Data Central To Cape Town Water Infrastructure Planning

The City of Cape Town effectively processes a mountain of continuous data in order to interpret its current performance and ensure its future projects are able to meet the needs of its ever-changing infrastructure requirements.

The data it generates and collects is fed directly into advanced analytics programs that it has developed over the years to give up-to-date information on everything from population dynamics to water levels in reservoirs and even tracks the maintenance requirements of individual pumps at pump stations according to OEM requirements. In this way the city is able to stay ahead of infrastructure delivery requirements and better plan for future needs.

According to Hugh Cole, Director of Policy and Strategy and Chief Data Officer for the City of Cape Town who was speaking at the South African Infrastructure Expo in Midrand recently, the city is taking service delivery further by embedding artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics into its infrastructure planning including critical water and sanitation requirements.

Cole explained that Cape Town has taken a vastly different approach than most other South African cities by insourcing its analytics capability on platforms that were started with three data scientists who developed an open-source environment without licensing fees. This decision created resilience and flexibility required and was particularly useful during the COVID-19 pandemic when data became central to rapid response efforts.

“We then adopted a formal data strategy and operating model which ensures that governance, priorities and implementation are aligned across all infrastructure sectors. This approach prevents fragmentation between departments and supports the city’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Municipal Spatial Development Framework. “To better understand our situation we also needed accurate population modelling which is critical for all current and future projects. We also needed better models than traditional statistics which often fail to capture migration flows especially in light of the rapid formal and informal growth we have had in recent years.

As a result we partner with private sector data providers and are able to get precise insights into these movements for long-term spatial planning. This data informs engineering master plans and sector strategies and ensures that infrastructure investment is directed to the right place at the right time,” said Cole. He explained that water planning has been shaped by the lessons of the Day Zero drought. Which caused the city to recognise the need to diversify water sources beyond rainfall and to also look at investing in desalination and water reuse. These projects required careful cost-benefit analysis which the city developed in-house and overlayed climate change scenarios with financial modelling.

This enabled informed decisions on scale, location and technology for major water and has underpinned the city’s Cape Town Water Strategy and New Water Programme, which is valued at R5.7 billion and aims to add over 300 million litres of water per day to supply through alternative sources such as groundwater extraction, reuse, desalination and even extending to clearing thirsty invasive alien vegetation. It also seeks to improve water zone balance analysis for proactive leak detection and repairs.

The municipality has also better interpreted housing occupancies including informal housing, backyard structures have emerged as the fastest-growing segment. Using aerial photography and machine learning it now tracks these developments more accurately than traditional methods. These new methods have actually revealed three times more additional dwellings than previously estimated which is vital for service delivery and water planning particularly in areas where informal expansion places pressure on existing infrastructure.

Maintenance of infrastructure is another area where data has delivered measurable results. In the energy sector, In water infrastructure it had led to vastly improved zone balance analysis allowing proactive leak detection and repairs. In solid waste the picture is similarly impressive with AI vision models which classify drone images to produce a cleanliness index that helps the city strengthen contractor performance management and accountability where required.

“We want to further expand AI use in several areas including a WhatsApp interface that will allow residents to report water leaks and other issues more easily using AI prompting for details and supporting voice input in key languages.

AI will also be applied to building plan approvals reducing errors and speeding up approvals which we expect to lower costs and accelerate revenue collection. Sensors in sewage and water systems will also be leveraged for predictive maintenance while scenario planning will further support coordinated development across sectors.

“We realise that AI is only as effective as the data it relies on. As a result the City of Cape Town is investing heavily in data architecture and quality, while engaging with the National Treasury’s data exchange initiative to strengthen collaboration across government spheres. This initiative will enable more effective sharing of information between municipalities and national government and will enhance planning capacity. We realise that by building a robust data-driven infrastructure platform we are ensuring that growth and service delivery are supported by evidence-based planning and modern technology,” Cole concluded.