From ‘government’ to ‘governance’: A quantitative transition analysis of urban wastewater management principles in Stellenbosch Municipality

Water demand continues to increase amid shrinking natural water sources in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. This holds true for Stellenbosch Municipality, which is situated in the Western Cape. The prevailing draught, coupled with rainfall projections predicting that the region will be in a high-risk draught category by 2040, prompted municipal authorities to devise alternative water sources, such as urban waste water recycling (UWWR), to augment its water supplies. This water management approach is a component of integrated urban water management (IUWM), which stems from the water ‘governance’ paradigm. Research on the transition process from a ‘government’ to a ‘governance’ UWWR paradigm is limited both in the global south and in South Africa. Hence, the main objective of this study was to investigate the action knowledge required for a sustainable transition from a ‘government’ to an IUWW ‘governance’ paradigm in the context of Stellenbosch town. The study adopted a transdisciplinary research methodology, while the transformative research paradigm guided the research. Quantitative data collection from a single case study, namely Stellenbosch town, was through the administration of a questionnaire distributed to purposefully sampled participants. ANOVA statistical tools analysed the data. The study ascertained that transitioning frameworks considered in this study could guide a transition process of migrating from conventional urban wastewater management government towards IUWM governance principles in Stellenbosch town and other global south locations. Target and Action knowledge for transitioning towards IUWM principles Stellenbosch. Source: Authors. [Display omitted] •Social elements are the strongest drivers in achieving urban waste water recycling (UWWR) in Stellenbosch.•The social elements identified were perceptions of different communities, urbanization and rural-urban in- migration.•The agricultural community is willing and ready to implement UWWR.•There is need for formulation of UWWR policies which explicitly articulates the “How”, “What”, “Where” and “When” in UWWR initiatives.•There are insurmountable in-house sanitation challenges stemming from the informal settlements.