In 2024, the University of Cape Town reaffirmed its commitment to creating a sustainable and water-sensitive campus environment, aligned with its Vision 2030 objective of being an engaged, inclusive African institution. Recognising that sustainable water use is not simply a technical matter but a matter of culture, the university’s Green Campus and Future Water Institute teams launched awareness-building and behaviour change initiatives to engage students, staff and visitors, and promote conscious water usage on campus.

One flagship intervention was the “Flush and go or flush and grow, which one are you?” installation on Sarah Baartman Plaza, conceptualised by the Future Water Institute. By placing a decommissioned toilet in a central campus space and inviting participation, the display challenged assumptions about water, waste and value. Participants were invited to scan QR-codes, respond to questions and reflect on how daily practices—showering, flushing, watering plants—impact the campus water footprint. The installation emphasised the university’s objective to transition toward a water-sensitive, circular campus.

Simultaneously, UCT’s African Climate & Development Initiative initiated the “Sustainable Campus Guided Walking Tour” in October 2024, created to showcase physical infrastructure, water-related features and waste-water treatment/dam systems. The walking tour invited participants—including undergraduate and postgraduate students, staff, and external visitors—to walk through key campus zones (e.g., Cissie Gool Plaza, the upper-campus dam, waste-enclosure areas) and engage in guided conversations on recycled water, stormwater harvesting, sustainable irrigation and water-efficient design. As Dr Marieke Norton observed:

“If we are going to be an agent for change in society, that lens has to be turned on us and we have to be reflective of our own practices too.”

The sustainability programme is embedded in the broader Khusela Ikamva: Secure the Future initiative, a five-year, R10 million campus living-lab project which explicitly includes water-conservation and reuse as one of its pillars. Through research, pilot infrastructure projects and community-led behaviour change, UCT is working to normalise conscious water behaviours, reduce demand and embed evidence-based water-management practices on campus.

By transforming visible campus spaces into learning-and-reflection nodes and incorporating student and staff participation, UCT demonstrates that water-use management is not a peripheral facility matter but central to institutional culture, pedagogy and research. These initiatives show how UCT is turning its campus into both a site of teaching and a demonstration of sustainability in action.