Water Wheel March/April 2020: River Heritage

Abstract

Liesbeek – The people’s river of Cape Town People have followed rivers for centuries. Today still, the origin of many cities can be traced back to a stream that allowed people to settle, and flourish. Another common trait of today’s cities is the severe pollution of the streams that run through them. As development continued, the pristine rivers that the cities’ establishment and expansion were built on, often paid the biggest price. Cape Town is no different. Yet the Liesbeek, a river that supported much of city’s early development, is now following a different trajectory. Once described as utterly unfit for human use, it has become the cleanest urban river in South Africa. This is according to Dr Kevin Winter of the Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town. For him, the Liesbeek is a living laboratory and, lessons from the river’s recovery is now circling out far beyond the basin, as he lectures on the topic locally and abroad.

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