Wetskills-South Africa (Cape Town) 2026

Case 1: A National Digital Water Technical School model for South Africa

Case owner: Rand Water 

South Africa’s water sector is rapidly adopting digital technologies such as SCADA, smart sensors, automation, and data analytics to improve operational performance. However, technical education has not evolved at the same pace, leaving graduates without the digital and practical skills required by modern water utilities. Rand Water aims to develop a National Digital Water Technical School that combines technical expertise with digital competencies through innovative curricula, simulation environments, industry partnerships, and real-world learning. The model should be scalable, financially viable, inclusive, and aligned with national qualification frameworks while addressing both urban and rural water challenges. It should strengthen workforce capacity, improve service delivery, reduce non-revenue water, and support sustainable infrastructure management. How can South Africa develop a scalable National Digital Water Technical School that prepares industry-ready professionals for a digitally enabled water sector?

Case 2: Unlocking a stronger social compact between government, citizens and private sector to turn around non-revenue water challenges

Case owner: Water Research Commission

Close to half of the water supplied by municipalities is lost through leaks, theft, inaccurate metering, or poor system management (DWS No Drop Reports). This challenge calls on young innovators to explore how we can unlock a stronger social compact between government, citizens and private sector to turn around non-revenue water challenges. The goal is to identify the most powerful lever that will unlock a change in the way NRW is being managed and design a financially viable and sustainable intervention that will support the turn-around of NRW.

Case 3: Designing an integrated artificial wetland at Roodeplaat Dam

Case owner: Department of Water and Sanitation

Roodeplaat Dam, located northeast of Pretoria, is a critical water resource for the city, but has long been affected by eutrophication, frequent cyanobacterial blooms, and excessive nutrient loading from upstream wastewater discharges. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) operates the Roodeplaat Water Training Centre and the Resource Quality Information Services (RQIS) laboratories on the western shore of the reservoir. Wastewater generated at these facilities is currently only partially treated, with treatment performance declining significantly during peak flow conditions. As a result, nutrient-rich effluent is discharged into the reservoir, further degrading water quality and threatening the ecological health of the reservoir. How can DWS design and integrate an artificial wetland, as a Nature based Solution to protect this strategic water resource, and demonstrate this as a best practice for water stewardship?

Case 4: Balancing the Scale: Integrating Advanced Water Treatment into UUW’s Capital Expenditure for the Eutrophic Albert Falls-Nagle-Durban Heights System

Case owner:  uMngeni-uThukela Water

uMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW) faces a severe challenge within the Albert Falls-Nagle-Durban Heights System (uMngeni River), which has experienced intense, ongoing algal blooms since mid-2024 due to widespread nutrient enrichment. Reversing this systemic eutrophication is practically impossible, requiring a strategic shift from simple volume expansion to complex quality management. This is arguable one of UUW’s most important water resource sytems at it supplies the City of eThekwini – UUW’s biggest customer. To comply with the new SANS 241:2025 standards and the national Blue Drop audits, UUW must integrate advanced treatment technologies across all abstracting waterworks. However, doing so introduces astronomical capital and operational expenditure (such as surging chemical demands) that directly threaten current tariff structures, funding models and consumer debt management. This case challenges participants to design an innovative roadmap balancing high-tech infrastructure retrofits with affordable, lifelong-safe water access in support of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.

Case 5: Unlocking the Value of Water Footprint Accounting for South African Farmers and Corporates

Case owner: Water Footprint Implementation (WFI) and Blue North Sustainability

South Africa’s farmers and businesses face growing water risk, yet the value of water footprint accounting and reporting remains unclear to those who would need to act on it. Water Footprint Implementation and Blue North Sustainability have deep experience measuring water footprints and supporting sustainability in South African agriculture, but neither organisation is yet certain what tangible benefit water footprint accounting offers a working farmer or corporate decision-maker. This case invites participants to move beyond the technical methodology and investigate the real-world incentives, barriers, and business logic that would make water footprint accounting genuinely useful, not just measurable, for South African farmers and companies navigating an increasingly water-scarce, disclosure-driven economy.