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Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 08 March 2011
Massive water theft by farmers from the Vaal River, and the inability of municipalities to maintain infrastructure, are two of the main causes that will push South Africa into a water crisis in less than a decade.
 By 2013, water demand on the Vaal River system will outstrip the available yield A paper by the South African Institute of Civil Engineering water division chairman, Dr Chris Herold, alleges that farmers steal about 175-million cubic metres of water from the Vaal, contributing to a significant reduction in the river’s yield.
“The water demands on the Vaal River have long exceeded the assured yield of the catchment. It has been publicly stated that by 2013, the water demand on the Vaal River system will outstrip the available yield,” Herold said.
“What is not commonly known is that this is based on achieving a 15% saving in water demand. To date no noticeable saving has been realised.”
This implies that we are already living with a 2% supply deficit in the Vaal system, and by 2013 we will face a 6% supply deficit, which would rise continually until 2019, when it would reach a staggering 11%, said the paper. Continue reading Water theft contributes to SA’s increasing crisis
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 06 March 2011
Durban could face water restrictions as early as next year. This is the warming from eThekwini municipality water department head Neil Macleod, who said last week that recent good rains are the only reason restrictions have been avoided so far this year.
 Rainwater Harvesting is a sustainable way of augmenting municipal supply “The total rainfall for last year, for this region, was the fourth lowest on record. The dams at the beginning of this year were on average 20 percent lower than at the start of 2010. We typically have a series of wetter years followed by a series of dryer years. The wet years have continued for an extended period and have protected us for the statistical possibility of restrictions.
“If we’d had normal rainfall over the past three years, we would almost certainly be in the middle of water restrictions right now,” he said.
And the situation is likely to get worse. “For 2011, I do not see restrictions being introduced. But 2012 could be a different story. We are nearing the end of the summer rains and if we have a dry winter comparable to last year, then water restrictions in 2012 are almost inevitable,” he said.
Macleod’s comments come just two weeks after Professor Mike Muller, former Department of Water Affairs director-general and now commissioner of the government’s National Planning Commission, warned that South Africa will face a water crisis within the next decade.
He singled out the eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) and Joburg metros as the municipalities likely to first feel the shortages.
Muller told the Sunday Tribune yesterday that it is vital for cities to plan to ensure they avoided water crises. Continue reading Impending water restrictions for Durban
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 15 February 2011
South Africa faces a water crisis and could start having critical shortages as early as 2020; experts told the inaugural South African Water and Energy Forum in Johannesburg.
 Water shortages will largely be due to demand outstripping supply The forum’s two-day conference is being held at the Sandton Sun for local and international experts to deliberate on water and energy supply issues in South Africa and globally.
Former Water Affairs director- general and visiting professor at the Wits University Graduate School of Public and Development Management Mike Muller told delegates that “a crisis is looming … If we don’t panic now and take action now, we will be in a crisis by 2020.”
Metropolitan municipalities including eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay, and the City of Johannesburg, will be the first to be hit by shortages.
The shortages, Muller said, will largely be due to water demand outstripping supply, and to a lesser extent by poor water quality as municipal infrastructure deteriorates.
Other contributing factors include leaking pipes and the theft of water for agricultural purposes by farmers along the Vaal River.
“Good water management is very important for growth and development,” said Muller.
“South Africa will not run out of water, but the next drought will see supply cuts. New work must start now.” Continue reading South Africa faces a water crisis
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
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 17 January 2011
By: Mike Muller - Former director-general of water affairs and forestry, a registered engineer and a visiting adjunct professor at the Wits Graduate School of Public and Development Management.
South Africa’s real water crisis is that the stuff is just too damn complicated. What do you think about when you worry about water? Can you afford to pay your water bill?
 There is normally some water in the Komati because downstream Mozambique vigorously defends its rights to a share of their water. Is the water in the tap safe to drink? Is there even water in the tap? Or perhaps what you really want to know is when you are going to get a tap?
If you run a business, is the quality and reliability of the water good enough for your needs? Do you even know where your water comes from?
Different South Africans face very different water challenges as a few cases will show.
For a taste of an immediate water crisis, start in the municipality of Nkomazi between Kanyamazane, Malelane and Komatipoort. Through the cane fields south of the N4, you are in rural South Africa, with half a million people living scattered across what used to be the homeland of KaNgwane.
There is normally some water in the big rivers, the Komati, Lomati and Crocodile, because downstream Mozambique vigorously defends its rights to a share of their water. That’s just as well because if you ask anyone what their water problems are, you will be told that, too often, the pipes are dry.
Even when the water flows, it may not be safe to drink. Here the problem is not the water resource, the water in the rivers, but rather the water services, the water in the pipes. Even where there is infrastructure, its management is an impossible task in an area with too many users and not enough supply. Continue reading South Africa’s water challenges differ for different people
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