This article is written by Jane Doherty from the Cape Bird Club (CBC). The Friends of the Liesbeek thank the CBC for allowing us to repost it here. The CBC embarked on a long-term bird survey of the Liesbeek River towards the end of 2020. The survey was coordinated by the Chair of the Conservation...
Sign our petition to fully fund the Liveable Urban Waterways (LUW) Programme in the City of Cape Town. The recent major budget cuts by the City of Cape Town to the LUW Programme will have devastating consequences. It will delay vital projects, designed to both protect our city's rivers, wetlands,...
Conor Eastment The beginning of 2017 in Cape Town has certainly been dominated by drought. With dam levels reaching 33% for the area as of beginning March, and a potentially dry winter forecast, the 'doomsday preppers' are certainly in their element. Naturally, this is an extremely testing time...
Nick Fordyce If you’re living in the Cape you must be aware that we’re in the middle of a water crisis. It’s hard to avoid reminders of this dry reality. The province’s worst drought in over 100 years, coupled with a historically carefree attitude towards water has seen us plunge into an...
By Dr. Kevin Winter Cape Town’s pre-winter rainfall cannot come quickly enough in this drought stricken region. Since 2015 records show a below average rainfall for the southern Cape which has result in a reduced storage capacity of the major dams supplying the City of Cape Town, together with...
Cape Town residents are increasingly familiar with the constraints of water use – the region is in the grip of its third major drought since 2001. In April 2005, for example, the water storage capacity of the main supply dams reached an all-time low of just 26% overall. In this case, the...
The Liesbeek Life Plan is a recently formed collaborative effort between the Friends Of the Liesbeek and UCT’s Urban Water Management research unit to contribute to plans and designs for restoring and offering better support to social...
The harsh environment that is created when a river is canalized is often sterile and void of any aquatic life or the opportunity for life to exist. In some countries, especially those faced with already dense urban areas, a paradigm shift is underway to change the way we see canals. This is...
On the 03rd of October, 10 employees from Brandhouse came out and donated some of their time to cleaning up the litter along the Liesbeek River. The bank they worked on had been cleared of dense stands of invasive vegetation, which had been largely overlooked, and subsequently the amount of...
The health of a river is often determined by the quality of the water that flows along its course. Due to differences in geology and vegetation, rivers around the country vary with regards to what is termed “healthy”. For example rivers in the Western Cape tend to have a lower pH (more acidic)...
For most of us the sight of lush green-leafed tress hanging over a gentle flowing river, invokes a sense of serenity and calm. However, it is true what they say, that “too much of a good thing is bad”, and this is exactly the case of the trees along the Liesbeek River. To be more specific we are...
We often receive calls from people regarding incidents on the river. CONTACT PERSONS AND NUMBERS Liesbeek Maintenance Project: Jason 0846618264; [email protected] or [email protected]; Ntobeko 0710419424. Water Pollution: Brian February (Bishopscourt to N2 Mowbray) 0216841077/0834688243 Johan...