Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 04 August 2010
Analysis of Rainwater Harvesting Market in Europe and India provides an in-depth analysis of the rainwater harvesting (RWH) market in Europe and India. This research service analyses the revenues generated by the installation of rainwater harvestings systems in residential, industrial and commercial end-user segments.
Industrialisation and a growing population have given rise to a severe fresh water shortage in many countries. RWH, which involves the collection and storage of rainwater, is an affordable and sustainable solution to this problem.
Although RWH has been practiced for several years, it is only in recent years that countries have given it a serious thought with several passing legislations and offering incentives to promote the concept. A significant driver for the RWH market in India has been the state level legislations that have made RWH mandatory for all new buildings in certain states.
The key driver in Europe has been the steep water prices with several European countries topping the global water tariff list.
Majority of the states in India have passed legislations making the installation of RWH systems in all buildings mandatory. The state of Tamil Nadu was among the first to take this initiative and has witnessed considerable success.
In Europe, countries, such as Denmark and Germany have the highest water tariffs in the world. In addition to the legislations and high water tariffs, certain countries also offer incentives to promote the concept of rainwater harvesting. These initiatives have resulted in significant growth in Europe and several other countries, such as the United Kingdom and France. These are expected to help double-digit growth in the coming years. Continue reading Rainwater Harvesting: market analysis
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 19 June 2010
By 2012 Cape Town will be out of water. This is not conjecture.
As early as 1995 Professor Bryan Davies, then Head of the fresh Water Research unit at UCT, predicted that Cape Town would be dry by 2013. Not bad from as far back as that.
Theewaterskloof is the biggest supply dam to Cape Town
Over the six past decades, there has been a drought cycle every six to seven years. The last time Cape Town was in a drought was 2004. I have watched this in Cape Town since 1965 when I can first remember the newspapers reporting the dam levels every day, and this has been the case to a greater or lesser extent for the past forty years.
We have always been able to augment further supply by building an additional dam, but not so anymore. There is not another single place or any more river water that can possibly be found anywhere in the Western Cape for augmenting supply. The Western Cape is simply dammed out of water. The rest of the country is in no better condition, so we cannot go looking elsewhere to steal this precious resource.
Two ways of augmenting supply to Cape Town have recently been mooted by the minister of DWA (Department of Water Affairs) Buyelwa Sonjica, viz. the desalination of sea water and pumping water out of the Table Mountain aquifer. Simply put, both of these augmentation systems are not sustainable, and should not and must not be pursued. The former is too energy hungry, and the latter means pumping fossil water from the TM aquifer. Clearly these are not options for a way of finding water for Cape Town.
What is studiously being ignored by Minister Sonjica is our ability to use less water, as well as ways to augment our own supply. Minister Sonjica will not be found encouraging citizens to harvest water; mainly because this would not mean any revenue for her department. Continue reading Cape Town out of Water by 2012
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 20 May 2010
South Africa receives a pitiful 450mm of rainfall, making it the world’s 30th driest country. We are faced with water restrictions due to our ever increasing water scarcity. Urban influx places pressure on our already [...]
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 17 April 2010
Municipalities may soon learn to utilise water of inferior quality for uses such as flushing the toilet in an effort to save drinking water. For example, irrigation in South Africa uses approximately 54% of the total freshwater demand followed by another major user, toilet flushing. Domestic toilet flushing consumes between 50 and 70% of a household’s total drinking water supply.
Grey-water from showers, baths, hand basins, laundry tubs and washing machines can provide a solution to our water scarcity challenges. A joint pilot study, conducted by the Universities of Witwatersrand (WITS), Johannesburg (UJ) and Cape Town (UCT), and funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC), is proving that the use of grey-water can be an effective way of saving our high quality water.
A dual grey- and drinking water reticulation system is a system consisting of separate pipes that supply grey-water (for only toilet flushing in this project) and drinking water, respectively, to the end user. This is the first dual grey- and drinking water reticulation system for high-density urban buildings currently piloted in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Hillman Block) at WITS, collects its grey-water from 13 hand-basins and conveys it to a 200 litre tank [installed by Water Rhapsody Conservation Systems - see Testimonial by Professor Adesola Ilemobade]. Continue reading Water Rhapsody Conservation Systems could save SA’s high quality water
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems 13 January 2010
The water collected (or harvested) from the roofs of houses should be put to good use in the home. When using Rainwater Tanks to their fullest potential huge water savings can be realized.
Rainman Stuart [...]
