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Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 05 September 2010
A battle is brewing between local people and major energy companies looking to exploit possible sources of shale gas in the Karoo.
 Shale gas is natural gas stored in rocks that are rich in organic material such as dark colored shale And at the heart of the conflict will be the one thing that is really scarce in the Karoo – water.
Five companies have recently been given the go-ahead to search for shale gas – trapped deep in the shale rock making up the Karoo landscape. Among them is Sasol, which has partnered with Statoil and American energy company Chesapeake, Shell, Anglo American, Falcon Gas and Oil and Bundu Gas and Oil, which is owned by an Australian holding company.
Bundu and Sasol executives have both said that if enough gas were found in the area, it would be “game-changing” for the industry.
And while most of these permits are technical co-operation permits (TCPs) and only allow for desktop studies, locals are worried about a controversial process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, in which vast amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, are pumped into the ground to fracture the rock and release the gas.
The process would require millions of litres of water (up to 20 million litres for each production test well drilled) from the already sparse Karoo. And communities in the US where the procedure is becoming increasingly common, have cried foul after water became contaminated, apparently as a result of fracking. The US government has ordered an investigation into hydraulic fracturing. Continue reading Fracking may ignite Karoo water conflict
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 18 July 2010
The rain that fell last weekend was most welcome from an agricultural and gardening point of view, but the 31 mm received in the catchment area of the Wolwedans Dam was again unfortunately insufficient to make much of a difference to the level of the dam, says the Municipality in a news release on the water situation in Mossel Bay.
 It is anticipated that the Wolwedans Dam will be empty by October 2010 The dam’s level rose by about 0,4%, which is equal to 100 megalitres of water and about three to four days of extraction from the dam by PetroSA, farmers and the Municipality. It is therefore still anticipated that the dam will be empty by October 2010, unless sufficient rain is received before then
Although the much smaller Ernst Robertson dam is more than 100% full, water from this dam is released into the Wolwedans Dam. The effect of the Ernst Robertson dam as well as the five megalitres a day of purified effluent water supplied to PetroSA from the newly commissioned Reverse Osmosis plant at Hartenbos has been taken into account in determining the date on which Mossel Bay is expected to run out of potable water at present consumption levels.
“The rains in June and July so far were obviously most welcome, but unfortunately did not buy us much extra time. It did, however, have the effect of generally greening the environment, and this may perhaps create a perception that the situation is not as serious as people are told. I, however, want to reiterate that the situation remains extremely serious and is in fact deteriorating. The water restrictions also remain in place. Continue reading Mossel Bay rain makes little difference to dam level
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 21 May 2010
The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) had created a water commission as it believed that a water crisis was looming in South Africa, it said yesterday.
“We regard this issue as [...]
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 10 May 2010
A marine research company has proposed a R1.8-billion project to solve the water crisis in Nelson Mandela Bay by tapping ancient water from a huge freshwater source under the seabed.
 Dramatic geologic formations are displayed in the Cape Fold Belt - the folded sedimentary sequence of rocks in the south-western corner of South Africa. In a recent presentation to the Development Bank of SA, Deep Water Research (DWR) from Cape Town said the aquifer – situated 60km off Port Elizabeth – “is larger than the Breede River Dam”. Sucked out hot from at least a kilometre beneath the floor of the sea, the supply would be “very long term and consistent”, it said.
Local experts have raised questions about the proposal, however, pinpointing the need for a comprehensive impact assessment and the need to balance the certainty of finding water in the volumes described against the funds spent searching for it. The security of the resource, the threat of seawater contamination and the geological ramifications should be taken into account, they argued.
In a presentation to the bank at its Midrand headquarters, Hugh Lloyd, a director of DWR, said there were large volumes of fresh water off the South African coast.
“A programme to explore and develop this resource on the coast, where our water resources are diminishing rapidly, has been initiated by DWR.”
The aquifers were revealed during years of oil and gas exploration, he explained. “An exploration well off Port Elizabeth intersected a potentially abundant supply of potable water.
“This resource alone has the potential to be an order of magnitude larger than the Breede River Dam. Such aquifer water resources have potential major advantages over dams as the water is not polluted, doesn’t evaporate, the supply is very long term and consistent, and it can become productive far sooner than a dam.” Continue reading Huge ancient freshwater aquifer under seabed
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 04 May 2010
The [Cape Town] city council will soon be asked to give the financial green light to a R1,7-billion, multi-year bulk water augmentation project.
 Berg River Dam A report discussed at the utility services portfolio committee yesterday notes that additional bulk water supply infrastructure has become critical, to increase the water treatment, bulk storage and conveyance capacity of the city’s bulk water supply system.
The total capital cost of the bulk water augmentation system is estimated at R1,7bn, and the implementation time frame at about six years.
In his budget speech in March, mayoral committee (Mayco) member for finance Ian Neilson said while the scheme would not significantly affect the 2010/11 financial year’s budget, a tariff increase, projected to be 8 percent above inflation, would need to be phased in in subsequent years.
The additional infrastructure was necessary to ensure the system could continue to supply potable water during peak demand periods, as population and economic growth fuelled demand.
“If the infrastructure is not implemented timeously, the risk of having to implement water restrictions in some areas of Cape Town, or across the entire city during peak water demand periods in the hot dry summer months, will progressively increase,” the report said. Continue reading Bulk water augmentation project to cost City R1.7-billion
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