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The Hammarsdale Sustainability Project
e'Thekwini Municipality
South Africa

The Problem

Prior to 1994, the apartheid system fostered a poor relationship between people and the environment. Where the poor and the marginalized were located on crowded, degraded environments and environmental concerns were regularly sacrificed to enforce the apartheid system. The Hammarsdale Sustainability Project (hereafter- HSP) is an example of how this tide was turned, in line with government’s commitment to sustainable environmental development.

In a complete turn around, the HSP shows how economic incentives can be used to encourage cleaner production and environmental improvement. The Water and Sanitation branch of the municipality brought the entire textile industry in Hammarsdale on board via a consultative process in which industries could save substantially on the cost of wastewater treatment if they introduced cleaner technologies.

The process included the revision of the municipal wastewater tariff system and the introduction of an improved permit system, which sets targets for Best Available Technology and environmental improvement. Useful guidelines and technical support documents were also produced.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The HSP was set up to improve the water quality in the Sterkspruit River for downstream users. This required improvements in effluent quality emanating from the Hammarsdale Wastewater Treatment Works (HWWTW), which discharges into this watercourse. It was necessary therefore to improve the effluent quality arising largely from the textile industry in Hammarsdale. At the same time both financial and ecological sustainability of the industry in the area was enhanced whilst protecting jobs.

This was achieved by the enforcement of innovative five-year industrial effluent discharge permits that moved industry towards the formation of environmental management systems. These permits incorporated new standards based on scientific calculations performed at e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation and a requirement to implement best available techniques by industry.

The process is now on track for several companies, following on the success of Gelvenor Textiles. This company demonstrated how the upfront capital layout cost of cleaner production resulted in wastewater treatment tariff savings of approximately R100 000 per month. These changes have also saved the municipality in the region of between R50-R100 million, as there is no need to build a new wastewater treatment works. As important, no jobs were lost. Another major spin-off from industry was the halving of the waste load from a food-processing factory. This has freed treatment capacity in the treatment works to upgrade sanitation for low cost settlements in the area.

Overall the HSP has improved the sustainability of the industry by reducing operating costs for utilities significantly, thereby securing jobs in a very volatile industry, which by far forms the bulk of the employment opportunities in the area. At the same time it has led to the improvement of the Sterkriver quality and the sustainability of the farmers as well as the nature reserve around Shongweni dam.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The process started in the 1970s while most of the progress to date has occurred during the last six years and continues today. It is difficult to set a timeframe to the progression, as environmental management is ongoing and is not an event.
During the mid-1970s the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry constructed the five-stage Barden-pho sewage treatment facility in Hammarsdale to treat wastewater. During the early 1980s the works was transferred to Umgeni Water, where despite some operational improvements bettering effluent quality discharged to the watercourse, the river remain coloured and the salt load remained high.

In the late 1990s the University of Natal, Durban in conjunction with the Water Research Commission, received funding from the European Union to embark on a waste minimisation campaign in the area. This focussed mainly on energy and, to a lesser degree, on water and waste. Although successful, many industries did nothing to change their way of operating. One reason was linked to the uniform trade effluent tariff imposed by Umgeni Water.

When e’Thekwini Municipality took over operations at the HWWTW in 2003, the rates base was changed to reward industries that complied with environmental laws. At the same time the municipality set up a project in consultation with Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to assess the impact of the HWWTW on the Sterkspruit river. From this a quality standard was agreed upon for the Works discharge. This colour standard was incorporated into the municipality’s discharge permits in 2005. Once these standards were met, concessions were implemented. In 2006, a freeing up of treatment capacity of 25% was recorded. At the same time companies in Hammarsdale were saving approximately R3.5 million a year on effluent treatment costs. The additional HWWTW capacity will be taken up by sanitation upgrades in the adjacent lost cost housing area.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The Hammarsdale industrial area was developed as part of the drive to decentralise the economy under the Nationalist Government of the 1970s. The key objective was to provide cheap labour to the industry, with very little consideration given to issues of economic and environmental sustainability. Due to the attractive incentives offered, several textile industries were established.

The result was that the sewage infrastructure that was in place to convey and treat liquid waste emissions was degraded, which led to the corroding of the pipe network, which made operating in the area, unsustainable.

Industry was wasting money through inefficient technologies with the knock-on effect of overloading the wastewater works and polluting the environment. With less than 30% of the surrounding population being employed, and those who were employed working in the textile industries, it would have been catastrophic for these businesses to shut down.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The project therefore had a series of priorities. These included freeing the treatment capacity in the HWWTW for sanitation upgrades in the underprivileged areas in the surrounding area by reducing waste production from the industry; to improve the efficiency of the HWWTW to remove colour from the river; to improve the colour of the river water; to improve the efficiency of industry in the Hammarsdale area through promoting cleaner production; to protect jobs in the area where employment was scarce and finally to test a new permitting and auditing process with the assistance of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
An informal alliance was formed between the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, the National Cleaner Production Centre, the Water Research Commission and the Danish Government in order to receive training, advice and support on cleaner production issues, both for the industry and the municipality.

An alliance was formed with Umgeni Water through which a waste load based tariff was implemented to ensure full cost recovery. On transferring the HWWTW to e”Thekwini Municipality, the scales of economy open to local government meant cheaper treatment costs. These benefits were then used as an incentive to industry to ‘clean up’.

In order to improve the colour of the river an acceptable river water quality had to be set and then met. This would then in turn require a limit to be imposed on the effluent entering the Sterkspruit from HWWTW, since Department of Water Affairs and Forestry did not have the capacity to set standards and to monitor its implementation, the municipality took responsibility with support from Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.

Finally, Umgeni Water added the alum dosing facility at the HWWTW to remove colour and increase the efficiency of the plant.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The most significant change was the reduction of 25% of waste load to the HWWTW. This freed enough capacity in the works to cater for the treatment of sewage of over 8000 people in disadvantaged areas.

There is also an improvement in the colour of the river, while government is mandated to provide drinking water for all, the reality is that more than five million people do not have access to a basic supply of water and most of them get their water from rivers. This has serious implications for the health of these people, and with the right of access to cleaner water, the risk of them contracting water-borne diseases has decreased.

Companies such as, Dano/Glodina, Rainbow, Coats and Mediterranean have all committed themselves to implementing cleaner production practices. Due to the progress in this regard, seven new companies have been granted new permits in line with the Norwegian permitting and auditing project. This will ensure that much needed jobs are created, but not at the expense of the environment.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The project was managed by the highly motivated e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation Pollution and Environment Branch, they provided the bulk of the funding, while Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has paid for the training material development and the South African Qualification Authority via the Environmental and Sanitation Sector Training Authority is engaged in the development of a Skills Programme, and a Permitting and Auditing system for local municipalities. The lessons learnt in standard setting in the Hammarsdale project forms an important part of this training. These lessons are also the subject of a research proposal that is being drawn up by the Water Research Commission and the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal for industrial standard setting for municipalities.

Sustainability is also reflected in savings to industry and the municipality (by not having to expand on infrastructure). As more companies start to comply with the municipal by-laws the situation will continue to improve at Hammarsdale. As industry continues to comply they will retain their effluent treatment concessions. Thus jobs have not been endangered, sewage treatment capacity has been released for the community and environmental quality has been improved.

These achievements have resulted in the municipality continuing its collaboration with the National Cleaner Production Centre in addressing river pollution in the Amanzintoti area.

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation is funding another project on domestic package plants and water quality monitoring.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The programme had several characteristics that were pivotal to its success, namely the partnerships established between the stakeholders, the introduction of incentives to the industry to encourage compliance and the benefits to the industry, the community and the environment.

Even though South Africa has some of the most progressive environmental laws in the world, budgetary and capacity constraints hampered its effective implementation and enforcement.

To overcome these challenges, the e’Thekwini municipality formed interactive partnerships with the different levels of government, the university, several NGOs, industry, and international government agencies. This resulted in each partner contributing the necessary expertise and funding that was lacking in the municipality.

These partnerships continued in the rollout of new initiatives as indicated above.

When the municipality took ownership of the HWWTW, the scales of economy meant cheaper treatment costs and these financial incentives were used to encourage the industry to implement cleaner technologies. And as soon as it was demonstrated how cleaner technologies increased industries profitability, the necessary changes were made.

The reduction in the waste load, allowed previously disadvantaged people to receive sanitation services and this contributed towards the improvement in their lifestyles and decreased the risk of contracting water-borne diseases.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   e'Thekwini Municipality
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Sandra Redelinghuys
Title:   Projetc's Engineer  
Telephone/ Fax:   +27 31 311 8684
Institution's / Project's Website:   +27 31 311 8747
E-mail:   Sandrare@dmws.durban.gov.za  
Address:   PO Box 1038
Postal Code:   4000
City:   Durban
State/Province:   Kwa-Zulu Natal
Country:   South Africa

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