Irrigating with grey water

As with previous years, the domestic single residential sanitation tariff remains linked to the water tariff at a rate of 70% of water consumption (70% of 50kl = 35kl). [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 29 March 2011

Irrigating with grey water

As with previous years, the domestic single residential sanitation tariff remains linked to the water tariff at a rate of 70% of water consumption (70% of 50kl = 35kl). This means that notwithstanding the volume of water that is used for garden irrigation, viz. water that is not sent to sewerage treatment, a charge is levied based on 70% of water consumption.

The new tariff is effective from 01 July 2011.

Should you have any queries regarding how to reduce your consumption of water and concomitant sewerage, please give us a call. Water Rhapsody will reduce your consumption by up to 90%, without a change in lifestyle.

Domestic Tariff (single residential)

Water Tariff

Sanitation Tariff (at 70% of water consumption)

Other Tariff (excl Vat)

Notes:

*** Water: Includes bulk metered flats, cluster developments (single and sectional title). A 6kl allowance per unit per month upon submission of an affidavit stating the number of units.
** Sanitation – domestic cluster: Tariff at 90% of water consumption. A 4.20kl allowance per unit per month upon submission of an affidavit stating the number of units.
* Sanitation – industrial, commercial and schools: Tariff at 95% of water consumption.

Demand for water in agriculture and energy production could spike in the coming decades while catastrophic floods and droughts strike more often, a water conference in Canada is to hear this week.

A [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 28 February 2011

Demand for water in agriculture and energy production could spike in the coming decades while catastrophic floods and droughts strike more often, a water conference in Canada is to hear this week.

A pair of denim jeans requires up to 6 tons of virtual water

“At unpredictable times, too much water will arrive in some places and too little in others,” said Zafar Adeel, chair of UN Water which coordinates water-related efforts of 28 United Nations organizations and agencies.

Within a generation, water demand in many countries is forecast to exceed supply by an estimated 40 percent.

In other parts of the world prone to flooding, catastrophic floods normally expected once a century could occur every 20 years instead.

Meanwhile, spending on technologies and services to discover, manage, filter, disinfect and desalinate water, improve infrastructure and distribution, mitigate flood damage and reduce water consumption by households, industry and agriculture is expected to rise to a trillion dollars annually by 2020.

Some 300 scientists, policy-makers and economists will release these and other research findings as well as proven new tools, ideas and best practices for optimizing water management at a Canadian Water Network international conference in Ottawa.

The event kicks off on February 28 and runs through March 3.

Conference speaker Hans Schreier of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver will present research buttressing the need for flood-prone areas to brace for more frequent disasters.

He pointed to Canadian insurance data showing claims resulting from extreme weather increased 20-fold in the past 30 years and flood-related claims now exceeding fire and wind insurance claims every year.

Schreier called for improved road and street designs to minimize rainwater runoff.

“Until now, all we’ve ever done in urban environments is to drain everything into rivers and lakes,” he told AFP.

But curbs, drains and impermeable surfaces could be replaced where possible with grassy shoulder depressions that collect and absorb rainwater while directing excess runoff into constructed wetlands or storm water retention ponds.

This would mitigate flood damage, but also polluted runoff normally drained via pipes into lakes and rivers would be instead filtered and cleaned as it sinks through the ground, helping compensate the extensive loss of wetlands to development.

Other low-cost innovations might include home driveway designs and materials that allow most precipitation to be absorbed instead of running onto streets and roads, he said.

Another topic to be discussed at the conference is the impact of water shortages on businesses that rely on “virtual water” or the amount of water used in production of items.

A desktop computer, for example, requires 1.5 tons (1,500 liters) of water; a pair of denim jeans up to 6 tons; a kilogram of wheat 1 ton; a kilo of chicken 3 to 4 tons; a kilo of beef 15 to 30 tons.

Nicholas Parker, chairman of the Cleantech Group, said: “What people don’t often realize is how much water there is in everything we make and buy, from t-shirts to wine.”

One proposal is to list water used on product package labels to inform consumers and encourage conservation, said Adeel, noting that annual global trade in “virtual water” now exceeds 800 billion tons, the equivalent of 10 Nile Rivers.

As developing countries gain wealth, their citizens’ demands for food and energy, which both require a lot of water to produce, will skyrocket, Adeel warned.

“We have to be prepared for the security challenges that will arise from this,” he said.

Policy innovations to be discussed include helping farmers reuse water or tap into municipal waste water to “get a lot more bang out of your buck for the same volume of water.”

Agriculture is the biggest water user by far at 71 percent worldwide.

Similarly, coupling industries so that runoff from one plant can be used as an input for another would go a long way to reduce shortages, Adeel said.

On the social front, he said it is important to get local entrepreneurs engaged.

He pointed to India where an estimated 500 million people have cell phones but only 350 million have access to toilets.

“That says there is something in their marketing approach that the cell phone companies have got right. We just need to duplicate that (business acumen) to bring clean water and sanitation to all,” he said.

- AFP

The Stellenbosch Municipality on Saturday urged Franschhoek residents to slash their water consumption by half.

Using a watering can in the garden can conserve water. Photo by Christopher Craig

Reservoirs in Boland and [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 09 January 2011

The Stellenbosch Municipality on Saturday urged Franschhoek residents to slash their water consumption by half.

Using a watering can in the garden can conserve water. Photo by Christopher Craig

Reservoirs in Boland and Peninsula were running on empty following heat wave conditions this week. Franschhoek peaked at 42 degrees Celsius on Wednesday afternoon.

The Stellenbosch Munincipality’s Brett Kayser said restrictions would be placed on water consumption.

“We urge residents to…immediately stop with irrigating of gardens and also to try and save water and be conservative with water,” he said. “We are going to have pamphlets delivered to homes on Monday.”

By: Graeme Raubenheimer
Source: Eyewitness News

Climate change is already a reality, and the lower rainfall patterns this winter are threatening crops and other livelihoods in the Western and Southern Cape and Cape Town. This is exacerbated by the increase in [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 06 October 2010

Climate change is already a reality, and the lower rainfall patterns this winter are threatening crops and other livelihoods in the Western and Southern Cape and Cape Town. This is exacerbated by the increase in economic activity in the Western Cape – a positive trend in many ways – which has placed a greater demand on the city’s water resources.

The City of Cape Town is therefore calling on all residents, visitors and businesses to work together to conserve this precious and life-giving resource.

One important way in which everyone can help save water is by adhering to the City’s Water By-Law. The By-Law requires that property owners pay attention to water leaks and fit water-saving devices such as taps, showerheads and cisterns to their household plumbing installations. Other ways to save include reducing the amount of water wastage, not letting water run unnecessarily, recycling water (using washing-up water, for example, to water gardens), reducing water consumption by fitting a controlling device such as a sprayer to gardening hoses, washing vehicles (if at all) by using automatic shut off nozzles on hoses or buckets and by paying for the water that is used.

The City’s Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Strategy also offers an excellent framework for achieving increased water conservation. Among the measures proposed and implemented in this strategy are pipe/meter replacement, leak repairs, pressure management and consumer awareness.

The re-use of treated effluent (which of course undergoes additional filtration processes before distribution) for irrigation and industrial processes, is already being promoted as an alternative means of further reducing the demand on potable (drinkable) water resources. The City is investing in the expansion of its treated effluent reticulation infrastructure in order to increase availability to consumers across the city.

Similarly increased efforts are also underway to promote the use of boreholes, well points, greywater and rainwater harvesting as additional alternative water sources.

The City firmly believes in the principle of ‘practice what you preach’ and will ensure that staff, officials and operations save water at work and at home.

“If we wait until the situation is that bad, it will be too late for us to save water,” says Alderman Clive Justus, Mayco Member: Utility Services. “We need to be proactive as a City and are confident that the people of Cape Town will join us, as they have done in the past, and recognise that together we can all achieve more and at a more rapid pace.”

Source: City of Cape Town

Irrigation water is billed again as sanitation at 70% of water consumption

[click here to see tariff for 2011 - 2012]

The City of Cape Town water and sanitation tariff was approved [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 02 June 2010

Irrigation water is billed again as sanitation at 70% of water consumption

[click here to see tariff for 2011 - 2012]

The City of Cape Town water and sanitation tariff was approved by Council on 25 May 2010.

As with previous years, the domestic single residential sanitation tariff remains linked to the water tariff at a rate of 70% of water consumption (70% of 50kl = 35kl). This means that notwithstanding the volume of water that is used for garden irrigation, viz. water that is not sent to sewerage treatment, a charge is levied based on 70% of water consumption. (See notes below for domestic cluster** and industrial* / commercial* sanitation rates).

Domestic Tariff (single residential)

Water Tariff

Sanitation Tariff (at 70% of water consumption)

Other Tariff (excl Vat)

Notes:

*** Water: Includes bulk metered flats, cluster developments (single and sectional title). A 6kl allowance per unit per month upon submission of an affidavit stating the number of units.
** Sanitation – domestic cluster: Tariff at 90% of water consumption. A 4.20kl allowance per unit per month upon submission of an affidavit stating the number of units.
* Sanitation – industrial, commercial and schools: Tariff at 95% of water consumption.

The question of whether we are facing a water crisis similar to the energy crisis has driven Umfula Wempilo Consulting’s Chris Harold to become concerned about water supply and demand.

Illegal water abstraction in [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 03 April 2010

The question of whether we are facing a water crisis similar to the energy crisis has driven Umfula Wempilo Consulting’s Chris Harold to become concerned about water supply and demand.

Illegal water abstraction in the Vaal river system is estimated at 180-million litres a year.

“My motivation is that water is the single and greatest force of peace for the people in Africa and I still believe that,” Harold said in a recent address at a conference hosted by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering.

He added that he had been accused of being an alarmist, but outlined that the art of prophesy was to motivate the actions that proved one wrong and that alarmists always took action. “The water crisis is caused by supply shortfall, resource theft, water demand management failures, decaying infrastructure and water quality,” said Harold.

He pointed out the government concurred that, unless something was done about the current growing trends and needs, there would be a water shortage by 2013. “If we do not achieve a reduction in demand, we will run the risk of a water shortfall.” Illegal water abstraction in the Vaal river system is estimated at 180-million litres a year.

In a bid to avoid water restrictions by 2014, urban water demand management is said to be gaining momentum in Gauteng, but at a pace that one expert believes is inadequate to meet its target of a 15% water consumption reduction in the next five years.

Last year, at the Afriwater’s Water Institute of South Africa conference, engineering consultancy WRP’s Willem Wegelin cautioned that water demand in the Gauteng area exceeded the capacity of the Vaal river system and that the province was already in deficit in terms of water consumption.

Wegelin pointed out that some of the challenges facing the implementation of water demand management included illegal irrigation and water loss, such as through leaking taps and valves. He said even approval for the Polihali dam, in Lesotho, would not bail this country out as its earliest possible delivery date was 2018.

The Polihali dam is part of phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, valued at R7,3-billion. The feasibility study, which cost R56-million, has been completed.

Source: Engineering News

Not one of one of Cape Town’s 26 sewerage plants is working properly. The problem is not so much the quantity of waste that the Mother City’s burgeoning population produces, but rather the volume of [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 21 February 2010

Not one of one of Cape Town’s 26 sewerage plants is working properly. The problem is not so much the quantity of waste that the Mother City’s burgeoning population produces, but rather the volume of water used to transport that waste to the processing plants.

Blue-Green algae deposits at Zeekoeivlei

“There is just too much water arriving at these plants,” says Jeremy Westgarth-Taylor, who has studied the water situation in South Africa over the past 16 years, and is a past winner of a WWF Green Trust Award.

Mr Westgarth-Taylor was addressing guests at a recent “Green Drinks”, a monthly event at which Hout Bay residents share ideas about topical environmental issues.

According to Mr Westgarth-Taylor, the catastrophic poisoning, in 1997, of Wildevoelvlei, the series of pans between the sea and Imhoff’s Gift estate in Kommetjie, was a case in point. A highly toxic blue-green bloom (thought to be algal) formed on the surface of the lakes as a result of wastewater overflowing from a nearby water treatment works. The treated and untreated water had a high concentration of phosphates – a major component of washing powder. To prevent the “blue-greens” from reproducing, SANParks had to turn the lake anoxic (without oxygen), thereby killing an entire generation of organisms.

Even more alarmingly Mr Westgarth-Taylor claims Cape Town has exhausted all damming opportunities on local rivers. Theewaterskloof Dam, which draws on the Dutoits and Riviersonderend rivers, Voelvlei, which drains the mountains west of Tulbagh, and Steenbras Dam above Gordon’s Bay together supply close to 700 million cubic metres to the metropole. Despite the addition of the Berg river scheme just last year the area’s demand for water will out-strip supply in just two years, he says.

He maintains that, because profit on the sale of water is a major contributor to municipal budgets, municipalities do not readily encourage consumers to reduce their usage of the dwindling resource – however short-sighted that might be.

Desalination of seawater is one possible solution to the imminent water crisis. However, the process is heavy on electricity usage: every 1 000 litres of potable water would cost 17kWh of energy to produce. With the cost of electricity due to rise steeply over the next three years, the process would make water a luxury.

Demand management (in which the user manages consumption) of water is therefore the only viable option left to us, asserts the water expert. By reducing the volume of water going to treatment works, we can cut our water consumption by half. Another benefit of such a strategy would be a saving of electricity since electricity usage accounts for 90% of the cost of operating a sewage treatment works. Asked about the Table Mountain aquifer as a potential water supply Mr Westgarth-Taylor explained that the underground lake is a “fossil” water supply that has existed for centuries and is not replenishable. Beneath the Cape Flats is another aquifer which is replenished by winter rains. However, the rate at which well- and borehole-owners are drawing on this supply has already reduced its level considerably. He cited the example of Strawberry Lane in Constantia, where the water table has dropped from 17m to 30m over the past 10 years. A better alternative to boreholes, he said, would be for residents to use grey water (that’s water from showers and baths) on their gardens. This would not only relieve the pressure on our sewage system, and save potable water for drinking purposes, but would also reduce their water and sewage costs.

Mr Westgarth-Taylor’s colleague, Jon Boland, a Hout Bay resident who owns a franchise for water-saving equipment, advised that by installing a grey-water system, a family could reduce its potable water usage by 35%. By installing the unique Water Rhapsody Multi Flush as well, that households could save an additional 20% or more on its water bill.

He said families could cut their water consumption by as much as 90% by installing additional water-saving devices such as a rainwater tank, which takes water from the roof and by installing a pool-side tank.

No substantial rainfall can be expected in drought stricken Nelson Mandela Bay before September.

Water and sanitation director Barry Martin warned that the water supply would run out in October and in some areas by July.

Even though some rain feel over the Nelson Mandela Bay metro on Thursday, providing some relief to residents, no rain fell in the catchment areas. The municipality has advised that the situation remains critical and has [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems
15 January 2010

Even though some rain feel over the Nelson Mandela Bay metro on Thursday, providing some relief to residents, no rain fell in the catchment areas. The municipality has advised that the situation remains critical and has called upon residents to step up efforts and remain committed water conservation.

Current water restrictions, introduced in October 2009, are still effective; and with the high water consumption over November and December the dams have dropped to an alarming 45%. If no significant rainfall occurs over the catchment areas the water reserves will be depleted in 10 months time.

Should the dam levels fall to below 35% a new increased tariff could be introduced, and consumers would be limited to 500 litres per day, although the revised tariff could be introduced earlier considering the dire situation.

Leaks can be reported to the toll-free number 0800 205050 or by emailing waterleaks@mandelametro.gov.za

Netcare’s 2009 environmental focus in South Africa was centred on their Hospital division, which is the largest contributor to their environmental impact.

Reports show that water saving initiatives and increased staff awareness at Netcare hospitals [...]]]> Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems
07 January 2010

Netcare’s 2009 environmental focus in South Africa was centred on their Hospital division, which is the largest contributor to their environmental impact.

Reports show that water saving initiatives and increased staff awareness at Netcare hospitals has resulted in a reduction in water consumption of 19.2% (to 1,467,000 kl). All hospital facilities now have substantial on-site water reserves; with on-site water purification equipment in rural areas to address water quality concerns.

Further water saving strategies will be implemented in 2010 as part of their long-term commitment to minimise their environmental impact. To ensure adequate measurement, standard hospital reporting now includes monthly tracking of the carbon footprint of all facilities.

Read the full report: http://www.netcareinvestor.co.za/sus_review_environment.php