Gauteng vulnerable to floods, with poor waste management, says report
The State of the Environment Outlook report describes Gauteng’s wetlands as ‘sponges’ holding on to rain, with its waste management needing ‘remedial measures’
Poorly planned infrastructure is making Gauteng vulnerable to floods‚ as was witnessed recently when storms destroyed buildings and left hundreds homeless. This is one of the warnings issued by researchers in the State of the Environment Outlook report released by the Gauteng Departments of Economic Development‚ and Agriculture and Rural Development. Gillian Maree‚ a researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory‚ explained the problem. "If you think of our wetlands as sponges. If you have a rainfall event‚ they hold on to the water and release it slowly. If you now go and build houses‚ buildings or infrastructure on top of the sponge‚ you have an impervious surface. Instead of the water going into the ground‚ it runs off very quickly‚" Maree said. "A stormwater management system is there to get that water to run off our infrastructure very quickly. [But] the pace of development has not kept pace with the ability to build adequate infrastructure. That exacerbates the impact of fl...
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