Establishing Collaborations

One of the most vital accomplishments in our project work was establishing connections with co-researchers who will continue the work that we have started after we leave. We were fortunate enough to be able to collaborate with University of Cape Town, City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation Department, EcoBeam and the Shaster Foundation throughout our design process to bring together our best ideas into a comprehensive sanitation facility.

 

City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation Department

Our team made useful connections with city planners in the City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Department.  Our city contacts were particularly helpful in providing us with documentation relating to sanitation procedures, grey water recycling, water usage figures, cost analysis on city expenditures related to sanitation, and information on sanitation systems that have showed promise for use in informal settlements. In addition to providing knowledge facts and figures, the city has also made a commitment to support our efforts in Monwabisi Park. As a failsafe, the city will provide waste removal services if the composting scheme is unsuccesful. They will also be availble to provide the water connections and standpipes to the facility. In addition, when selecting a caretaker to care for the facility, a city worker may be hired in addition to a community caretaker. Having a city worker as a caretaker was seen in the MobiSan project to be much more effective than only community caretakers.

 

University of Cape Town

water and sanitation collaborationThe WPI connection with the University of Cape Town has developed into a very important working relationship, as UCT will be responsible for all the future testing that will be done on the sanitation facility. We were able to collaborate with Professor Kevin Winter, whose insight throughout the development of the Sanitation Centre proved to be extremely helpful.  His expertise and ideas on grey water sanitation were closely considered when it came to facility design. Professor Winter is also trying to attain funding for further research and currently looking to recruit students to carry out the future testing that will be done on the sanitation facility.

 

EcoBeam

Robert Taylor, project manager of the Indlovu Centre, was able to provide us with structural ideas for the Sanitation Facility and practical advice. He will oversee the construction of the Sanitation Facility, and, if necessary,  provide any on the spot constructional insight throughout the building process

 

Shaster Foundation

The Shaster Foundation was able to purchase the area behind the new Community Centre so we could begin to design blueprints for the new Sanitation Facility. They will also play an important role in the caretaker selection process in possible conjunction with the City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation Department.

 

Future WPI Project Teams

In the future years of the WPI Cape Town Project Centre, students will look to continue the as before mentioned relationships. Primarily, the future team will be able to analyze the results from the research done by Kevin Winter and UCT, and it will aid the students in making decisions for upgrading new facilities that will be replicated throughout Monwabisi Park. They will be responsible c0upling the the testing results with a  potentially different new spatial planning and mapping scheme, since their work will be replicated in a different area of Monwabisi Park.