Page 15 - Waterfall City Issue 2 February 2024

CELEBRATING OUR

ENVIRONMENT

one commemorative day at a time
N estled in the heart of our

modern urban landscape,
Waterfall City strives to be a
beacon of sustainable living,
aligning its development focus with
strong environmental stewardship.
To bring the public’s attention to this,
Waterfall City aims to highlight some of
its ground-breaking initiatives in line with
several international commemorative
days celebrating the environment.

We kick these celebrations off in February
by highlighting World Wetlands Day
(2 February). As the name suggests,
this day is designed to raise awareness
and action for wetland protection.
There is reason to argue that wetlands
are ecological powerhouses. They are
critical hubs of biodiversity, performing
water purification functions while
effectively controlling floods and carbon
Masses of black wattle trees being eradicated. Black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) is problematic as it competes sequestration.
with indigenous plant species and reduces grazing capacity both for wild and domesticated animals.
These distinct ecosystems in Waterfall
City’s context form part of the last
lingering vestiges of wetlands of the
Egoli Granite grasslands, a degraded and
transformed biome within the greater
Gauteng province, thus necessitating
rehabilitation as part of the overall
developmental activities.

As a result, Waterfall City is committed to
maintaining and enhancing its natural
assets. Ruan Spies, the Environmental
Manager at Waterfall City Management
Company, says, “A perfect opportunity
presented itself that highlights this and
we hope our residents will appreciate
the efforts made to responsibly manage
open spaces - a rare feature in today’s City
living.”

The western part of the Kikuyu residential
What was once a densely infested channel of unwanted and harmful trees is now open space to allow the
return of grasslands. estate, near Old Pretoria Road, faced

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