Saving Water SA

Saving Water SA
supplies and installs
Water Rhapsody Conservation Systems.
Water Rhapsody are leaders in
Grey Water
and
Rainwater Harvesting systems in South Africa with over 18 years experience and over 3000 installations.

Water cost to rise 38% to fund dam

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 25 May 2011

Millions of KwaZulu-Natal residents, including the whole of Durban, will pay at least 38 percent more for their water from July 1.

The entire cost of Spring Grove Dam will be recouped from [...]

Cape Town water and sanitation tariff 2011 to 2012

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). [...]

Cost of water to rise steeply

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 22 March 2011

South Africans must brace themselves for steep water tariff increases in the coming months, water experts have warned.

Water tariffs are too low, and are set go the same route as Eskom's astronomical increases

Though the exact increases are yet to be calculated, the impending increases would be similar to the astronomical electricity tariff hikes that hit South Africa early last year.

The proposed increases follow last month’s warning that South Africa will run out of water by 2020 if nothing is done to supplement water resources.

Speaking on the eve of World Water Week (March 20-26), Water Affairs acting director-general Trevor Balzer said South Africa’s cheap water resources have been used up and that government was looking at ways to address the problem.

“We are currently undertaking a study to establish the cost of water into the future. There is no doubt that the cost of water will be more expensive.”

Balzer said the government had plans to continue delivering free water to indigent households and that the study, which will be submitted to the cabinet before the end of the year, would reveal the new tariff structures.

Richard Holden, a business analyst at water parastatal Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, said the water tariffs municipalities charge for potable water is not enough for infrastructure maintenance and replacement.

The result, he said, was that funding constraints would lead to continuous infrastructure collapse, including pipes rusting and bursting. Continue reading Cost of water to rise steeply

South Africans are not paying enough water

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 19 March 2011

Healthy eco-systems matter and South Africans are not paying enough for the water they get, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Agriculture uses at least 80% of our water in the Western Cape

“We haven’t yet shifted the public perception about how important water is and we’re running out of sites to build dams – there’re no other rivers with excess water,” WWF living lands unit head Mark Botha told News24.

He said that South Africans were not paying for the water they used and that the demand for water would exceed supply, despite plans to build dams.

“Municipalities need the income that water generates and so we’ve built ourselves into this dependency on water. If urban water demand keeps increasing, you’ll never get to water security unless you flatten the demand curve.”

As SA prepares for Water Day on March 22, authorities accept that something needs to be done about urban water consumption, and acknowledge that there are “legacy issues” to compound the water problems.

Maintenance

“We have various legacy issues: There has been inadequate maintenance and we’ve reached the point where there’s no lead time. We’ve consumed 52% of our water infrastructure – that’s a challenge,” said City of Cape Town director of water and sanitation services Lungile Dlamini.

Botha conceded that the city was improving water management, but urged that high water consumers be obligated to pay more for their consumption. Continue reading South Africans are not paying enough water

Water price hike inevitable

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 11 November 2010

Brace yourself for higher water prices, a senior official in Planning Minister Trevor Manuel’s National Planning Commission has warned.

Price of potable water to increase significantly

Kuben Naidoo, acting head of the NPC [...]