Cape Town: Member of the Mayoral Committee for Water and Sanitation – Councillor Zahid Badroodien joined the Junior City Council (JCC) of the City of Cape Town on Saturday, August 02, 2025 on a visit to the Faure Water Treatment Plant (WTP). The site will be the future home of the Faure New Water Scheme, where water reuse and advanced purification technology will be implemented to augment the water supply.
The JCC is an initiative that is run by the City of Cape Town which aims to expose high school students in Cape Town to the workings of the City Council. The JCC consists of 50 dynamic youth in grade 10 and 11.
Moreover, the one-year non-political programme aims to foster a sense of civic responsibility among the youth and to develop young people’s skills and self-image so that they can become confident in their abilities to bring about change in their respective communities.
A tour of the Faure WTP gave the JCC behind-the-scenes insights into how municipal drinking water is produced. The learners were taken through the water treatment processes: from collection in dams, through the chemical and mechanical processes that it undergoes to become safe drinking water, and finally how it is distributed to households for consumption.
The day also included a discussion led by Councillor Badroodien on Cape Town’s 2030 Water Resilience Strategy and the important role that the youth can play in achieving a water-secure future.
Councillor Zahid Badroodien stated that it is important that the youth becomes more knowledgeable about where their drinking water comes from. Global water scarcity requires that future generations adapt to a smarter water-wise lifestyle; and that they also excel in careers where advanced skills will be required to support the progression of alternative potable water sources such as desalination, groundwater extraction and water reuse.
Badroodien further added that observing the JCC members enjoying their learning experience at Faure WTP was especially significant, due to the role that this plant will have to play in the water reuse project which is part of the New Water Programme of the city.