This was written by a friend of mine (also an UnFucker), and she asked that I please share this information publicly
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We are in a water crisis in cape Town, South Africa. Here is some excellent info about the levels of corruption african play!
WHAT CRITICAL WATER CRISIS IN CAPE TOWN?? THERE IS A PERFECT SOLUTION, BUT WE ARE BEING LIED TO AGAIN BY THE POLITICIANS.... đ
Please spread this report wherever you think it will make an impact. By the way, I can confirm the accuracy of the report, as Emeritus Professor David Dewar from UCT is a friend of mine, and an internationally recognised enviromental scientist in his field. He is also a trustee of the organisation mentioned below...
For eight years Caron von Zeil of Newlands has worked on "Reclaim Camissa", a project that uncovered and documented the vast amount of fresh water that flows to waste underneath Cape Town.
Her work has been cutting edge: most of the springs and rivers that flow from Table Mountain have been paved over and forgotten, and every day millions of litres of fresh mountain water rushes away unused into drains or sewers. Von Zeilâs archive research showed that historically there were 36 springs in the City Bowl. She has uncovered 25 springs and four underground rivers. The City of Cape Town has only 13 springs on their records. Parliament is sitting on two springs and a huge underground reservoir.
Von Zeilâs research began as a masterâs degree at UCT and developed into Reclaim Camissa, a non-profit organisation that worked on ideas to harness this underground water, and on cultural projects that could be developed.
Since 2005 she has been trying to get the city council to endorse Reclaim Camissa. Today she is no closer to this goal - although several officials and councillors say her project is âgreatâ.
âWe donât understand it. Weâve done all this work at no charge and weâve shared it with the city, with officials from just about every department, with councillors, and they all say itâs great, but we get nowhere,â Von Zeil said.
Her work has excited several water scientists, planners and academics.
Reclaim Camissaâs first pilot project was called Field of Springs, which was to be based on vacant council land in Oranjezicht where several springs were located. It would harness the spring water and be an outdoor water museum with natural ponds where people could see the water being cleansed. It would have an outdoor laboratory, education centre, bird hide and a bottling system where offices that used large glass water coolers could tap into the spring water.
Reclaim Camissa won first prize in the 2010 Multiplicity competition for inclusion in the city councilâs winning bid for the World Design Capital and it was recognised by the Cape Town Partnership as âOne of the Big Five Ideasâ for the city. Premier Helen Zille awarded the Field of Springs project her 110 percent Green Flag status, which confers prestige on projects by âgreen pioneersâ.
But for all that acclaim, the project has gone nowhere because it lacks city council endorsement.
Now the city has given the Oranjezicht land Von Zeil asked to lease for Field of Springs to another organisation, which applied after her.
âThey are growing vegetables on the land. Agriculture on top of freshwater springs. That is crazy and it is illegal in terms of the National Water Act and the National Environmental Management Act.â
Von Zeil has called on councillor Garreth Bloor to rescind the lease. However, she says, the cityâs property management department has told her the land has not been leased, although a vegetable garden has been established on it, with access to 4 000 litres of free water a day.
Von Zeil brought the matter to the attention of the city in March last year, but says it has not been addressed. âIf there is no lease, it is tantamount to a land invasion.â
David Dewar, Emeritus Professor and senior research scholar in the School of Architecture and Planning at UCT, is one of the trustees of Reclaim Camissa, and has made several visits to the Civic Centre with Von Zeil to get the city councilâs endorsement.
âWe got pushed from one department to another. Weâve given presentations to almost every city department and they say âfantastic, but itâs not my departmentâ,â Dewar said.
âWe had a meeting with mayor Patricia de Lille, who made Ossie Asmal the point man to make things easier, but weâve never heard from him. We had a meeting with councillor Garreth Bloor months ago where he promised to treat it as a matter of urgency, but nothing happened.â
The Reclaim Camissa trustees have since heard the city is planning to apply to the Department of Water Affairs for a water licence for the spring water.
âTheyâre seeking to make this their own,â Dewar said.
The council was asked for comment on Wednesday, but had not replied by deadline on Thursday.
You can also watch 3 different reports on YouTube about this! Just type in RECLAIM CAMISSA... and watch and weep! We need to spread this report FAR AND WIDE folks, until we can uncover why something has not been done about this with such a disaster looming!