Language:
Search
 
Hammarsdale Sustainability Project
e'Thekwini Municipality
South Africa

The Problem

The South African Constitution calls for provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner and assurance of a clean and healthy environment for all. Unfortunately, environmental and corporate goals are not often in agreement. The textile industry in South Africa is under significant pressure to cut costs because of the reformation of trade barriers and exposure to competition from Asian markets. This often results in job losses for a sector of the population that really cannot afford it. However, compliance with global environmental standards can sometimes provide a competitive edge in international markets that is not based on low standards and/or exploitation of labour.

The Hammarsdale Textile Industrial Hub in KwaZulu Natal was developed as a decentralization area in the 1970s under the Nationalist Government. Created with the objective of providing cheap, labour-intensive employment, and keeping black workers well away from white towns, little consideration was given to issues of environmental sustainability. Several textile industries settled in this area, overloading the Hammarsdale Wastewater Treatment Works with their industrial effluent which was full of dye and other chemicals. Polluted water passed from here to the Sterkspruit River which was severely discoloured as a result. The pollution had negative impacts for farmers downstream, and the Shongweni Dam nature reserve.

The textile industry in Hammarsdale provides the bulk of employment opportunities to the adjacent residential area Mpumalanga which, until recently, did not have access to proper water and sewerage services. Many residents used the Sterkspruit River as a source of water, which posed potentially serious health risks.

In 2003, the e’Thekwini Municipality in KwaZulu Natal bought Hammarsdale Wastewater Treatment Works (HWWTW) from Umgeni, a private company, and initiated the Hammarsdale Sustainability Project.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The e’Thekwini Municipality introduced a new five-year industrial effluent permit that incorporated 2 financial incentives for textile companies to bring their operations in line with global environmental standards. The first is a 30% reduction in the tariff paid to Hammarsdale Wastewater Treatment Works (HWWTW) for implementing Best Available Technologies (BAT). The second is a further 70% reduction for complying with municipal discharge standards.

Five companies are actively participating in this initiative. Two companies have already received the 30% reduction for BAT, and one company is in the application process for the BAT incentive. One company also received the 70% reduction for discharge compliance and 3 others are busy applying. Gelvenor Textiles was the first company to fully comply with the new standard and has saved approximately R72,000 per month since March 2006 through a reduction in their effluent tariff. In addition, Gelvenor received a lot of positive attention from the local media. Gelvenor also received a Certificate of Achievement in the Environmental Field by the Deputy Mayor of e’Thekwini in a prestigious ceremony attended by the Ambassadors of Norway and Denmark who voiced their approval and support for the project.

Much of the industry’s wastewater is now pre-treated by the industry, which has reduced river pollution and lowered the load of the HWWTW thereby increasing the HWWTW’s treatment capacity. In 2006, the initiative had succeeded in freeing up 25% of the HWWTW’s treatment capacity. This allowed the HWWTW to provide sewage services to over 8000 people in the adjacent residential area, Mpumalanga. It is estimated that the Hammarsdale Sustainability Project has saved the municipality R50-100 million in infrastructural improvements.

This project prides itself not in the amount of jobs that it has created, but in the amount of job losses that it has prevented. No jobs were lost as a result of the Hammarsdale Sustainability Project.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The Hammarsdale Sustainability Project is driven by the Pollution and Environmental Branch of the e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation Department who manage the project. The Water and Sanitation Department engaged the help of the Durban Institute of Technology and the National Cleaner Production Centre to conduct walk through audits which helped to identify areas in which each company could improve. The Danish government also offered some training, advice and support on cleaner production issues. e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation engaged in extensive discussions with the textile companies in question. Project Engineer, Chris Fennemore, and Pollution Officer, David Gallagher, who both had an excellent knowledge of the Hammarsdale industries, played an important role in discussions with industries. e’Thekwini hired private consultants, recognized in the field, to report on compliance for each participating company.

(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 objectives of the Hammarsdale Sustainability Project are to improve the water quality of the Sterspruit River, thereby improving the quality of life for downstream users; to improve the capacity of wastewater treatment works to allow for sanitation upgrades in neighbouring communities; and to maintain employment in a very unstable textile industry through cash savings.

Aware of the severe non-compliance of the Hammarsdale industries, e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation devised a plan to enable a win-win situation whereby companies could reduce the effluent charges they had to pay to the municipality by making certain environmentally friendly improvements. They used attractive financial incentives to encourage companies to invest in effluent treatment technologies. The significant savings that would be enjoyed by companies who benefitted from these financial incentives also meant to alleviate some of the pressure on the industry to cut costs by eliminating jobs. In order to receive the incentives, industries had to invest in technology which would allow them to treat their own effluent. By doing so, e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation planned to reduce the amount of effluent to be treated by the HWWTW, thereby freeing up capacity and allowing the HWWTW to service communities rather than corporations.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The project started in 2003, when ownership of the HWWTW was transferred to the e’Thekwini Municipality after it was purchased from Umgeni Water. First, the e’Thekwini Municipality conducted a revision of the trade effluent system in Hammarsdale. Next, the Council passed a resolution to the effect that a considerably lower tariff would be charged subject to certain environmental targets being met. Industries and the public were kept informed as to targets companies had to achieve, and possible short and long-term benefits through 2 public meetings to which the local industries, as well as representatives from the University of KwaZulu Natal and the National Cleaner Production Centre were invited. In January 2005, each industry in Hammarsdale was issued a five-year permit, which spelled out the environmental standards that must be achieved within 5 years. Gelvenor Textiles was the first company to fully comply in March 2006, and other companies are still moving towards full compliance. Also in 2006, the e’Thekwini Municipality recorded a 25% reduction in the amount of effluent to be treated at the HWWTW. At the same time, participating industries in Hammarsdale enjoyed a combined savings of R3.5 million per year on effluent tariffs. Meanwhile, there has been a noticeable improvement in the colour and quality of the water in the Sterkspruit River.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
One of the obstacles this project encountered was devising a standard to measure compliance. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (the regulatory body for effluent discharges to rivers) did not have the capacity to set a well-founded and comprehensive discharge standard for the HWWTW to protect the Sterkspruit River’s water quality. So, the e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation Unit undertook the task of producing a standard from ten years of water quality data that had been collect by Umgeni Water. The Water and Sanitation Unit devised a standard for water colour which enabled it to set colour targets for industrial effluent charges. These colour standards have been incorporated in the five-year industrial effluent permits.

Management reluctance can hinder the adoption of cleaner production technologies. The Hammarsdale Sustainability Project has attempted to address this problem by holding public meetings to keep everyone informed as to what the intent of the project was, how it would be implemented and what kind of benefits it would have. e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation also helped the industries to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed by conducting walk through audits with experts who identified the areas in which each individual company could improve and exactly how they could do so.

(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
Due to economies of scale and two well-run sea outfalls, the e’Thekwini Municipality was able to offer an effluent tariff that is nearly half of what the industries in Hammarsdale had been paying when the HWWTW was owned by Umgeni. This meant that e’Thekwini was not losing money by offering financial incentives. The project simply linked the new, lower tariff to environmentally-friendly improvements in factories. The initiative itself was implemented at no cost to the e’Thekwini Municipality. It was simply a matter of shuffling existing human resources to focus on the Hammarsdale Sustainability Project.

The national roll-out of the five-year permit programme for the textile industry is expected to cost about R1.1 million. Training will be paid for by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism with R500,000 of Norwegian aid.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The initiative is sustainable. The significant long-term savings enjoyed by participating companies should ensure the sustainability of the project. This process occurs within a sound contextual plan (the Integrated Development Plan, and Water Services Development Plan) and a legal framework. The initiative is also transferable. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry paid for and produced all of the training material necessary to reproduce a similar project elsewhere. The material includes trade effluent permit and textile industry guidelines that provide guidance toward compliance with various national laws (Water Act, National Environmental Management Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act), provincial regulations (building regulations), and local by-laws (sewage disposal). The South African Qualifications Authority via the Energy Sector Education and Training Authority is engaged in the development of a skills programme and a permitting and auditing programme for local authorities. The e’Thekwini Municipality is replicating this initiative in several other problematic textile industries in the greater e’Thekwini area such as Pinetown and Verulam. The Norwegian government has provided funding to replicate this programme and the permit system nationally.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
A continued exchange of information with local and international agencies involved with new thinking in pollution control was a key element in the success of this project. Continued advice and support from partners such as the Danish government and experts in the field of cleaner production enabled e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation to better develop their strategy for reducing water pollution.

The financial incentives themselves are another key element in the success of the Hammarsdale Sustainability Project. The potential for significant and long-term savings on effluent tariffs is attractive for textile industries that are already under a great deal of financial pressure, so much so as to make them want to invest in the best available technologies for effluent treatment. This approach is different from many which rely on legal enforcement rather than attractive incentive and it has lead to a better relationship between the textile industry and local government.

One of the greatest success stories of the Hammarsdale Sustainability Project is that it was able to improve water quality in a way that benefitted not only the corporations but also the surrounding community. No jobs were lost as a result of the initiative. In addition, the freed capacity of the HWWTW was used to provide sewage services to a previously un-serviced community. Thus, it was the entire Hammarsdale community that benefitted from this project.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   e'Thekwini Municipality
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Christopher Fennemore
Title:   Project Manager  
Telephone/ Fax:   +27-031-311-8734
Institution's / Project's Website:   +27-031-311-8747
E-mail:   christfe@dmws.durban.gov.za  
Address:   3 Prior Road
Postal Code:   4000
City:   Durban
State/Province:   KwaZulu Natal
Country:   South Africa

          Go Back
Print friendly Page