HEALTH AND SANITATION: MIKE’S MESSAGE
27
Cape Town shows the cost
of hardening demand
So, what is happening in Cape
Town? Did they manage to get
through the summer holidays?
By Mike Muller
When I went down to Cape Town in
November last year, I was clutching a bottle
of water in case things were really as bad
as we were being told. Of course, it was a
bit exaggerated back then; certainly, there
were no riots in the streets, although I did
see a couple of cars sneaking in to the back
entrance of the Newla nds Spring to fill their
containers.
I spent a couple of nights in a local hotel, which
was interesting. They had lots of signs up about
saving water — but less action. For a start,
there was no bucket in the shower to collect
water for flushing the toilet. When we checked
out, we asked at reception why it had not been
provided and were told that we should have
asked for one, they had them at reception. That
seemed a little laid back, even for Cape Town.
You do not ask for something unless you know
that it might be available.
But the real water waster was the shower itself.
Perhaps because of a reduction in pressure as
well as a water-restricting device in the shower
head, temperature adjustment on the mixer
required a sensitive touch and took an awfully
long time to get right. So, while I took a two-
minute shower, it took twice as long just to get
the water running at a predictable temperature.
I suspect that if people want effective water-
saving fittings, they will have to go back to
old-fashioned double taps, put mixers closer to
the shower head, or start fitting those nifty end-
of-pipe electric heaters (which still scare me).
Mike Muller
Mike Muller is a visiting adjunct professor at
the Wits University School of Governance
and a former Commissioner of the National
Planning Commission and Director General
of Water Affairs.
water. This is an example of the concept of
‘demand hardening’.
If you plan for a reliable supply most of the time
(98%, 1 in 50 years used to be the formal target for
Cape Town), you are also planning what to do when
that level of supply cannot be met. Traditionally,
when supplies threaten to fail, we reduce usage
by imposing restrictions: no garden watering, no
car washing, installing more efficient fittings and
appliances, and so on. But if those things have
already been done, there will be no more fat to trim.
The option then is either to cut into the meat of what
was deemed to be appropriate use, or increase the
reliability of supply. To do that, you have to build
more infrastructure. In the end, it won’t be much
different to what was needed for greater use at
lower reliability.
More generally, Cape Town’s experience was
also showing the limits to just how much (or,
should I say how little) water you can save once
you have encouraged everyone not to waste The other problem is that new infrastructure
costs money. If everyone then saves water, the
prices will have to go up! So, when the dams
fill again, as they will, the best thing to do might
be to encourage all those wealthy people in
Constantia to go back to watering their gardens
from the municipal taps. They can afford it, after
all, and their luxury consumption will subsidise
the cost for the rest of the citizens. PA
www.plumbingafrica.co.za January 2018 Volume 23 I Number 11