Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 24 July 2010

The biggest challenge facing Grahamstown’s innovative R60 million proposal to turn invasive plant species into much-needed electricity is finding 75000 litres of a water a day to keep the 20-year project going.

A thirsty gum tree sucks up 1000 litres of water or more a day

With the City of Saints currently in the grip of a severe drought, local residents on Thursday night (July 22) expressed concern that there would not be enough water for everybody.

With the scheme aimed at saving water by chopping down and burning thirsty, illegal invasive trees, the irony of using large amounts of water to save even larger amounts of the precious liquid was not lost on the 20-strong crowd of interested and affected parties.

Responding to a question about “creating a dangerous situation” by expecting existing Grahamstown residents and businesses to “use less water” in dry times to keep the project going, Coastal and Environmental Services expert Dr Kevin Whittington-Jones admitted the issue had been discussed for “several months”.

He said the project – funded by the Nollen Group, an international environmental finance company with projects all over the world – was “well aware” that the industrial area where the wood burning facility would be situated “had been experiencing water shortages for several months”.

Nollen Group representative Charlie Cox said the project did not need “clean water from Grahamstown”, thanks to installing its own reverse osmosis system to demineralise water before use.

The water was crucial to cool the equipment that would be used to produce 3MW of power a day. Continue reading Mega litres of water needed to remove thirsty trees