Breede Catchment Water Stewardship Programme

This report details the second phase (2015–2016) of the Breede Catchment Water Stewardship Programme in South Africa's Western Cape, a partnership between WWF-SA, Woolworths, M&S, GIZ, and the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS). The project focused on transitioning from on-farm water risk identification to collective action, specifically addressing urban water quality in townships, invasive alien plant clearing in mountainous areas, and the application of the AWS Standard to agriculture.

• The project established the 'Witzenberg Water Savers', a volunteer group from Prince Alfred Hamlet and Nduli townships, to address urban water quality issues. Initial assessments identified high levels of faecal contamination in the Wabooms River and Nduli storm-water channel caused by uncontrolled grey-water discharge, pump-station overflows during Eskom loadshedding, and inappropriate disposal of items in flush toilets.
• To combat invasive alien plants (IAPs) in the mountainous areas around Wolseley, the project facilitated a collective clearing initiative. This included a mapping exercise in September 2015 and a nine-week operation that cleared 31 hectares at a cost of R100,000. To ensure sustainability, Woolworths funded a project manager position housed within the Wolseley Water User Association.
• An evaluation of seven volunteer farms against the AWS Standard between 2013 and 2016 showed steady improvement in 'Core' compliance scores, which rose from a range of 21–37% to between 59% and 82%. While no farms reached full Core certification, the 2015–2016 drought acted as a catalyst for improving water-use efficiency, particularly on the Lushof and Romansrivier farms.

APA

Schachtschneider, K. (2016). Breede Catchment Water Stewardship Programme. WWF South Africa. http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/breede_catchment_water_stewardship_programme_summary_report.pdf

Chicago

Schachtschneider, Klaudia. Breede Catchment Water Stewardship Programme. WWF South Africa, 2016. http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/breede_catchment_water_stewardship_programme_summary_report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Schachtschneider |first1=Klaudia |title=Breede Catchment Water Stewardship Programme |publisher=WWF South Africa |date=May 2016 |url=http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/breede_catchment_water_stewardship_programme_summary_report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{schachtschneider2016breede, author = {Schachtschneider, Klaudia}, title = {{Breede Catchment Water Stewardship Programme}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2016}, month = may, url = {http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/breede_catchment_water_stewardship_programme_summary_report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }