Cape Town - About R18m will be set aside to hire "wardens" to look after rivers and wetlands in Cape Town, mayor Patricia de Lille said on Wednesday.
"The river warden system... is designed to serve as an early warning system for pollution and alien plant invasions," she said in a speech prepared for delivery at the opening of the Table Bay Nature Reserve.
The wardens would raise the alert about any worrying environmental signs at 15 rivers, four wetlands and a variety of vleis.
Over 450 people had already been employed, mostly young people from poor areas in the city. The system, formally known as the Kader Asmal Catchment Management Project, would be funded by De Lille's special jobs programme.