Preserving farmland a top priority for activists
Call on De Lille to declare management zone in Philippi
PHILIPPI Horticultural Area (PHA) activists are doing everything in their power to preserve the little farmland that is left. They have called on Mayor Patricia de Lille to declare an Environmental Management Overlay Zone over the entire Philippi Horticultural Area farmlands.
“In the face of the drought crisis, the mayor has identified groundwater extraction from the Cape Flats Aquifer as one of her drought mitigation projects,” PHA campaign chairperson Nazeer Sonday said. The only way to protect the aquifer was to pursue a Managed Aquifer Recharge plan for the whole of the PHA. “This will add to the PHA’s historical ecological role as an aquifer recharge, stormwater sink and flood mitigation for surrounding neighbourhoods,” he said.
The Environmental Management Overlay Zoning makes provision for the protection and management of special natural characteristics of environmentally sensitive places and areas. “Given the extraordinary circumstances of the drought, and the crucial role of the Cape Flats Aquifer in providing potable water to the city we call on De Lille to declare an Environmental Management Overlay Zone (EMO) over the entire PHA farmlands, the boundaries which would be according to the 1988 Guideplan map,” Sonday said.
In January De Lille announced that aquifers around Cape Town can deliver more water than expected. A recent ground water survey conducted last year established that at least 150 million litres of water per day can be delivered by the Cape Flats, Table Mountain Group and Atlantis aquifers. De Lille announced that the Cape Flats Aquifer will deliver 80 million litres a day, the Table Mountain Aquifer will deliver 40 million litres a day and the Atlantis Aquifer will deliver 30 million litres a day.
“This drought presents an unprecedented crisis. It is farmers, citizens and government’s obligation to re-evaluate our relationship with water and food,” Sonday said. He added that protecting the PHA farmlands would be the first step to guarantee the regeneration of the Cape Flats Aquifer with a Managed Aquifer Recharge programme. This would be a world first in a major city where food, water, people and climate co-exist in ecological balance.
The City’s Mayco member for Transport and Urban Development, Brett Herron, said: “Over the last few months we have been working on a new Municipal Spatial Development Framework (MSDF).
“As a result of the importance of food production, aquifer recharge and development pressures, the PHA is one of four special areas within the metro that has received specific dedicated focus in the proposed MSDF.”