For the Greater Cape Town Water Fund to review
The Greater Cape Town Water Fund has not yet seen this page. It describes the organisation only through what it and its partners have said in public. The Forum has not approached the Greater Cape Town Water Fund about anything. Until the Greater Cape Town Water Fund has approved the text, it may change. Questions for the Greater Cape Town Water Fund:
- Is this description of the water fund correct? What would you like to change?
- Which seven sub-catchments are the fund’s priorities? Is the Theewaterskloof Dam catchment one of them?
- Does the fund support clearing in the Riviersonderend mountains through CapeNature, as Wild Restoration has told the Forum? If so, on which slopes?
- Should readers reach you through the moderators, or through a public contact?
The Greater Cape Town Water Fund clears invasive plants from the mountain catchments that feed the dams supplying Cape Town [MS]. The Nature Conservancy and the City of Cape Town set it up in 2018, after the drought, as a partnership between public bodies and private companies [MS]. The Nature Conservancy leads it [MS]. Since April 2026 the Cape Water Performance-Based Bond has paid for its next five years of work [MS]. The valley lies downstream of Theewaterskloof Dam, the largest dam in the system the fund works for [IC].
What the letters in square brackets mean
Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.
- [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by an official record, such as a stock exchange notice or a government publication, or by at least two sources that do not depend on each other.
- [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from the organisation’s own releases or website, or from the releases of its partners in the same programme. It has not been checked against sources that do not depend on them.
- [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it in writing yet.
At a glance
| Kind | Water fund |
| Based in | Cape Town [MS] |
| Website | Pages on nature.org |
| Role | The programme through which the Cape Water Performance-Based Bond’s clearing is done [MS] |
| Link to the valley | Reported, not yet confirmed in writing: clearing in the Riviersonderend mountains through CapeNature [TBV] |
| Contact with the Forum | Not approached |
What it does
A water fund pools money from the people and businesses that use water, and spends it on the catchments the water comes from [MS]. This fund was Africa’s second, after the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund in Kenya [MS].
- The work. Clearing pines, Australian acacias, and other invasive plants from seven priority mountain sub-catchments, then following up so that they do not grow back [MS]. It also restores wetlands upstream of dams and natural vegetation on the Atlantis Aquifer [MS].
- The targets. 54,300 hectares restored, of which about 41,000 had been cleared by April 2026 [MS]. Over 30 years the fund aims to return 100 billion litres of water a year, which it says is a third of Cape Town’s annual supply [MS].
- The steering committee in 2020: Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages, Remgro, Nedbank, PepsiCo, the national departments of Environmental Affairs and of Water and Sanitation, the South African National Biodiversity Institute, the Western Cape Government, CapeNature, the City of Cape Town, and WWF South Africa [MS].
How its work reaches the valley
The bond. FirstRand Bank issued the R2.5 billion Cape Water Performance-Based Bond in April 2026, arranged by Rand Merchant Bank [IC]. The Nature Conservancy receives R150 million over five years from it for clearing through the fund [MS]. Conservation Alpha checks the results, and part of what investors earn depends on them [MS].
CapeNature. CapeNature sits on the fund’s steering committee [MS]. Wild Restoration says its current focus is the high-altitude wetlands of the Greyton Nature Reserve and nearby CapeNature land [MS]. Wild Restoration lists CapeNature as a partner [MS].
The valley. Theewaterskloof Dam, on the Riviersonderend near Villiersdorp, is the largest dam in the Western Cape Water Supply System [IC]. The valley lies downstream of it, where the Gobos and Baviaans rivers join the Riviersonderend [IC]. Wild Restoration, which clears invasive plants in the Riviersonderend mountains above Greyton, has told the Forum that the Greater Cape Town Water Fund supports clearing in those mountains through a partnership with CapeNature [TBV]. Which slopes that covers, and whether they drain into the dam or into the valley’s own rivers, is not yet known.
Where it touches this site
- Restoring the River, an idea not yet agreed, explains the water fund and the bond as an example of what cities pay for clean water.
- Ridge to River to Table, an idea not yet agreed, describes the bond and the parties to it.
- From Water Access to Water Agency, an idea not yet agreed, cites the bond as proof that buyers for catchment results already exist.
- The Laws That Shaped the Valley lists the bond’s launch in April 2026 as a market signal.
What is still open
- Which seven sub-catchments are the fund’s priorities. The public sources found so far do not name them.
- Whether the fund supports clearing in the Riviersonderend mountains through CapeNature, and on which slopes. This was reported to the Forum in conversation and is not yet confirmed in writing.
- Who sits on the steering committee today. The list above is from 2020.
Have your say
If you know more about the water fund’s work in the valley’s mountains or rivers, contact the moderators via How to Submit.
Related
- Organisations Outside the Valley
- Conservation Alpha
- FirstRand Bank
- Rand Merchant Bank
- The Nature Conservancy South Africa
- City of Cape Town
- Wild Restoration
References
- The Nature Conservancy. In quest to save water, Cape Town turns up the heat on invasives. The fund’s start after the 2018 drought, and its cost compared with desalination and groundwater.
- Greater Cape Town Water Fund. Fact sheet (September 2020). Its founding, sub-catchments, 30-year target, and steering committee.
- SANBI. A Greater Cape Town Water Fund for ecological infrastructure (May 2019). How the fund pools money, and its priorities.
- City of Cape Town. City invests R62m to secure water by clearing invasive alien plants (1 April 2021). The fund set up in 2018 by the City and TNC.
- The Nature Conservancy. Cape Water Performance-based Bond launched (1 April 2026). The parties and their roles, the R150 million for clearing over five years, and the fund’s progress.
- JSE. JSE welcomes Africa’s first nature-linked performance-based bond (17 April 2026). The listing, the issuer, the FirstRand Foundation’s role, and returns linked to verified restoration.
- City of Cape Town. Dam levels (August 2026). The dams of the Western Cape Water Supply System and their capacities.
- Wikipedia. Theewaterskloof Dam. Its river, its owner, and its place in the Western Cape Water Supply System.
- Wild Restoration. Team and partners. Lists CapeNature among its partners. The link to the Greater Cape Town Water Fund was reported to the Forum in conversation and is not on this page.
- BioConomy wiki. Performance-Based Water Bonds. How bonds of this kind work, with the Cape Water bond as the first example.