3.4 Analysis
139
Table 3.4
(continued)
On policies relating to estuaries, Respondent 4 said that: ‘…in the abstract [Respondent 1] spoke about the
estuarine component…they have policies in place that relate to estuaries, because they have water treatment
works along their estuaries and they have policies that regulate the quality of water going into the estuaries.
They are also directed by a whole bunch of national policies, as they relate to estuary management. Remember,
estuary management is a national competency that has not been correctly delegated to local governments. It has
been delegated, …but in law it is a problem. Durban is, therefore, directed to manage their estuaries under
national law directives’
Interdependence between
national and local
government policies
On the knowledge produced through DRAP, Respondent 5 noted that: ‘The research will be used by the
municipality. It was in the early 2000s that the first initiative around this research was introduced. One of the
first things they focused on was the KZN grasslands and they had a whole lot of the students doing research on
that. The second was the reforestation initiative. This was the community reforestation initiative at this site
[Buffelsdraai], the Paris Valley Nature Reserve, and the Inanda Mountain Project, which is being kicked off
now’
Concerning the sewer bylaws, Respondent 6 said that: “There are also sewer bylaws and they talk a lot about
managing your sewers and sewer discharge, so you don’t create pollution. There is coverage from that point of
view as well. The sewer bylaws don’t incorporate green or ecological infrastructures directly, but there has been
work by the city and the university to investigate alternatives for sewerage management that would, in certain
cases, include engineered wetlands’
The institutionalisation of
the science-policy
interface
‘We have the storm-water management policies (storm-water bylaws) that are in the process of going through a
public participation process. They will then go through for approval and then Gazetting. The storm-water
policies essentially give details about the type of materials and pipes. They will also deal with new
developments in that they will provide the storm-water lens for such developments. We don’t specify how, but
we specify that we need to maintain the previous development rate flows. Our bylaws don’t presently cover
quality issues. Cape Town has incorporated quality issues in their bylaws, and we are hoping to learn from
them. One of the challenges they have are the standards…’ [W]e are not prescriptive on how they implement
storm-water systems. We run several courses and the WRC is running a number of courses around the country
looking at the best practice regarding water-sensitive design. Architects and engineers are now becoming more
sensitised about water-sensitive design in the use of such practices. There is now a commission looking at
developing guidelines for the SuDS applications’. (Respondent 6)
Partially prescriptive
storm-water policies and
bylaws
(continued)
139
Table 3.4
(continued)
On policies relating to estuaries, Respondent 4 said that: ‘…in the abstract [Respondent 1] spoke about the
estuarine component…they have policies in place that relate to estuaries, because they have water treatment
works along their estuaries and they have policies that regulate the quality of water going into the estuaries.
They are also directed by a whole bunch of national policies, as they relate to estuary management. Remember,
estuary management is a national competency that has not been correctly delegated to local governments. It has
been delegated, …but in law it is a problem. Durban is, therefore, directed to manage their estuaries under
national law directives’
Interdependence between
national and local
government policies
On the knowledge produced through DRAP, Respondent 5 noted that: ‘The research will be used by the
municipality. It was in the early 2000s that the first initiative around this research was introduced. One of the
first things they focused on was the KZN grasslands and they had a whole lot of the students doing research on
that. The second was the reforestation initiative. This was the community reforestation initiative at this site
[Buffelsdraai], the Paris Valley Nature Reserve, and the Inanda Mountain Project, which is being kicked off
now’
Concerning the sewer bylaws, Respondent 6 said that: “There are also sewer bylaws and they talk a lot about
managing your sewers and sewer discharge, so you don’t create pollution. There is coverage from that point of
view as well. The sewer bylaws don’t incorporate green or ecological infrastructures directly, but there has been
work by the city and the university to investigate alternatives for sewerage management that would, in certain
cases, include engineered wetlands’
The institutionalisation of
the science-policy
interface
‘We have the storm-water management policies (storm-water bylaws) that are in the process of going through a
public participation process. They will then go through for approval and then Gazetting. The storm-water
policies essentially give details about the type of materials and pipes. They will also deal with new
developments in that they will provide the storm-water lens for such developments. We don’t specify how, but
we specify that we need to maintain the previous development rate flows. Our bylaws don’t presently cover
quality issues. Cape Town has incorporated quality issues in their bylaws, and we are hoping to learn from
them. One of the challenges they have are the standards…’ [W]e are not prescriptive on how they implement
storm-water systems. We run several courses and the WRC is running a number of courses around the country
looking at the best practice regarding water-sensitive design. Architects and engineers are now becoming more
sensitised about water-sensitive design in the use of such practices. There is now a commission looking at
developing guidelines for the SuDS applications’. (Respondent 6)
Partially prescriptive
storm-water policies and
bylaws
(continued)