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Water shortage of crisis proportions looms

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 03 February 2011

The maximum consumption that SA’s water resources can sustain will be reached in about five years, warns Engineering Council of SA vice-president Thoko Majozi.

Garden Rhapsody. A grey water solution by Water Rhapsody.

With floods causing havoc in seven provinces, it may be hard to believe that a water shortage of crisis proportions is looming. The maximum consumption that SA’s water resources can sustain will be reached in about five years, warns Engineering Council of SA vice-president Thoko Majozi.

“We have known for decades that SA will run out of water,” says Majozi. “It’s time everyone recognised that we live in a water-scarce country.”

So scarce that SA is the world’s 30th-driest country, says Jeremy Taylor, founder of water conservation company Water Rhapsody. He adds that SA has less water per person than its drier neighbours Botswana and Namibia.

SA has seen a little of what a prolonged drought can do in the Western Cape, where towns such as Sedgefield, Mossel Bay and Knysna have resorted to costly seawater desalination to stave off disaster.

But that’s nothing compared to what is heading Cape Town’s way, warns Taylor. He explains that the La Niña climate pattern causing floods in the northern provinces will have the reverse effect in the winter rainfall area. Continue reading Water shortage of crisis proportions looms

Seven New Year water saving resolutions for 2011

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 31 December 2010

South Africa is already on the list of the 30 driest countries in the world, and 2010 has not been a good year for water in South Africa, with drought posing serious challenges in [...]

Go green with a grey water solution

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 27 December 2010

Only a minute share of water in our planet (2.5%) is potable, and most is locked up as ice while only one per cent is available in lakes, rivers and underground water tables for [...]

Strike to affect water supply

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 27 August 2010

The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) threatened on Friday to create a “serious water crisis”, saying their members in the water sector would go on strike on Monday.

“There is a dispute nationally between [...]

Pray for rain every Wednesday at noon

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 20 August 2010

Mossel Bay’s water situation is “becoming bleaker by the day” and the municipality has called on residents to pray for rain every Wednesday at noon.

Water for industrial use will be abstracted from the Hartebeeskuil Dam, which is 38% full.

Municipal manager Michele Gratz said yesterday the town was “racing against time” to develop additional water sources, particularly the desalination plant that would supply 70% of the town’s needs.

The Wolwedans Dam, the town’s main supply of drinkable water, dropped to 18,5% this week and is set to run out of water by January if there is no rain before then.

If the dam level dropped to 10% or less, the Water Affairs Department said, only the municipality would be able to extract water. PetroSA’s gas-to-liquids refinery also extracts from the dam.

The municipality also had to investigate abstracting water for industrial use from the Hartebeeskuil Dam, which is 38% full.

The dam’s water is too brackish for human consumption, but can be purified at the reverse osmosis effluent purification plant at Hartenbos.

“It would, however, be costly to get the dam’s water to the plant because of the distance involved and it will also require the expansion of the recently completed plant,” Gratz said.

She said the immediate prospect for rain in the town, which has become the hardest-hit in the Garden Route’s worst drought in recorded history, remained unfavourable. Continue reading Pray for rain every Wednesday at noon