MEL Mid-term Review report for the Table Mountain Water Source Area Partnership project

The mid-term review of the Table Mountain Water Source Area (TM-WSA) Partnership project highlights successful groundwater awareness raising in schools and faith communities, but identifies significant challenges regarding the project's governance structure, data accessibility, and the exclusion of business stakeholders. While the Partnership has been established with a Memorandum of Understanding signed by nine parties, its long-term sustainability and the role of community engagement in governance remain unresolved. The report recommends creating an independent secretariat, fundraising for financial sustainability, and addressing the complexities of working within an unequal city to ensure inclusive groundwater management.

• The project successfully raised groundwater awareness across various societal levels, including schools, faith institutions, households, and NGOs, despite the disruptions caused by Covid-19. For example, Greenpop engaged 15 schools, reaching approximately 1,500–2,000 learners, and Green Anglicans engaged 22 water disciples and distributed materials to a mailing list of 14,000 people.
• The TM-WSA Partnership has been formally established, with a Memorandum of Understanding signed by nine parties from government, the private sector, a foreign embassy, academia, and an NGO. The National Department of Water and Sanitation provided the chair for the steering committee, and the project is integrated into the City of Cape Town.
• Significant gaps exist in project implementation, specifically the failure to engage the business sector in groundwater monitoring and awareness, and a project design that focused solely on water volume while excluding water quality monitoring.
• Accessing groundwater data from private companies and government entities (City, Province, and Department of Water and Sanitation) remains a major barrier to achieving shared management and governance.
• The project faces a 'conundrum' where groundwater is perceived as a private resource rather than a public good, a challenge mirrored by the tendency of stakeholders to treat data as private property.
• The sustainability of the Partnership is uncertain because its ownership is not fully established, leaving the future of baseline monitoring and database maintenance in question.
• Implementation is complicated by the socio-economic inequality of Cape Town, where geohydrological interests often align with privileged, formerly white suburbs, raising questions about how to effectively intervene in less resourced communities.

APA

Wilson, J., Soal, S., & Burt, J. (2022). MEL Mid-term Review report for the Table Mountain Water Source Area Partnership project. WWF South Africa. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/8_annexure_8_appendix_b_mel_mid_term_review_2022.pdf

Chicago

Wilson, Jessica, Sue Soal, and Jane Burt. MEL Mid-term Review report for the Table Mountain Water Source Area Partnership project. WWF South Africa, 2022. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/8_annexure_8_appendix_b_mel_mid_term_review_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Wilson |first1=Jessica |last2=Soal |first2=Sue |last3=Burt |first3=Jane |title=MEL Mid-term Review report for the Table Mountain Water Source Area Partnership project |publisher=WWF South Africa |date=January 2022 |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/8_annexure_8_appendix_b_mel_mid_term_review_2022.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wilson2022mel, author = {Wilson, Jessica and Soal, Sue and Burt, Jane}, title = {{MEL Mid-term Review report for the Table Mountain Water Source Area Partnership project}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/8_annexure_8_appendix_b_mel_mid_term_review_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }