Contents
of August 2004
EDITORIAL
African projects,
experimentation and invaders
UPFRONT
News
LETTERS
IDENTIFYING
INVADERS
Exotic Bauhenias and American
Bramble
TREE OF THE ISSUE
Peter Clark chooses the Tree Aloe
FEATURES
WasteArt 2004 Expo
Experimental space – design for
green living
Private investment in public space
Landscaping interventions
– Tinapa, Nigeria
Human excreta, footprints and the
environment
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EDITORIAL
African projects, experimentation
and invaders
UGF reports
largely on environmentally responsible projects in South Africa. In this issue, however,
projects in three other African countries have been given coverage: natural gas extraction
in the Nile River Delta of Egypt, where land is so valuable that subsistence farmers live
in multi-storied flats (page 12); building power line towers (with the smallest footprints
possible) by helicopter in the pristine Sperrgebiet of Namibia (page 4); and the Tinapa
resort in Nigeria’s Cross River State which is also situated in a largely disturbed
deltaic environment with plans in place to rehabilitate and encourage the return of
wildlife (page 32). South African consultants have been and are involved in all three of
these.
Again, away
from our usual South African focus, we sometimes publish really interesting news items
from UK Trade and Investment as illustrated by the account on page 5 of a new bacteria
based soil screening device which locates contamination on brownfield sites. Another item
has just arrived which provides food for thought as it describes “how waste can
reclaim land”, also indicating the move in the UK towards reusing brownfield sites
rather than developing greenfield land – one of UGF’s main thrusts. The novel
technique which is undergoing its first field trials in Yorkshire is known as Biostore and
combines stabilised sewage sludge with industrial wastes such as coal shale and demolition
waste. By filling the space left between particles in compacted rubble with stabilised
sludge and isolating the composite mixture from the outside environment, stable ground
suitable for the foundations of light building construction can be created. Biostore
provides an alternative to traditional landfill as a method of waste management.
The project
leader of the group of scientists from Imperial College London, Dr Bill Dudeney, explains
that the idea behind Biostore is relatively simple but it is only with changes in
legislation and public perception that there has been a strong enough incentive to look
for such novel solutions in dealing with waste. The EU landfill directive means that by
2020 the UK will have to reduce its use of landfill to 35% of that utilised in 1995.
More
experimentation is being done back home in Johannesburg’s flatland suburb of
Killarney, where architect Eric Noir has created a rock store (which works in conjunction
with fans and a solar panel) for cooling and heating, in his originally conventional
apartment (page 22). Our architectural writer, Leigh Darroll, says that Noir, who is a
strong believer in design for green living, sees his apartment as a work in progress
giving him the opportunity to explore new ideas in a practical way.
There is
also more about waste in this issue in civil engineer Aussie Austen’s description of
the value of human wastes and ecological sanitation utilising the technology of urine
diversion (page 34). Remarkably, there are already 20 000 such toilets in existence in
South Africa, some of which are inside suburban Johannesburg homes.
Picking up
on the issue of the Table Mountain Tahrs which we commented on in the May/June 2004
edition of UGF, a letter appeared in the Weekend Argus in April which was then repeated in
African Wildlife (the WESSA journal) and which drums home the need to be aware of and
guard against alien invasive species – as it says, there are no natural controls to
the population of Tahrs on Table Mountain. The letter is signed by 23 highly respected
environmentalists and one of the main points that is made is that the demands of Friends
of the Tahrs appear to be based on perceptions that Tahrs are “graceful” or
“handsome”. There has been little consideration given to the environmental
damage that they are responsible for which will eventually erode the natural ecosystems on
our invaluable Table Mountain.
This is
reminiscent of the argument so often used by gardeners that invasive alien trees such as
the Syringa are “beautiful” with their “graceful” scented blossoms and
no account is taken of their invasion of water courses throughout the subtropical regions
of our country, where they are pushing out indigenous vegetation and destroying natural
ecosystems. This could explain why the Syringa which has invaded an estimated area of
three million hectares was not declared a Category 1 weed. We would like to commend the
authorities concerned for their prosecutions of negligent landowners on the Cape Peninsula
who have failed to clear their properties of illegal invasive plants. Hopefully, this
precedent will be followed in other areas of the country, particularly those bordering on
protected natural environments. - Carol Knoll
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UPFRONT
An
unusual transmission line route
In 2001,
environmental consultant Bryony Walmsley wrote and delivered a paper entitled “The
Triple Bottom Line: Going over the Top?” which was published in the proceedings of
the 3rd Annual East African Power Industry Convention. It is about sustainability in
transmission line planning and tells an unusual story.
WSP
Walmsley, the company Walmsley was with at the time, had to find the best route for a
400kV power line route to supply power from the Kokerboom substation near Keetmanshoop, to
the new Skorpion Zinc mine (winner of the IAIAsa National Premium Award – see UGF
Sep/Oct 2003) on the edge of the Sperrgebiet. The client was NamPower.
The
Sperrgebiet (translated means ‘forbidden area’) is not formally protected but
has remained largely in pristine condition because it was, until recently, under exclusive
diamond licences and all access to the area, except under strict permit conditions, was
prohibited. The area is now unproclaimed state land and a Land Use Plan makes the
recommendation that it should be proclaimed a National Park.
After many
hours spent traversing the terrain in a helicopter and poring over maps, the team
identified two possible routes for the power line: either along an existing gravel road
through dramatic mountain scenery, which would have been a major visual impact, or over
the Huib Hoch Plateau. The latter was the shorter route but technically extremely
difficult and the impact on the rich biodiversity of the plateau had to be considered.
After extensive public participation, the decision was made to ‘go over the top’
(of the mountain), subject to the approval of a comprehensive Environmental Management
Plan.
Sixteen
power line towers had to be built by helicopter in the most inaccessible and
environmentally sensitive areas along Huib Hoch to minimise the development
‘footprint’; some 350m3 of concrete had to be poured by helicopter and the line
had to rise up 350m over a linear distance of 800m. This work had to be completed within
170 hours which meant almost one tower per day. At a cost of some R27 000 per hour,
helicopter downtime had to be minimised and programming by the contractor had to be
perfect. The helicopter delivered 1m3 of concrete every 7-10 minutes, during the
operation. A dedicated site engineer directed operations every minute of the day.
Furthermore,
access roads in certain areas had to be hand packed; a botanist and archaeologist were
present during the full pegging of the line and were instrumental in choosing tower
positions on top of the plateau; all rare and sensitive plants were relocated by hand
prior to blading and an illustrated guide to special plants in the area was produced for
use by the construction team. The contractor employed an environmental officer, while the
environmental consultants monitored the route every two months and issued a compliance
report.
Walmsley
reported that the entire exercise was completed within the stated time period, with no
disabling injuries – and that the actual disturbance to the environment, in the
greater context, was minimal. The whole exercise cost R5 million less than the alternative
route would have cost. She calls this going over the top without ‘going over the
top’.
She added
that: “Transmission lines are essential for development and until other methods of
generating and conveying power are used, power lines are a necessary evil in our
landscapes. But with some forethought and careful environmental planning, their impact on
today’s and tomorrow’s environment can be minimised, without compromising the
social benefits that they bring.”
She commended NamPower management for taking sustainable development seriously.
Rapid screening of soil for pollutants
A device that allows the rapid screening of soil samples for the presence of pollutants
has been developed by Greenwich University, London, and its commercial partners, Crown Bio
Systems. Called the Safe Soil Tester, the portable, hand-held device will allow on the
spot, rapid screening tests of soil potentially contaminated with pollutants from
manufacturing processes or the dumping of pesticides. It is about seven times cheaper than
current, time-consuming, chemical procedures and can be used by those unskilled in
chemical analysis.
Prof Raymond
Coker of Greenwich University and his team have spent the last 15 months developing the
testing procedure. A novel process has been developed for extracting pollutants from the
soil and presenting the soil extract to a special, freeze-dried, bioluminescent, bacterial
preparation.
Pollutants,
such as polycyclic, aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides, cause a decrease in the
level of luminescence emitted by the bacteria and the inhibition of luminescence increases
with the quantity of pollutant. The complete testing procedure requires 15-20 minutes.
The testing
kit includes a GPS that will locate the position of each sample that is taken and a GSM
modem to enable the immediate transmission of data. An RS232 interface also allows data to
be downloaded directly to a laptop computer for access by GIS software, enabling the
automatic mapping of the contaminated site.
The tester
is being evaluated under field conditions by project collaborators in the UK and other
European countries. Website: www.gre.ac.uk
SALI Awards of
Excellence 2004
The South
African Landscapers Institute (SALI) Awards of Excellence drew a total of 44 entries
countrywide, this year. The national co-ordinating judge was landscape architect Peter
Dayson. The judging panel in Gauteng (which provided for 36 of the entries) comprised
three landscape architects, Johan Hosten, Erika van den Berg and Piet Vosloo, landscape
contractor Gordon Smith, nurseryman Doug Watson, environmental journalist Carol Knoll and
horticultural trainer Gilbert Briscoe. In KZN, the judges were landscape contractors Pam
McGlone and Jan Blok and Natal Technikon lecturer Ashleigh Goodbrand and in the Western
Cape landscape architect Caren Speirs and Warwick Bayer, who is a grower of indigenous
plants, did the judging. Four entries were received in each of the latter provinces.
The SALI
judging criteria now include a requirement for contractors to describe where
veld-harvested material has been sourced and, when relevant, make mention of the permits
obtained from nature conservation to move this material. Projects in which there are
Category 1 and 2 invasive plants in evidence are being marked down by the judges.
This year
the overall winner of the SALI Shield was a project in Mauritius – the Le Touesserok
Hotel renovation, implemented by the Top Turf Group. Dayson commented that the logistics
of this installation had been particularly challenging for the contractor, that the
exemplary quality of the plant material attested to excellent soil preparation and that
the finishes were generally of a high standard.
The Parks
& Grounds Trophy for In-house Design was awarded to Eksklusiewe Tuine for the Parc
Nicol Fountain in Sandton, while the Evergreen Gardens Novice Award was won by Landscape
Designs for Garden Grobler in Centurion and the Rand Water Waterwise Trophy was won by
Over the Garden Wall for House Oberink in Irene.
Waterwise trophy
Water
efficiency is a vitally important aspect of landscaping projects and it is acknowledged by
the annual award of the Waterwise Trophy. This year, Rand Water’s Waterwise Trophy
went to a residential project by Mia Marsay of Over the Garden Wall – House Oberink.
The judges
highlighted the waterwise elements as being the extensive use of gravel, the use of grey
water, and the manual irrigation system, which is only brought into use when required.
Marsay
commented that possibly the most important aspect of water efficiency was that the garden
was divided into various areas or ‘rooms’ each with a different character that
allowed for waterwise zoning, according to the varying water requirements of the plant
species. This design element which incorporates ‘peepholes’ from room to room
with different elements of interest also facilitates waterwise planting.
A south
facing, shady area of maximum water usage is adjacent to the kitchen and bathroom, and
water loving plants such as Arums have been used here. This area is watered with grey
water from the bathroom, which is simply allowed to drain away into the planting. In the
hotter, sunnier areas, hardy, drought resistant plants such as Acacias have been utilised.
Colour abounds in areas close to the house and cottage and around the pool and this is
where the manual irrigation system, which provides good cover but is used with care, has
been installed.
House
Oberink is an old garden which has been renovated and another waterwise aspect was the
removal of numerous invasive exotics, including those which fall under Category 3, such as
Privets (Ligustrum spp) and Syringas (Melia azedarach), and do not, according to the
regulations, have to be removed as yet. The notorious Category 1 weed – the highly
invasive and difficult to control Cat’s Claw Creeper – which had overrun the
garden was removed en masse. Invasive exotic species are huge consumers of water and these
were replaced with largely indigenous, hardy species.
“The
client wanted a low maintenance garden – a garden that would, largely, utilise
natural rainfall for watering and the manual system in the priority areas means that there
is unlikely to be over-use of water. The use of the irrigation system has with time been
reduced to once a week – 40min/station – and the garden thrives,” commented
Marsay.
She said
that she recommended large expanses of gravel as a groundcover or mulch and that the
client had accepted this waterwise principle. Lawn areas have been reduced to the minimum
and are only in evidence around the pool. It is a large, 2000m2 property and the various
levels comprise many hard landscaping materials, such as gravel and some slate (which is,
of course, not porous like the gravel but means less planting) and stepping
‘stones’ across hardy groundcovers. The wooden, so-called, stepping
‘stones’ were cut from the trunks and branches of the large exotic invaders when
they were eradicated from the property.
For further information contact Val Wamsteker of SALI. Email: val@sali.co.za
Time to stop owl
mortalities
The
Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Raptor Conservation Group (RGC) is calling on farmers,
transporters, cooperatives, traffic authorities and members of the public for immediate
actions to halt the killing of owls on our roads. Over 1 000 dead owls have been recorded
on the short section of the N17 toll road between Springs and Devon in a three-year
period, by Paul Jooste, project manager of the RCG’s Nashua Central Owl Project.
A scientific
study conducted by masters degree student Tahla Ansara of RAU, in collaboration with
Jooste, has proved that owl mortality is directly linked to grain spillage from transport
vehicles. Trucks and trailers often have damaged and leaking tail gates that allow large
quantities of grain, such as maize, wheat and sunflower, to spill onto road surfaces. Few
grain transporting trucks have tarpaulins covering their loading bays which is required by
law and this results in grain blowing off the vehicles.
Grain spilt
on roads attracts rodents and, in areas with high owl densities such as along the N17, the
nocturnal hunters soon realise that their prey is concentrated on roads and move from
their natural hunting grounds to roads to prey on the rodents. Here they risk being struck
by vehicles or being sucked onto the road’s surface by the strong vortex generated by
vehicles. Many owls die of concussion, while others die of broken limbs after colliding
with vehicles.
Nashua
Central is funding the project in which ‘owl and rodent restaurants’ have been
erected along the N17 between Springs and Devon. The restaurants are situated at least 1
km away from roads and poles are erected to serve as perches for owls. A large number of
farmers are participating in this project that is considered an interim measure to draw
owls away from roads. Grain is strewn out at the restaurants daily to attract rodents and
thus lure owls away from the roads.
Transport
companies are requested to ensure that grain loads on trucks are covered with tarpaulins
and that loading gates are leak proof. Cooperatives and silo managers are also requested
to ensure that trucks are inspected for leaking loading gates and to refuse to load grain
if the problems are not adequately addressed. Traffic authorities are asked to inspect
grain transporting trucks throughout the year to ensure that they comply with road safety
regulations. Compliance with the law in providing tarpaulin covers would not only decrease
owl mortalities but also reduce financial losses due to spilt grain.
Members of
the public can contribute to this campaign by reporting grain spillage from trucks and
trailers to Paul Jooste of the Nashua Central Owl Project on 082 572 3124. Please record
the route number, date of incident, type of vehicle, registration number and if possible
the name of the transport company and a contact telephone number. Jooste will report such
incidents to the companies and to traffic authorities
Department of
Defence: Annual Environmental Awards for 2003
These awards
are part of an environmental programme that has been in existence in the military since
1983 and that is reported on annually. The award ceremony acknowledging success in the
year 2003 was held in Durban on 3 June 2004.
Aquator
Award for Water Efficiency
This Award
was presented to Army Support Base Durban and the effort made is seen not only as an
exercise in continuous improvement within the unit but also as educating the local
community and leading by example. The following practical initiatives, amongst others,
have helped to ensure the efficient use of water:
•
the use of wastewater
for landscaping at the base;
•
repair of all leaks
discovered through careful monitoring;
•
the auditing of water
leaks;
•
a physical inventory
of all water outlets;
•
efficient usage of
water in messes, toilets and vehicle wash bays through the implementation of a water
saving plan relying heavily on education; and
•
the use of
‘hippo’ bags or plastic bottles in the cisterns of toilets to ensure less water
usage.
Actions such
as these have resulted in total water savings of 337 442 kl, with an estimated monetary
value of R1,7 million, at four bases over the year 2003.
Association
for Clean Communities Award for Integrated Waste Management
The award
was presented to Sterkrivier Training Area west of Makopane in Limpopo. The practical
initiatives put in place by this army unit were:
•
rehabilitation of the
existing dump site which is now utilised only for kitchen waste;
•
construction of a
three compartment sorting system;
•
recycling of tins and
glass through a contractor;
•
reduction of waste
volume through incineration resulting in the reduction of trips to the municipal landfill
site;
•
funds from recycling
utilised for the establishment of a vegetable garden at the rehabilitated dump site; and
•
waste management
awareness training.
Endangered
Wildlife Trust Floating Trophy for Ecological Management
This trophy
was won by SAS Saldanha in the Western Cape. Ecological management has been integrated
into training programmes and the military utilisation of the area by this naval unit (see
UGF May/June 2004, page 30). Management actions have included improved control of entry,
maintenance of fences, monitoring and rehabilitation of erosion, removal of 2ha of alien
invasive vegetation, ring-barking of 86 bluegums, control of problem pigeons, disposal of
bontebok and springbuck in the nature reserve to minimise hoof erosion problems,
conservation and monitoring of the Black Oystercatcher, conservation of water, pollution
control, rehabilitation of sand dunes and conservation of heritage sites.
Caltex
Floating Trophy for Base Environmental Management
The trophy
was presented to Naval Base Simon’s Town in the Western Cape on the basis of progress
made over 2003. Measures taken included the
clearing of about 150ha of invasive alien vegetation, the replacement of R22 gas with an
ozone friendly gas in all refrigeration plants, the removal from the dockyard of 7t of
loose grit used for grit blasting, the compilation and distribution of an Environmental
Contingency Plan for dangerous pollution, the dismantling and recycling of a submarine in
an environmentally friendly manner in the dockyard, initiatives to prevent ground, air and
water pollution, and the implementation of an Environmental Management System at the base.
Prof
Kristo Pienaar Floating Trophy for Environmental Education and Training
Once again,
as in the previous two years, this trophy was presented to Army Support Base,
Potchefstroom. The environmental education programme includes skills training and economic
growth based on recycling, a newsletter for spreading environmental awareness, the
celebration of national environmental days addressing issues of water efficiency,
sustainable development and pollution control, and alien invader eradication. The base is
involved with the Keep South Africa Clean Campaign, the Working for Water Programme
including the Vuselela Initiative, Potch’s EcoGrow food gardens Programme (UGF
May/June 2003 page 9), and an integrated waste management and recycling project. Public
education is undertaken through involvement with a local primary school in a crafts from
waste programme – items are sold at the local Aardklop Festival to the benefit of the
school.
SA
National Parks Trophy for Military Integrated Environmental Management
This trophy
was presented to Air Force Base Overberg, between Bredasdorp and Arniston, in the Western
Cape. During 2003, this unit ensured the integration of environmental management in all
military activities with the implementation of an ISO compliant Environmental Management
System. The unit has been accredited by the SABS and the EMS is available for public
scrutiny on special open days to which the local community is invited.
Conservamus
Floating Trophy for Environmental Services
This trophy
was presented to Commander Adri Liebenberg of the Logistics Division of the Department of
Defence. She has been responsible for the development of a comprehensive departmental
guide to international, national and provincial environmental legal compliance for all
military commanding officers in all the services of the Department of Defence.
One of the
runners-up in the Conservamus competition was Warrant Officer Swart who was responsible
for the formalising of environmental training at SAS Saldanha through the development of
the Environmental Maritime Warden’s Course which forms part of the military skills
initiative at the unit (UGF May/June 2004 page 30). During 2003, a total of 409 learners
were assessed and accredited with certificates.
Contact Wendy van der Merwe at Department of Defence. Tel: (012) 339 5042.
Mega-Watt Savings
Project exceeds target
On 9 July at
an Awards Dinner in Johannesburg to acknowledge the retailers who supported the venture,
the announcement was made that the Mega-Watt Savings Project, a joint venture between
Philips Lighting and Eskom’s Demand Side Management, had exceeded its target by 85%
– selling 1, 3 million energy saver lamps in the past six months, saving 50 MW of
peak electricity demand on the national grid and raising R500 000 for FAMSA, the Family
and Marriage Society of South Africa – a community NGO.
At the
dinner, Andrew Etzinger, general manager: resources and strategy Eskom, said that over the
last 10 years the production and use of CFLs had doubled every six months. He said there
was a need to phase out incandescent lamps completely. The retail suppliers that
participated in the Mega-Watt Savings Project to promote the sales of CFLs were: Agrinet,
Dion, Game, Makro, the Pick n Pay Group, Shoprite Checkers, Trade Centre and Voltex.
Ian Murdoch,
chairman and ceo of Philips SA, said that Philips had invented the CFL some 20 years ago.
He added that in 2002, the US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy had
named Philips Lighting as Energy Star Partner of the Year for its commitment to making and
promoting energy efficient products which resulted in savings on energy bills and
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Philips
product developers follow EcoDesign principles in all phases of product development, with
five Green Focal Areas in mind: weight, hazardous substances, energy consumption,
recycling and disposal and packaging. Product life cycle analyses are performed using an
EcoScan computer programme, which calculates the environmental impact of products in terms
of Eco-Indicators.
Environmental and
social management system for natural gas projects in Egypt
Knight
Piesold’s environmental division is involved in the development of an Environmental
and Social Management System for the natural gas company, Merlon Petroleum of Egypt. These
natural gas projects involve seismic exploration and establishing a site for drilling
exploration, along with the development of the gas well infrastructure which is dependent
on gas output and the establishment of a gas plant to ‘clean’ the gas.
All of
Merlon’s gas fields are situated within the Nile River Delta and exploration takes
place on intensive subsistence farming land. Good communication channels have had to be
established with the local communities and acceptable procedures followed with care, on
this precious agricultural land. Justin Pooley who undertook the social portion of the
management system travelled with Knight Piesold’s Joanna Goeller, who was responsible
for the environmental aspects, to the gas fields at El Mansoura north of Cairo. The land
here is considered to be so valuable that local peasant farmers live in multi-storied
flats.
Establishing
a drill rig and associated infrastructure here is a sensitive issue. Appropriate community
relations, good compensation for land, as well as restoration procedures, are vitally
important, along with the aspects of water and waste management and emergency response
procedures.
Merlon has a
number of existing projects in the area and the company’s relationship with
surrounding communities is a good one. Pooley and Goeller were required to document into a
management system the status quo of the gas projects, which are at various stages of
development, and to set goals and targets to ensure continued improvement.
Congratulations!
Winners of the
Eskom/Philips energy efficiency competition
The five
winners of the hampers of 30 Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs), in the competition, which
was part of the Megawatt-Savings project, announced in UGF’s May/June 2004 issue,
were the following subscribers to UGF:
Gita Goven of Cape Town based ARG Design – sustainable development
professionals in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, planning and urban
design.
Margie Kotze of Pretoria based African EPA – consulting civil engineers,
environmental planners and landscape architects.
Kim De Lange of Ronloth Marketing based in Roodepoort – property
developers.
Sister
Claudette Bogner of Johannesburg based St Vincent School for the Deaf.
Fanie Steyn – City Electrical Engineer at Potchefstroom City Council.
Philips Lighting will be delivering your hampers.
New EIA
regulations gazetted for initial comment
The
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and its provincial counterparts,
having learnt from seven years of EIA experience, have been working on streamlining and
fine-tuning the EIA process to improve service delivery. The new set of EIA regulations
and schedules was published in the government gazette for initial public comment on 25
June 2004 – the expiry date for comment is 24 August.
In a
statement issued by DEAT, reasons for fine-tuning the regulations have been given. It is
intended that these regulations should fulfill the following:
•
streamline the EIA
process by, inter alia, reducing the number of steps and/or interactions between the
applicant and the authority concerning key interventions or provision of information;
•
reduce the number of
formal decisions required by officials;
•
secure the provision
of adequate information by the applicant prior to decision making;
•
create flexibility
regarding the entry point in the EIA process and ensure that officials are able to request
only the information required for decision making, thereby avoiding unnecessary steps
and/or processes; and reduce the administrative burden and potential for delays caused by
the submission of incomplete or inferior reports by the applicant.
The
Director-General of DEAT, Dr Crispian Olver, said that some public concerns had already
come to the fore: “There appears to be fear that the streamlined EIA process may
reduce the intensity of attention given to new developments and allow new loopholes for
developments having significant impacts to go unassessed. Indeed, there has been a
reaction that instead of streamlining the existing process, government should simply
employ more staff.”
He went on
to say: “We cannot afford to turn the EIA process into a bureaucratic exercise
employing hundreds of ‘paper-pushers’ who add little environmental value –
we must ensure efficient and effective environmental governance and this can be achieved
by using the best tools for the job. Government will not be serving the people by
investing the same quantity of resources into the assessment of, for example, a farm
diesel tank, as for a hazardous waste plant. We must justify our use of resources in terms
of the environmental benefits accrued.
“This
is an exercise in improving service delivery. The quality of our assessments will not be
reduced. On the contrary, the concentration of government’s efforts on applications
with significant rather than trivial impacts will enhance the quality of environmental
impact management across the country.”
Interested
and affected parties are asked to submit initial comments in connection with the proposed
regulations within 60 days after publication of the government notice dated 25 June 2004.
Comments should be submitted to the Director-General of DEAT, Private Bag X447, Pretoria
0001.
For further information contact Phindile Makwakwa at DEAT. Cell: 082 850 9559. Website:
www.environment.gov.za
-----
LETTERS
Concern about birdlife on Pretoria's quartzite koppies
I refer to
the article ‘Freedom Park: A Landscape Narrative of South Africa’s History and
Heritage’, UGF May/June 2004, covering the development of the dedicated heritage
precinct on Salvokop just south of Pretoria’s central railway station. The article
describes a development that is likely to become an attraction for local and foreign
tourists and therefore can be viewed as an asset to the greater Tshwane metropolitan area.
The article contained interesting aspects on the flora identified during the initial
ecological survey of the site. Unfortunately, there was no information given on the
presence or absence of indigenous fauna on the site.
Salvokop is
one of four similar hills within a small radius which are relatively undeveloped, some of
which retain interesting populations of broadleafed and acacia savannah veld types.
Klapperkop, situated to the south-east of Salvokop, has recently benefited from a
programme to remove alien stands of black wattle and bluegum. A little further to the
south lies the Fountains Valley resort and associated Groenkloof Nature Reserve with a
similar, wooded koppie, while directly south lies the Voortrekker Monument nature reserve.
All of these probably lie less than 3km from the centre of the city. There are not too
many cities in South Africa which can boast about a facility in which citizens can walk or
ride on horeseback or cycle amongst free roaming indigenous wildlife species such as
giraffe, kudu, black wildebeest and zebra.
Birdlife
Northern Gauteng’s bird ringing group has had a ringing project for some time in the
Groenkloof Nature Reserve. Some 1 000 birds of about 60 species have been trapped, ringed
and released in this programme. In late 2003, the group initiated a new project in the
Voortrekker Monument nature reserve and to date has ringed about 80 birds of 23 species.
This work will help develop an understanding of the avian fauna dynamics in these natural
areas, and will permit some assessment of the actual impacts of any developments in the
area.
I accept
that an avifaunal survey was not part of the thrust of the article but I am curious to
know why the Environmental Impact Assessment, which would have covered this aspect, was
done at what appears to have been such a late stage in the proceedings?
I trust,
however, that Salvokop developers will ensure that this hill will remain part of the
territory available to these more mobile members of our indigenous fauna. It is important
that this green area is retained in as ecologically natural a state as possible for future
generations.
Graham Grieve, member of Birdlife Northern Gauteng
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IDENTIFYING INVADERS
Exotic Bauhenias and American Bramble
Bauhinia
variegata and Bauhinia purpurea
Both these
exotic Bauhinias are well known ornamental trees which were widely planted in the past but
are now declared Category 3 invaders, meaning that, although they do not have to be
removed from gardens, they may no longer be planted in gardens or grown and sold by
nurserymen. Category 3 invaders do have to be eradicated up to within 30m of the 1:50 year
floodline of water courses or wetlands. According to Lesley Henderson of the Plant
Protection Research Institute (PPRI), in her book ‘Alien Weeds and Invasive
Plants’, their invasive status is that they are special effect weeds which means that
they are competitive and significantly able to degrade the value of natural ecosystems
without necessarily dominating these.
These two
species, which originate from India, China and the Malay Peninsula, have been recorded as
invading savannah, coastal bush, river banks and urban open space in areas of KZN,
Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng and, according to Henderson, the invasions are on the
increase. Hildegard Klein, also of the PPRI, comments that saplings are found in abundance
on Pretoria’s pavements where the exotic Bauhinias feature as street trees.
Their common
names are the Orchid Tree (deciduous to semi-deciduous) and the Butterfly Orchid Tree
(evergreen). Their leaves have the typical cloven-hoofed appearance of the Bauhinia
species, while B. variegata has flowers that are largely pale pink to white with darker
markings and B. purpurea generally has flowers of a maroonish purple colour with narrower
petals that do not overlap. The latter produces flowers for most of the year with
flowering season at its height during April and May, while the former flowers from August
to October. Henderson comments that colour cannot be used to distinguish the two species,
as sometimes B. variegata produces purple flowers. She says that both species are prolific
seed producers.
Rubus cuneifolius
The American Bramble, a thorny shrub with largely white flowers, is a declared
Category 1 weed, meaning that it must be removed by landowners. It occurs largely in KZN
and Mpumalanga. Rubus cuneifolius is similar in appearance to the European Blackberry
(Rubus fruticosus) which has largely pink flowers and is a Category 2 invader because it
has economic value. The latter occurs largely in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces.
The Bramble, which originates in the eastern USA, invades grasslands, forest edges, river
banks, plantations and roadsides and its invasive status is that of a transformer, meaning
that it is a serious environmental weed that can dominate or replace a natural ecosystem.
The
accompanying photographs show an invasion of the American Bramble in the foothills of the
Drakensberg, where it is strangling the KZN endemic Nerine pancratioides (White Nerine).
The exotic
invasive Rubus spp have a rampant growth habit and occur in dense thickets, which is the
best way of distinguishing them from their indigenous counterparts – of which there
are a number of species, with Rubus rigidus being the most widespread. The indigenous
species usually produce scattered plants. Henderson says that another way of telling the
exotic from the indigenous is by means of leaf structure. The exotics are either
three-foliate or re-divide to become five-foliate, whereas the indigenous species are
either pinnate (with an apical leaf and seven or nine paired leaves) or tri-foliate and
are usually not subject to re-division. The exotic varieties have large, showy flowers
with long petals, whereas the indigenous have small flowers with short petals. She says
that one of the big problems is that the indigenous species hybridise with the exotic
American Bramble producing the same rampant growth as the alien species.
According to
Klein, a specific pathogen, probably in the form of a fungus, is being sought in
conjunction with Working for Water to help control this rampant invasive bramble.
Mechanical control in the form of burning or slashing to reduce the height of the bramble
is recommended, in conjunction with the systemic herbicide, glyphosate, applied to leaves
and stems. There are a number of herbicides registered for the American Bramble. Follow-up
procedures are necessary. Cutting off new shoots when they appear twice annually will help
to starve the roots.
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TREE OF THE ISSUE
The tree Aloe
Landscape
contractor Peter Clark of Clark Horticulture comes from a parks department background
– his last position was director of Sandton Parks – and he has been in landscape
contracting for over 20 years subsequent to this. His choice of the Tree of the Issue is
Aloe barberae – the Tree Aloe. He prefers to continue using the name Aloe bainesii
(which it was called for so many years), because to be named after the great South African
artist and explorer, Thomas Baines, is more meaningful, in his opinion.
He calls the
tree magnificent and maintains that it is highly under-utilised in urban landscapes and
should be used in avenue plantings or even on road islands. He feels it could replace
something like the seriously overused, “out of a mould” Washingtonia palm and
would create more interest, because not only is it highly sculptural but it does not
always have exactly the same shape. It can get to between 10-18m in height. He says, for
example, it could have been used instead of a recent inappropriate planting of Celtis
sinensis (Ed: which is on Table X and will eventually be declared an invader, and is
hybridising with our beautiful White Stinkwood. See UGF May/June 2000) along Republic Road
in Sandton.
Classic
Revivals showroom in Parktown North, Johannesburg (seen in the photographs here and in UGF
May/June 2000), makes a dramatic statement with its striking, free-standing Aloe barberae
– as Clark says, the tree has been beautifully used there. In his opinion some of the
nicest specimen Tree Aloes he has seen are in the gardens along the Kariga River at
Kenton-on-Sea in the Eastern Cape.
He says the
Tree Aloe is hardy up on the highveld, even though it is a tree of the KZN and Eastern
Cape coastal bush and forest, and that it grows fast, up to 2m a year in the initial
stages, depending on soil preparation. He comments that when height is needed quickly, in
the office park situation for example, the tree is ideal. He has successfully propagated
it from terminal truncheons and says it is easy to propagate in this way and grows quickly
into its natural shape. The tree needs to be planted in a deep, fairly large hole to
ensure good drainage, with plenty of compost and fertiliser.
“The
root system is not invasive and the tree is not susceptible to the typical white aloe
scale. It is also one of the few aloes that doesn’t acquire a ‘skirt’
– the old leaves that stick to the branches,” comments Clark. “The only
negative is that it can’t withstand trucks driving into it – it is a brittle
tree.”
He remarks
that the flowers, which are usually a pinkish-orange, may not be as individually dramatic
as some of the aloe species, and are often hidden amongst the leaves, but that there are
so many of them and they produce flowers every year between June and August. A final
ornamental aspect is that the young branches are beautifully smooth, while the more mature
are bare and deeply fissured.
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Uplifting communities through
creative use of waste
EnviroServ
WasteArt 2004 held over five days in June on Nelson Mandela Square adjacent to Sandton
City comprised a school’s competition of visual and functional art made from waste;
daily demonstrations on making jewellery from waste, exotic flowers from plastic bottles,
paintings with molten plastic, sculpturing with plastic, making mosaics from broken
crockery, weaving with orange bags, and making hats and handbags from stretch plastic;
arts and crafts on display and for sale in the Sandton Civic Gallery, along with an
exhibition of the works of 13 well known South African artists; and a gala dinner
highlighted by a fashion show of outfits made from waste materials.
Arts in
Action, a movement established with the purpose of promoting awareness of arts that reach
beyond the traditional and engage the lives of the broader community, scoured the country
looking for talented artists that were utilising waste materials. These were exhibited at
WasteArt 2004, while works of WasteArt by well known artists were auctioned off in support
of the newly formed EnviroServ WasteArt Foundation for emerging artists. The school’s
competition was judged by Wendy Goldblatt who represents Africa on the World Crafts
Council and is chairman of the SA Crafts Council; Freda le Grange who is on the Board of
the SA Crafts Council; art curator Bongi Dhlomo of the Johannesburg Development Agency;
Joseph Mathe of the Department of Arts and Culture; and Wendy Ross and Celia de Villiers
both art lecturers at UNISA and with Arts in Action.
Waste reduction at
SAPPI’s landfill
Specialist engineering consultants, Stemele Bosch Africa (SBA), part of the B
& A Group, have recently completed the detail design stage of Sappi Kraft’s
Tugela Mill Phase 4 Landfill Extension project in Mandeni, on the KZN north coast.
“SBA,
which was also involved in Phases 2 and 3 of this project, is now working to extend the
Tugela Mill’s landfill liner by approximately 20 000 m2 to 30 000 m2. The completion
of this phase will create a further four years capacity on the existing site,” says
Geoff Purnell, SBA’s director for Solid Waste and Environment. “However, due to
the waste reduction, re-use and re-cycling – implemented by Sappi and its waste
management contractor, Interwaste – this landfill site may have an even longer life.
“The
objective of this development is to maximise the airspace volume of the landfill site by
constructing the largest area of liner possible, within budget constraints. The project
also requires a lining system to prevent leachate from contaminating ground¬water
resources and a leachate collection system for the existing site and extension. A
stormwater management system to divert clean stormwater off the landfill site will also be
constructed.”
The
infrastructure for this project complies with DWAF’s ‘minimum requirements for
waste disposal by landfill’ and Sappi’s existing landfill permit issued in terms
of the Environment Conservation Act. Work is also planned in line with SABS 1200 standard
specifications and all construction operations are carried out according to the
Occupational Health and Safety Act (1994).
The Kraft
mill produces approximately 44 900 m3 waste per month, which, when compacted in the
landfill, reduces to approximately 33 300 m3 per month or 400 000 m3 per annum. This waste
consists of bark, ash, reject pulp and small quantities of commercial and domestic waste
from the mill area. The amount of waste being disposed of in the landfill has been
significantly reduced by composting the wood and bark wastes.
SBA has also
developed technologies, systems and expertise for the planning and implementation of
water, sewage, waste management, electrical and building services, as well as roads
programmes. Contact Geoff Purnell at Stemele Bosch Africa. Tel: (031) 207 2093
Heavy duty compactor
saves landfill airspace
In keeping with the latest trends in global waste management, Pikitup has
acquired a state-of-the-art, heavy-duty Bomag BC 772 RB Landfill Compactor. The 36t
compactor, supplied by Babcock Equipment, will be used at the Robinson Deep landfill site
in Springfield to compact more than 1 500t of waste per day. The Bomag BC 772 RB saves
landfill airspace as well as improving surface water runoff due to its effective waste
compaction.
Francois van
Aswegen, Business Development Executive at Pikitup, comments that the new compactor, along
with its vitally important ability of saving airspace, will also contribute to the overall
appearance of the site at Robinson Deep. Jaco von Wielligh of Babcock Equipment commented
on the machine’s ability to improve the productivity of landfill sites –
increasing their lifespan.
Currently,
the compactor is being used in Europe and other African countries. Its strength and
reliability is of great importance as on any given day it is required to work between 8-10
hours on Pikitup’s landfill sites.
Contact Michelle Cook. Tel: 646 7152. Email: michelle@chillibush.co.za
Environmentally
responsible waste management
EnviroServ Waste Management is committed to pioneering best practice that
exceeds compliance requirements, continually raising the standards of environmental
stewardship in the field of waste management.
In 2003,
EnviroServ became the first waste management group to close and rehabilitate a hazardous
waste landfill site (Umlazi) that met all the new Minimum Requirements for Waste Disposal
by Landfill, published by DWAF in 1998. A community football field has been established on
the site.
Hazmat
Support Services, a division of EnviroServ, became the first in Africa to achieve EU
accreditation as expert supervisors for asbestos removal. Hazmat offers a highly
specialised emergency standby service aimed at reducing the risk of an incident – a
24-hour reactive support service for emergency clean-ups, hazardous material spillage
containment and on-site surface and soil remediation. Expert services have been used to
contain the threat of major marine disasters along the coastline (see story on the Jolly
Rubino salvage operation in UGF Jan/Feb 2003 issue, page 36).
The
Polokwane Declaration states DEAT’s commitment to the reduction of waste generation
by 50% and waste disposal by 25% before 2012. EnviroServ’s Process Management
Division is dedicated to waste minimisation. The team of chemical engineers and scientists
employed in this division see one person’s ‘waste’ as another person’s
resource and their goal is to add new value or extract valuable elements from waste
material. The division offers custom sustainable process solutions for the treatment,
recovery, re-use, minimisation and recycling of solid waste and effluent.
Waste-tech,
the industrial waste management division, specialises in the collection and transport of
industrial and commercial waste. There is an increase in the number of clients that are
outsourcing their entire waste management programme to Waste-tech in order to achieve a
more responsible environmental approach.
Through
on-site waste management, waste is separated into recyclable and non-recyclable types,
reducing the volumes of waste to landfill and reducing the overall costs of the
client’s waste programme.
Email: info@enviroserv.co.za Website: www.enviroserv.co.za
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Transforming a conventional apartment
Architect
Eric Noir of Green by Design has transformed a conventional Killarney apartment into a
contemporary home and office which serves also, as he describes it, as an experimental
lab. With 10 tonnes of rock under the floor, a solar panel planned for the roof and a
series of computer-linked monitoring mechanisms, Noir has set up a ‘green’
cooling and heating system which he will be able to test, track and adjust through the
seasons.
The 180m2
apartment is on the top floor of a five-storey residential building, with internal
stairway access to a generous roof terrace. It is north facing, with entry from an
enclosed, partly glazed passageway on the south.
The
apartment accommodates two bedrooms and two bathrooms, as it did before though in
reconfigured form, and the former hall, dining room, living room and enclosed balcony have
been opened up into one extended living space. The office, occupying the southwest corner,
is extendible into the living area when required, or can be screened off from it. The
kitchen, extending now also into a scullery along the south wall, occupies the southeast
corner.
Remaking space
Noir is very much a practical, hands-on architect and, as well as taking on the
internal reconstruction of the apartment with a team of semi-skilled workers, he has
designed and made the new fittings to use the given space to best advantage.
This is
seen, for example, in: storage space in the bedrooms; a fold-down desk or alternatively a
fold-down bed, in the second bedroom cum study, which can be closed off from the living
area by a folding, sliding partition; and all the kitchen fittings – including a
mobile gas hob with fold-away granite wings that can be lifted to provide extra surface
space during meal preparation and cooking, extensive storage shelves lining the scullery,
and a multi-bin drawer that provides for separation of waste before disposal.
In the main
bathroom, other modifications of conventional fittings have been made in the interests of
practicality and making space work better. The bath is raised, above built-in storage
compartments, to provide a more practical working height – for bathing children or
any washing to be done by hand. With a fold-down cover, it also provides a working surface
at the right height for sorting laundry or ironing. Water-saving dual flush toilets have
been installed in both bathrooms.
The doors
leading off the living room to the bedrooms have also been newly made, to reach ceiling
height, with door handles positioned at half-height. The tall doors hide the intrusion of
the dividing structural beam from the living space and so contribute to the sense of
uninterrupted volume. Noir’s favoured material for all the fittings is a 32mm thick
SA Pine plywood, chosen because it suited the budget, for its simplicity, and because it
provided the natural “raw” finish he sought. It also offered the aesthetic
opportunity to exploit edges (exposing the ply) and planes (exposing the grain of the
wood). The plywood has been treated with a lightly white-tinted coating to prevent it
discolouring over time.
It was also
used for the treads of the spiral stairway which was newly built to replace the existing
stairway – an intrusive element that rose diagonally across the approach to the
living space. The narrower shaft of the original stairway has been incorporated within the
wider diameter of the newly cast curved concrete stairwell. All the steps were cut –
on a curved rather than a straight radius – treated and installed by hand.
Upstairs,
the open shaft of the former stairway has been “reclaimed” with a timber deck
introduced to extend the upper landing and make this space usable. Fitted with new
shelving it now houses the library – and the clutter of books is removed from the
living space but easily accessible from the workspace.
Plans for
the roof terrace are still being prepared, but it will soon carry a solar panel to be
linked to the internal climate control system. It is worth noting that Noir has also made
use of the service shaft which runs vertically through all the floors of the building to
the roof – another example of reclaimed space. Taking care not to disrupt the
function of the service shaft, he has installed an open steel mesh cage on a system of
pulleys within a guide of scaffolding – creating a dumb waiter that provides for
drinks or laundry or other such goods, to be hauled up to the roof terrace from the
kitchen and returned to it.
During the
reconstruction of the interior, which was carried out over about nine months, the roof
terrace was used for storage of materials and fittings that were to be reused, either in
the apartment or elsewhere, or passed on to the second-hand building materials trade.
The L-plan
balcony, formerly separate and enclosed, has now been incorporated into the living space,
and the former inner windows have been transferred, resized and reused in the north
façade of the upstairs landing. Tiles from the chequered balcony floor have been reused
– the black tiles are now on the floor of the scullery and the white tiles were used
in the second bathroom. Parquet flooring lifted from the living room has been re-laid in
the storeroom on the roof and in the second bedroom. Taps and hand basins have also been
reused, and even bricks saved from the walls that were demolished have been reused in
newly constructed walls.
The benefits
of such recycling are many – cost savings, reduced waste disposal, and,
significantly, reduced traffic of new materials into the apartment – five storeys up
– and of old materials out of it.
A residential rock
store
Beneath the parquet flooring that was lifted from the living room, the screed
was also lifted. In its place, a home rock store has been installed.
Insulation
was laid over the floor slab. On top of this, brandering was installed and two separate
beds of rock were created – each running the length of the living room, two metres
wide, 80 mm deep, and closed at both ends. The rock is railway ballast brought in from the
Cullinan quarry – four cubic metres in total, weighing all of 10 tonnes. A further
layer of insulating foam was laid over the rock beds and, above that, tongue-and-groove
saligna flooring has been fitted. A 300 mm wide perimeter of white, tumbled pebbles edges
the timber floor panels and acts as a diffuser for the release of hot or cold air from the
rock store.
Noir himself
wonders about the appropriateness of using an exotic hardwood flooring material. “On
the one hand it’s preferable to use an exotic hardwood rather than an indigenous
hardwood, and one that is cultivated locally rather than imported; on the other, should
one be supporting eucalyptus forestry when these forests are known to be destructive of
local biodiversity?”
Nonetheless,
the saligna flooring has been carefully treated. It is saturated with natural oils which
protect it and, in effect, seal it against any spills. This treatment will require regular
maintenance. The timber floor panels are also protected from excess exposure to the
changing temperature and humidity in the rock store by the intermediate layer of
insulation and this should render the floor stable.
From an
aesthetic perspective it’s interesting to note that all plug points have been removed
from the walls and fitted to the timber framework beneath the tongue-and-groove panels.
The clean walls rising out of the pebbled edge give the impression that the timber floor
is floating.
Managing the interior
climate
The functioning of the rock store relies on three complementary systems which
use simple, 50W fans, fitted switch boxes, and some ducting. Parallel summer and winter
systems push or pull warm or cool air from the north or south side of the apartment,
according to the season. The fans and switch boxes for the respective systems are neatly
housed beneath the daybed, which is built into the foot of the L-shaped balcony on the
north, and beneath the spiral stairway on the south. Noir looked at using the same fans
through summer and winter and just running a dual-fan system in reverse, but he elected to
install parallel systems because fans are designed to run one way and lose up to 30%
efficiency if they are run in reverse.
Winter days
On winter days, air warmed in the solar panel – to be installed on the
roof – will be drawn down via external ducting that links into a small inlet at floor
level on the north façade. The same fan that is used to draw down the warm air then
pushes it through internal ducting to the rock beds where the heat is absorbed by the
rocks. (Noir emphasises that the solar panel is required to increase the temperature of
the outside air which on winter days averages between 15° and 18°C).
At the same
time, cold air is removed from the rocks by a second fan, positioned under the spiral
stairway, and pushed out beneath the entrance door, to the south.
The heat
absorbed by the rocks during the day can then be released to warm the interior space. The
first fan is used again to drive the warm air out of the rock store via the pebbled
perimeter ‘vent’ into the interior. Noir describes this as the “turbo
mode”, when more warm air is drawn into the rock store than is extracted from it to
the interior.
During
winter days, natural heat gains occur with the lower angle of the winter sun and its
deeper penetration of the living space and the main bedroom in the northeast corner of the
apartment. An opening in the wall between the bedroom and the living room allows for the
warmth captured to move through the interior. The opening is shuttered so that it can be
closed when preferred.
In addition,
double glazing on the bedroom windows – with the newly installed inner fitting of
sliding, aluminium-framed panels of opaque white glass – improves the level of
insulation, promoting interior heat gains and reducing heat losses. (It is also an
effective noise insulator.) The southwest window of the office space is also double
glazed, with a single sheet of opaque white glass which doubles as a
‘whiteboard’.
Winter nights
A supplementary heating mode for winter nights, still planned, will entail the
construction of a ‘secondary’ ceiling curved beneath the central beam of the
living room. This will allow for warm air (that has risen through the day) to be scooped
from the ceiling by fans and pushed through ducting down to the rock store from where it
will be re-circulated to the interior space. This will supplement the night-time
distribution of warmth absorbed by the rocks during the day.
Noir also
plans to install an RGB.T5 lighting system – a system of energy-efficient fluorescent
tube lighting, with electronic ballast, that allows for red, green or blue light to be
used at variable intensities. “Virtually any colour of the spectrum can be
recreated,” he says, “so I can use light to extend the envelope of comfort
– to compensate for cooler or warmer temperatures.”
Summer nights
On summer nights, the parallel system of south and north fans will come into
operation, moving cool air from the passageway on the south side of apartment into the
rock store and pushing warm air out via the corner grille on the north face. Thus the
rocks are cooled and the internal temperature is kept low through the following morning.
A
supplementary cooling system allows for cool air drawn in from the south side of the
building to be channelled directly to the perimeter vents via under-floor ducting that
bypasses the rock store. This mode could be used through summer mornings until the outside
temperature rises above the inside temperature.
Additionally,
the planned ceiling-ducting system would provide for rising warm air to be extracted
through a narrow vent that has been cut into the north wall between the top of the windows
and the ceiling slab.
Experimentation
The whole system is designed for testing and experimentation. As a strong
believer in design for green living – which, among other things, eliminates wasteful
energy and water consumption – Noir is intent on making buildings work to multiple
effect, not just as shelter, nor only aesthetically, but also as dynamic functioning
systems.
“I need
to know how rock stores work, how they can be adapted and modified to optimise their
efficiencies. So here I have a residential scale rock store. It’s not the
Constitutional Court, or the International School in Harare,” he says, referring to
other rock store installations of an institutional scale, “it’s not a test lab
at the CSIR, but it enables me to conduct my own experiments and to test and monitor
various options.
“You
can’t expect a client to take the risk of trial and error experimentation in green
technologies. I want to be sure of what works and what works best. And, to be sustainable,
to be accepted by the market, green technologies have to be able to provide, at least, the
same levels of comfort and the same ease of operation as conventional technologies.”
Clearly Noir
enjoys what he does. He plans to link up eight temperature probes, inserted at different
points in his home rock store system, to an event logger which, in turn, will relay the
data tracked to computer. So he can build up a history of temperatures – indoors and
outdoors – through the different operating modes and the changing seasons of the
year.
He has also
linked a water-consumption monitoring device to his laptop. This not only measures total
water usage, like any ordinary water meter, but usage of hot or cold water, at what time
and what for – whether for the bath or the washing machine or some other use.
“This is also really an experimental interest,” he says. “It’s
actually an excellent site management tool. We’ve been able to use the same sort of
data logger on construction sites and have won substantial savings on water. It means that
you know when taps have been left open, or if water is being siphoned off the site
illegally.”
Noir refers
to the apartment as a work in progress. It gives him the opportunity to explore new ideas
and new possibilities in a practical, hands-on way.
Comparative fuel costs
As the rock store system is yet to be made fully operational, Noir has been
using a gas heater to warm the apartment through recent winter nights. He draws a
surprising comparison – that the cost of gas for space heating, at about R180 for two
canisters used in one gas heater per month, is the same as his cost for diesel to travel
– by private transport – an average of about 750km each month. And he drives
what he describes as one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the market – the Polo
TDI.
Although
electricity is still relatively inexpensive in South Africa, there are indications that
this will not remain the case. (It’s also important to remember that not all
households have access to it.) Alternative fuels for space heating are surprisingly
expensive, as this small example illustrates. This strengthens the argument in favour of
passive and/or simple mechanical climatic controls and the use of renewable energy
technologies in homes, offices and other buildings.
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Private investment in public space
Redevelopment
of the Theatre Precinct, Braamfontein
The
redevelopment of the Theatre Precinct was initiated towards the end of 2002 when Sappi,
one of the leading corporate property owners in Braamfontein, was considering relocating
its head office. The company’s decision rather to stay and upgrade its headquarters
was linked to a commitment, in which it was joined by other corporations and property
owners in Braamfontein and supported by the City of Johannesburg, to establish a Corporate
Improvement District (CID) that would take on the upgrading and ongoing maintenance of the
neighbouring environment.
The
redevelopment of the Theatre Precinct complements the work done in the Braamfontein
Regeneration Project (see UGF Sep/Oct 2003) and forms an important element of the cultural
arc that is taking form to link Newtown, in central Johannesburg, across the railway lines
to Braamfontein – including the Wits University campus along its western edge –
and Constitution Hill.
Sappi’s
headquarters are located on Ameshoff Street and occupy the city block bordered by Biccard,
Stiemens and Simmonds Streets. Its neighbour on the north of Ameshoff is Rennie House,
owned by Liberty Life Properties which has also played a significant role in the Theatre
Precinct CID. Across Simmonds Street is the Civic Theatre and, further east, the
Johannesburg Civic Centre and Constitution Hill, site of the new Constitutional Court.
As well as
modernising its own offices and linking its two previously separate buildings with a new
entrance, Sappi undertook the construction of an eight-storey underground parking garage,
between its premises and the Civic Theatre, accessed from Simmonds Street. The parking
garage serves Sappi staff during weekdays and is available to Civic Theatre patrons at
nights and weekends.
Additionally,
Sappi has been instrumental in the creation of a pedestrian zone and piazza above the
parking garage, straddling the intersection of Ameshoff and Simmonds; the redevelopment of
the public park, south of the theatre; and the building of the new ballet studio for the
South African Ballet Company at the top of Simmonds Street, neatly tucked into the open
space between the Civic Theatre and Rennie House that was formerly used as a parking yard
for theatre staff.
Architects
Grosskopf Lombart & Huybrechts were responsible for the redesign of the public space
in the Theatre Precinct and for the design of the ballet studio. The overall objective was
to improve the public environment, to make it more compatible with the corporations that
are based here and more hospitable for the people who work and live in the area and those
who visit it.
The piazza
The construction of the underground parking garage and the closure of portions
of Simmonds and Ameshoff Streets at their intersection established the site for an open
piazza between the business district and the theatre.
Speaking to
Urban Green File, architect Rodney Grosskopf says that the design of the piazza had to
negotiate and respond to the different levels of the land as it rises and falls across the
southern slope of the Braamfontein ridge. In addition, existing, favoured walking routes
were observed and are accommodated in the new development.
In plan, the
piazza is conceived as a circle turning around the cross of the former intersection.
Straight inner lines continue the north-south and east-west axes of the intersecting
streets and encircling built-up planters frame the focal turning point of the piazza, with
the longer outer lines of the circle extending to provide access ramps for people in
wheelchairs.
The fall of
the land from the height of the piazza to the pedestrianised portion of Ameshoff Street
outside Sappi’s offices allowed for a cascade of water on this axis – as the
client wished. From the highest shallow pool of tall splashing fountains, the water
tumbles through a series of pools and over weirs in a formal, channelled watercourse.
The piazza
is a pivotal node. It doesn’t provide direct access to the theatre but a walking
route to it – south down the pedestrianised section of Simmonds and east at the
walkway, which runs between the theatre and the public park to the south. The piazza is
also a destination itself – for people taking lunch breaks or for those who just want
to sit outside for a while. Although there are no benches, many of the planters are built
to a comfortable sitting height.
Neal Schoof
from Insite Landscape Architects says the selected plants and trees, which include mainly
indigenous but also exotic species, will soften and enhance the space with foliage and
colour effects. Newly planted trees include Vepris lanceolata, Ficus nitida and
Lagerstroemia indica. Shrubs and groundcovers include species such as Strelitzia regina,
Plumbago auriculata, Watsonia angusta and Carisa macrocarpa.
The standing
pencil lights, which are the same as those used in Newtown and across the Nelson Mandela
Bridge, are a defining element of the cultural arc. Here they confirm its continuity
through the Theatre Precinct, and they appear again in developments on Constitution Hill.
As with the
public park below the Civic Theatre, Sappi has undertaken to manage and maintain the
piazza. Unfortunately – and apparently as a precautionary measure – signs have already been put up to warn the public against
using the water for bathing, washing or swimming.
The Civic Park
The redevelopment of the public park to the south of the theatre formed part of
Sappi’s commitment to and investment in the upgrading of the Theatre Precinct. It
entailed a redesign of the landscape but, again, took account of existing established
pedestrian routes which cross the park from different corners providing links between
Braamfontein, the theatre and the Civic Centre across Loveday Street.
Taking the
porte cochère at the entrance to the theatre as a starting point, Grosskopf describes the
“green ziggurat” that has been created – establishing a series of terraces
that step down the fall of the land from the theatre’s entrance level to the park. On
axis with the entrance another watercourse of pools and weirs has been built, continuing
into a long, narrow, shallow pool in the park. In effect, this cascade of water links the
theatre into the park and at its terminus a potential outdoor stage has been created.
The axis
defined by the watercourse is crossed by an east-west walkway that runs below the theatre
terraces across the top, northern edge of the park. This is a much-used pedestrian link
between Braamfontein and the Civic Centre and so has been retained, though moved slightly
and repaved.
Within the
park the landscape is designed to create a tranquil environment. Apart from the relatively
flat central core to either side of the water feature, the earth has been banked gently
around the pathways and berms at the southeastern edge provide some protection against
traffic noise and the hubbub of surrounding activity.
Paved
pathways arc across the green lawns, from the southwest to northeast and southeast to
northwest corners, with subsidiary walkways reinforcing the axis of the watercourse.
Sturdy concrete benches with stainless steel armrest or backrest bars provide seating
along the pathways. People sit and eat their lunchtime sandwiches here; some take up a
place on the lawns to watch the world go by; for others the park is just a transit space.
Some of the
large, mature trees (exotic and indigenous) that were in the park already have been
retained. Along the pathways Celtis africana have been newly planted to create avenues and
Acacia xanthophloea will provide shaded areas on the open lawns.
Lighting in
the park is of the same design as that introduced to the area by the Braamfontein
Regeneration Project – to provide both reflected and direct light along the streets
and sidewalks, and a modified version of this, with shorter mast and providing only
reflected light, is also used along the pathways.
The park is
surrounded by a low green-painted wrought iron fence with ‘sculpted’ cutouts of
waving grasses and plants. The gates can be closed at night. Grosskopf says that the idea
of building a traditional brick boundary wall and putting up a brass plaque to acknowledge
Sappi’s sponsorship and management of the park seemed quite inappropriate. The fence
was seen as much more sympathetic and a far preferable alternative – “and it
reduces the chances of graffiti becoming a problem,” he adds.
The ballet studio
The ballet studio is at the back of the Civic Theatre, bordering on Hoofd
Street (with the National School of the Arts a close neighbour), and from its higher site
it forms a closing edge to and overlooks the piazza.
At the
southern edge of the piazza the new Civic Art Gallery creates a similar effect of framing
and holding the open space. (The gallery, which is also a new addition to the theatre
complex and lines the entry from the underground parking garage, was designed by RFB
Consulting Architects, the same firm that was responsible for the redesign and upgrading
of Sappi’s headquarters.)
Speaking of
the ballet studio, on behalf of his daughter Briget who designed the building, Grosskopf
says: “It’s a very simple building, with a very simple plan”. Under a
barrel-vaulted roof of profiled steel sheeting, it rises through two levels to a height of
some 12m on its southern face, with a clear height of six metres at each level. Adjoining
the theatre on its eastern edge, the building is mostly closed along its north and west
façades (there is a subsidiary entrance from the west) but the south wall is fully
glazed. In this wonderfully open interface with the piazza it lends an otherworldly rather
“magical” dimension to the open public space – a view into the world of the
performing arts where one can watch the dancers at work – and at the same time
affords the dancers a spectacular view over the city.
Internally,
on its ground level, the studio provides a dance floor 15m square – the same size as
the dance stage in the Civic Theatre – and raked seating for guests attending dress
rehearsals or practice performances. The same facilities are duplicated on the second
level, where toilets and offices are also accommodated. The studio is accessed from the
theatre at an intermediate level and dancers make use of change rooms and other facilities
in the theatre.
The studio
is home to the South African Ballet Company and forms part of the Civic Theatre. Grosskopf
indicates that Sappi acted as a catalyst in getting it built with an investment of a
proportion of finance required that spurred a further commitment from the City of
Johannesburg and enabled the theatre to raise the balance of funds needed. Certainly it is
a welcome addition to Johannesburg’s arts portfolio.
As the
Executive Mayor of the city Amos Masondo said at the original launch of the Braamfontein
Corporate Improvement District, it is encouraging to see such significant private sector
investment in the redevelopment of the inner city. “We have always maintained that
the regeneration of the inner city can only be achieved and sustained through partnerships
between government and the private sector.”
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Landscaping interventions –
Tinapa, Nigeria
According to
the Cross River State’s bi-monthly journal, Mofinews: “Tinapa has been
structured to meet the requirements of a NEPAD project in the truest sense and will serve
as a momentous symbol of the African Renaissance – heralding an age of positive
economic growth and free trade.”
The entire
environment of the Tinapa site, which is near the mouth of the Calabar River, is deltaic,
with typical marshland plants and thick riverine forest along the drainage lines. Parts of
the Tinapa site are wet and cannot be cultivated but large areas have been cleared for
rubber plantations and the growing of casava. According to Rodney Brown of Van Riet &
Louw, the landscape architects have conceived design parameters that are suited to
environmental conditions to ensure compatibility and environmental integrity. Another
important aspect of their work will be skills transfer to a relatively under- developed
landscaping industry in Nigeria.
Phase 1 of
the Tinapa Business Resort will comprise a shopping centre, two hotels and an area of so
called leisure land – with two large swimming pools, an artificial beach, informal
walks in a forest environment, rock climbing, and timber and rope obstacle courses, tree
top swinging, exercising tracks and quad-biking in a retained area of rubber plantation
(to be phased out as transplanted indigenous material matures), expanses of lawn for
picnicking and a restaurant/club facility.
One of the
major interventions will be the creation of an open water lake on the southern edge of the
Phase 1 portion of Tinapa, with a largely soft edge, except where the water abutts on the
shopping centre precinct. The artificial lake will be used for water sports, while the
natural edges will allow for the conservation of the indigenous marshland species and
encourage the return of wildlife to the area. The lake site is partially disturbed
marshland, at present, and Brown says that all the indigenous wetland plants will be
removed from the area that is to be inundated and will be transplanted into various areas
of the development, including along the edges of the lake to restore the ecological
integrity of the marshland.
This
man-made freshwater lake will be connected to the natural catchments and will also be fed
with treated grey water from the development. A biofiltration system will be used to
ensure water quality. In disturbed areas along existing drainage lines, rehabilitation
measures will be instituted to return the original riverine forest species. As the rubber
plantations are phased out with time, extensive rehabilitation will be done to return the
area to its natural vegetation. The only manicured landscaped areas will be around the
shopping centre, the parking lot and the hotels. (See masterplan by Van Riet & Louw in
article on Tinapa in July 2004 issue of Building Africa journal on page 18.)
Relatively
undisturbed, existing areas of natural vegetation will be retained and the conservation
areas on the site will serve as extensions of the reserves and research centres in the
more remote areas of Nigeria. The primate rehabilitation centre, scheduled for Phase 2,
will provide appropriate habitat for, and encourage the breeding of, the gorillas and
chimpanzees that used to occur naturally in the region. Conservation awareness will be
promoted in these areas of the development.
Phase 2 will
include two more hotels, a beach village, a bush camp, game walks and drives, a golf
driving range, a soccer pitch, a crocodile farm, an aquarium/fish farm, a bird park, a
primate rehabilitation centre and many other indoor and outdoor recreational activities.
Brown
comments that the social benefits of the project are vitally important, as Nigeria does
not have a ‘shopping centre’ per se and the commercial value of the project will
be exceptional in a West African context. The shopping centre or emporium will be based on
wholesaling or warehouse shopping and will also create business opportunities for local
people – the town of Calabar alone has a million and a half inhabitants. Within the
complex there will be craft and traditional markets. There will also be entertainment
areas within the centre, including a cinema complex with tickets hopefully more affordable
than those in Lagos, where a movie seat costs the equivalent of R100.
“There
is virtually no landscaping industry in Nigeria. Small private nurseries do grow
ornamentals on pavements and in power line servitudes. A few landscape contractors grow
their own lawn and palm trees. Lawns are their primary interest. One of our tasks will be
to transfer skills to a local contractor as the project progresses. We have one in mind
who has 20 years of experience and the proposed main building and civils contractor on the
project has a large fleet of vehicles and equipment which we will have access to. We hope
to bring in a South African landscape contractor to manage the project initially in a
joint venture.
“Over
the next couple of years, we hope to use local people to grow the plants. This is a
significant, holistic landscaping project and it will provide the locals with meaningful
skills for the future,” explained Brown. The holding nursery on site, which will
maintain the plants that have been removed from the area of marshland that is to be
inundated, will be retained and run as a commercial nursery, by a local nurseryman, after
the project is complete.
The team
Developer: Tinapa Business Resort (Pty) Ltd
Finance and institutional services: KPMG Nigeria
Hospitality, leisure and tourism: KPMG South Africa
Project managers and infrastructure: Arup (South Africa/Nigeria)
Quantity surveyors: Construction Economic Partners (Nigeria) and DelQS (South Africa)
Architects: GAPP Architects and Urban Designers (South Africa) in association with CDG
Architectural Practice (South Africa) and Cogeds (Nigeria).
Environmental management: ProdecFugro Ltd (Nigeria)
Landscape architects: Van Riet & Louw (South Africa)
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The ecological sanitation alternative
“You are to have a place outside the camp where
you can go when you need to relieve yourselves. Carry a stick as part of your equipment,
so that when you have a bowel movement you can dig a hole and cover it up.”
Deuteronomy 23:12
Excreta and civilisation
Moses was
probably the first leader to advocate the use of pit toilets. While his intentions were
undoubtedly beyond reproach, this basic form of sanitation has not contributed widely to
the improvement of human or environmental health anywhere in the world. Even though modern
ventilated improved pit (VIP) toilets have made a significant difference to the lives of
millions of poor people, deficient implementation practices have tarnished their image.
Poor engineering of on-site sanitation systems such as VIPs, septic tanks, etc, has often
resulted in widespread environmental pollution with concomitant outbreaks of
gastro-intestinal disease, which are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in South
Africa and the world today. Globally, it is estimated that about three million people die
of sanitation-related illnesses each year, the majority of them children under five years
of age.
Even the
so-called ‘top of the range’ article that most people usually aspire to, namely
the flush toilet, is a culprit in this regard, as large quantities of wastewater often do
not reach the treatment plants but flow unchecked into our water resources. And when this
wastewater does get to the treatment plant, a lack of institutional capacity often leads
to faulty operation and subsequent discharge of improperly treated wastewater into the
environment.
The concept
of an ‘ecological footprint’ has often been used to characterise a city’s
impact on the environment. Simply put, this term refers to the area, both within and
beyond the city’s borders, that is required to support its inhabitants in terms of
imported food, energy, manufactured goods, etc, as well as the export and disposal of
waste products. Usually, this area amounts to many times the actual size of the city
itself, meaning that cities are in fact existing unsustainably. It has been shown that for
many common foodstuffs, the continued availability of which is usually taken for granted,
the energy required to transport them to the city may be many thousands of times greater
than the inherent energy of the food itself. Clearly, this imbalance cannot simply
continue without the bubble bursting.
So what has
this to do with sanitation? People eat food that has been produced on farmland, more often
than not outside the borders of the urban area. Production of this food is usually aided
by the input of artificially produced fertilisers (mainly the nutrients nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium, and various micronutrients such as sulphur, zinc, etc). People
digest the food, urinate and defecate. Human excreta (urine and faeces) contain,
naturally, valuable resources in the form of plant nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus,
potassium, etc. And these nutrients are free!
Urine, in
particular, is a potent fertiliser, containing almost enough nutrients to fertilise the
soil for mankind’s total annual food requirement, but without the massive energy
input needed to manufacture mineral fertilisers. Unfortunately, however, these resources
are not returned to the farmland where the food was grown in the first place, and urban
areas instead become vast nutrient sinks where surface and groundwater resources are
damaged by eutrophication and polluted with vast numbers of pathogenic organisms. It is
patently evident that for sustainable living, these nutrients should instead be properly
managed and returned to replenish the soil, while the pathogens should be contained and
destroyed as close as possible to the point of production and not piped away to pollute
someone else’s environment.
Our
profligate lifestyle includes the reckless use of vast quantities of potable water which
are flushed down the toilet. Each person using a conventional South African toilet cistern
will, each year, flush approximately 15 000l of pure drinking water into the sewer, where
it is immediately contaminated beyond recognition. Considering that this water is treated
and delivered to the household at great cost, this act must surely rank as one of the most
insane of mankind’s actions.
Humans only
produce about 50l each of dangerous substances (faeces) in a year, but instead of handling
and treating this on site in order to render it harmless, we allow it to pollute vast
quantities of scarce drinking water and compromise our scarce natural resources. Then to
compound the problem, we spend vast amounts of money in an effort to clean up the
resulting wastewater! This is surely the most damning evidence yet of mankind’s
arrogance towards his stewardship of the planet.
The humble turd:
problem or promise?
“The mundane act of defecation has wrought profound effects on every
aspect of our social history.” Dulcie Lewis observed in her book ‘Kent
Privies’.
Most people
are naturally ‘faecophobic’ by nature and have come up with many innovative
methods to remove the offending material from their sight. Certainly, freshly excreted
faeces are not a pretty sight (or smell), and if not properly managed, can be highly
problematic and even disastrous to human and natural environments, causing widespread
disease, poverty and malnutrition. They can, however, be properly managed, on site, in a
natural way, without using any potable water to transport them for treatment elsewhere.
And, simultaneously, human excreta can be put to good use to improve poor soils and
increase food production.
Ecological
sanitation, utilising the technology of urine diversion, has been extensively researched
and developed in a number of countries, and hundreds of thousands of toilets operating on
this principle have already been built (in South Africa there are currently about 20 000
such toilets in existence). A typical urine-diversion toilet is schematically illustrated
in Figure 1. The basic concept, as its name implies, is diversion of urine at source so
that it does not mix with faeces. (The human body produces urine and faeces separately and
does not mix them.) The diversion of urine is facilitated by the specially designed
pedestal illustrated in the photographs – urine to the front and faeces to the rear.
A simple process.
The major
advantage of this technology, of course, is that there is no pit, and toilets may
therefore be inside the house if desired. This is not usually possible with other forms of
dry sanitation, such as pit toilets. Furthermore, urine and faeces are so much easier to
manage and control when the two substances are not mixed together. Urine is virtually
sterile if properly isolated from the faecal matter and can normally be utilised
immediately for its fertiliser value. Faeces, when not mixed with urine or other liquids,
have far less odour and also dehydrate rapidly, thus facilitating their sanitisation and
subsequent re-use in the garden. In fact, odours are completely eliminated by sprinkling a
cupful of ash or lime on the fresh faeces. This also prevents flies, unlike other forms of
dry sanitation.
Bread on the table
Consider the following words of Victor Hugo (Les Miserables, 1862):
“Science knows now that the most fertilising and effective manure is the human
manure…….. Do you know what these piles of ordure are, those carts of mud
carried off at night from the streets, the frightful barrels of the nightman, and the
fetid streams of subterranean mud that the pavement conceals from you? All this is a
flowering field, it is green grass, it is mint and thyme and sage, it is game, it is
cattle, it is the satisfied lowing of heavy kine, it is perfumed hay, it is gilded wheat,
it is bread on your table, it is warm blood in your veins.” Now who can argue with
eloquence like that?
Prognosis
The use of ecological sanitation is on the increase. There has been a
tremendous upsurge of interest world-wide as governments come to grips with the realities
of providing sanitation for the estimated 2,5 billion people who are without this most
basic human requirement. This is, however, not a technology which is only for the poor,
developing or water-stressed countries. While it is certainly of cardinal importance that
these countries give serious consideration to implementing a sustainable and
environmentally friendly form of dry sanitation, it is instructive to note that some
highly developed, industrialised first world countries, such as Sweden and Germany, are at
the forefront of research and development in this field.
Article by
Aussie Austen, a civil engineer with the CSIR, specialising in research and development of
appropriate sanitation technologies, reuse of excreta and health aspects of sanitation. |
