Seven innovators will share a ZAR3 million grant to further develop their solutions to South Africa’s water challenges.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa and the Water Research Commission (WRC), with partial funding by the Japanese government, selected the projects from a list of 36 applicants wanting to conduct field testing and to build on their water-preserving solutions.

The projects are Hydro Blü, which uses geo-spatial data science and machine learning to determine the best location for borehole drilling; the Biological Carbon Bag, Adsorb Technologies’ low-cost water treatment solution using pinewood carbon; GreenGold Technology, which aims to improve water conditions for fish farming; the MagnaClear Water Treatment System, in which magnetic technology is employed to remove solids and fine particles from water; constructed floating wetlands, developed by non-profit Trapsuutjies Environmental to treat wastewater in local communities; ENTEC’s oxidation pond-treatment process to treat effluent; and the Klipdale groundwater phytoremediation project, a women-led initiative that uses specific plant species to extract pollutants from groundwater to make it potable.

Gabriel Dava, deputy resident representative of UNDP South Africa, says the grant aims to advance the rate at which the country’s water needs are addressed, and to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goal number six for clean water and sanitation. He adds that addressing challenges in the 21st century ‘requires radical new approaches that fit the complexity of current development challenges’.

8 December 2020
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