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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 – 23 January 2011
By: Jeremy Westgarth-Taylor – Founder of Water Rhapsody. Inventor of all the Water Rhapsody Systems.
While the fear of water restrictions work in favour of those of us who are involved in water conservation, it would be preferable for all of us to have smoothed restrictions rather than an all or nothing scenario. All of us mean the population at large, the municipality, the Department of Environmental Affairs as well as Water Rhapsody. Please let me explain…
 Although the upper Steenbras is almost full the majority of this water is stored for electricity power generation Cycle of drought
Six, seven years or perhaps even eight years may elapse between one and the next season of drought. These years between drought cycles are winter months in Cape Town of higher than average rainfall, and the reverse in the northern regions of South Africa where we get summer rains. During these years of higher than average rainfall, all thought of the fact that we live in a water poor region of the world, is forgotten. Forgotten is the notion of drought by the bureaucrats and politicians that run our city. Drought is a long forgotten figment in the memory of the population at large as well. Every drought season, virtually a whole new generation needs to be re-educated in our need to use less water, and how to use less of the precious stuff. We should not forget what was written in biblical times that we have seven years of drought and seven years of plenty. While some areas north of Cape Town are experiencing floods of the magnitude seen but forgotten, the floods normally coincide with drought in the Western Cape.
During the years of drought in the Western Cape from 2000 to 2004, Capetonians had restrictions and increases in water tariffs imposed the like of which we hadn’t seen before. The city even appointed some officers to police water use, which officers disappeared into the woodwork (redeployed), and after higher than average rainfall fell in 2005 all restrictions were lifted with the exception of daily irrigation times(no watering between the times of ten till four 0’clock). Laughable though it is, this is the only water restriction left, and no police to check on this. It would be silly too to deploy a police force to check up whether or not you were watering your garden a 10.30 in the morning! Continue reading Does it take a genius to predict drought?
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 [...]
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 19 November 2010
The City of Cape Town appeals to Capetonians, and especially residents in the South Peninsula area known as the ‘Deep South’, to assist in conserving water – after low rainfall has left dam levels lower than usual for this time of year.
 The Lewis Gay Dam is only at 32% capacity after the winter rainfall period. The lower than average rainfall this winter has particularly affected the southern catchment areas where the dams did not fill, including Steenbras, Table Mountain and Simon’s Town. Although Cape Town has experienced some later rains this year, dam levels are still low and water must be used sparingly.
The City has an integrated Bulk Water Supply System which allows optimisation of the water resources for the region, which means that that the low levels of the Steenbras and Table Mountain dams do not pose a problem.
The Deep South peninsula, however, cannot fully benefit from this integrated network, because of its position at the system’s extremity. The water in the Simon’s Town dams must therefore be conserved as much as possible in the coming summer season. While the supply to the Deep South is augmented from the main network via pipelines along the coast through Muizenberg and Fish Hoek to Simon’s Town, the dams above Simon’s Town play an important role in supplying certain areas in the Deep South. Continue reading City urges South Peninsula residents to conserve water
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 15 October 2010
Fears are growing that the current drought in the Eastern Cape may lead to poor citrus crops in the province’s Patensie and Sundays River Valley areas.
 This would have a major impact on the province’s economy as the citrus industry is one of its driving forces.
Citrus Growers’ Association Patensie director Phillip Dempsey warned the industry would be in trouble if there was not sufficient rainfall by the end of November as there would be no crops available for export.
“There has not been sufficient rainfall this year, but the real problem will come in by the end of November and beginning of December as the summer months are the time that these orchards are most dependent on a lot of water,” said Dempsey.
He said about 10000ha of orchards required rain and most of the citrus fruit from these orchards was destined for the export market. Continue reading Citrus crop threatened by drought
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