As the Western Cape dodges the drought bullet, could there have been better planning?
By Dr Willem de Clercq
using it will impact on plant and
animal life. The City of Cape Town
has, however, done extensive work
to characterise these groundwater
resources so that it can be put to use
in times of crisis.”
H o w e v e r, t h e m a i n c o n c e r n
remains people’s attitude towards
water. “All South Africans should
realise that it is each and everybody’s
responsibility to save water and to
look after our water resources,”
he concludes. u
“The water levels in the dams cannot
go lower than about 25%. When that
happens, sludge-filled water will start
moving through the systems. This
causes all kinds of problems with
maintenance of the pipe systems
and municipalities’ ability to deliver
clean drinking water to consumers.
The water will taste foul and people
will have to buy their drinking water,”
he warns.
De Clercq says there are
numerous alternatives to improve
the Western Cape’s ability to provide
and store water, but it comes at a
tremendous price. A desalination plant
for Cape Town, for example, requires
another power station.
“That money and time can be
put to far better use for replanning
our current storage and distribution
systems and increasing their
effectiveness,” he states.
The City of Cape Town also has
several backup plans. One of them
is to pump water through the Du
Toitskloof Pass to Paarl and from
there to Cape Town, or to access
groundwater resources. He adds:
“The aquifers in our mountains store
a tremendous amount of water, but
It remains everyone’s responsibility to save water.
“All South Africans should
realise that it is each and
everybody’s responsibility
to save water and to look
after our water resources.”
I
f all Capetonians stood together
and saved water, the water in our
dams could last twice the current
predicted time-period, says Dr Willem
de Clercq, water researcher from
the Stellenbosch University Water
Institute (SUWI), in a release by
the university.
He says the current ‘water crisis’
has been caused by multiple factors
playing out at the same time: more
people living in the city, climate
change, and general warming of
the continent. “South Africa has
experienced and survived many
droughts in the past. While the current
drought is not the most severe drought
we have ever experienced, it is
the first drought where we have to
provide water to 54 million people,” he
points out.
T h e C i t y o f C a p e To w n , f o r
example, provides water to more than
eight million people. “Two to three
years ago, many of these people were
water users in the rural areas. Over
the past 10 years, the City of Cape
Town’s annual water budget has more
than doubled,” he explains.
“We are also in an era of large
seasonal climatic instability, which
is causing major problems in the
agricultural sector in terms of
employment. Export farmers are
losing revenue and this means more
people are moving from rural areas
to the cities. We therefore have an
enormous responsibility to take
stewardship of our water resources
and to manage this complex situation.”
H e s a y s t h e We s t e r n C a p e
government and the City of Cape Town
have done an excellent job thus far,
but they cannot succeed without the
public’s support.
A change of mindset needed
Dr Willem de Clercq, water
researcher from the Stellenbosch
University Water Institute.
Water Sewage & Effluent September/October 2017
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