed area that you create. These measures are not expensive. It is just knowing what to do."

Armitage said George is in a good position to implement such measures as it is a low density and wealthy town by South African standards.

"What it takes is for the municipality to be committed and bring in by-laws that basically force people to deal with storm water on their own properties. Developers should be forced to leave proper protection strips near wetlands and streams, and perhaps develop slightly smaller properties while creating public access parkways along streams. It is not hugely complicated nor expensive."

Informal areas must be dealt with differently. "You cannot work in the settlement, you have to work just downstream of it to provide a buffer. Informal areas are a housing policy failure and an emergency that national government should deal with. Low-income settlements, on the other hand, can do a lot.

"In Mitchell's Plain we are working with residents to transform an old derelict storm water pond into a park, but actually it is a water treatment and filtration centre. And we are creating a public amenity for a community that is deprived. It is simply getting back to a more green way of looking at storm water and trying to blend in with nature instead of working against it.

"In my property in Cape Town, I have re-sculptured my garden so that the water is retained in the garden. Come the dry summer months, I have a well point with stored water that I can use to water small patches of lawn. And I save on my municipal water bill."

Zimu Mkhanyiseni of the Breede Gouritz Catchment Management Agency spoke on the role of the agency in development application processes.

The main speaker at the seminar, Prof Neil Armitage of UCT, is flanked by Zimu Mkhanyiseni from the Breede Gouritz Catchment Management Agency and the Southern Cape vice-chairman of Saice, Jan Brink. Photo: Alida de Beer