WORKING TOGETHER TO PROTECT CAPE TOWN’S INVISIBLE TREASURE

This fact sheet by WWF South Africa describes the Table Mountain Water Source Partnership, a multi-stakeholder initiative formed in 2020 to manage groundwater and enhance water security in Cape Town following a severe drought from 2017 to 2020.

• Cape Town experienced a severe four-year drought between 2017 and 2020, leading to the 'Day Zero' crisis where the city nearly ran out of water. While water consumption was reduced by more than half through restrictions and campaigns to avert the crisis in 2018, the document notes that more severe droughts are now three times more likely due to the climate crisis.
• The Table Mountain Water Source Partnership was established in 2020 to address the need for collective groundwater management. The partnership includes local, regional, and national government entities, the private sector (including SAB-AB InBev and GEOSS), academic institutions (Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape), donors (Danish Government), and civil society (WWF and GreenCape).
• The partnership has implemented several initiatives to protect groundwater, including the creation of a groundwater dashboard for public and expert data access, conducting a hydrocensus of private boreholes in residential areas, and producing educational materials that reached 2,000 youth in the Cape Flats and 36,000 people via faith-based groups.
• Cape Town is situated within two overlapping strategic water source areas (SWSAs): the surface-level Table Mountain Water Source Area and the Cape Peninsula-Cape Flats groundwater source area. These SWSAs are of national importance; South Africa has 37 groundwater SWSAs, some of which account for up to 42% of baseflows that sustain river flow during dry seasons.
• Unmanaged and unsustainable groundwater abstraction, including an increase in unregistered private boreholes, poses a risk to water security for Cape Town's residents and the resilience of biodiversity, specifically groundwater-dependent ecosystems like wetlands.

APA

WWF South Africa (n.d.). WORKING TOGETHER TO PROTECT CAPE TOWN’S INVISIBLE TREASURE. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/table-mountain-wsp_factsheet-update_jan25.pdf

Chicago

WWF South Africa. WORKING TOGETHER TO PROTECT CAPE TOWN’S INVISIBLE TREASURE. n.d. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/table-mountain-wsp_factsheet-update_jan25.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF South Africa |title=WORKING TOGETHER TO PROTECT CAPE TOWN’S INVISIBLE TREASURE |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/table-mountain-wsp_factsheet-update_jan25.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfsouthafricandworking, author = {{WWF South Africa}}, title = {{WORKING TOGETHER TO PROTECT CAPE TOWN’S INVISIBLE TREASURE}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/table-mountain-wsp_factsheet-update_jan25.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }