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Sound the emergency klaxon in parched Mother City‚ begs mayor De Lille

Mayor Patricia de Lille wants Cape Town to be declared a disaster area due to the drought.

De Lille said on Tuesday she had written to Local Government and Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell to ask for the declaration of a “proactive disaster”.

This was so the city council could “get assistance to help us manage the water crisis more effectively”‚ she said.

“National government would fund and implement emergency water supply schemes‚” she said‚ adding that since the Vaal Dam in Gauteng had reached capacity‚ she hoped water minister Nomvula Mokonyane would be more able to respond to the city’s plight.

If dam levels dipped below 15% — likely to happen in about 10 weeks if there is no significant rainfall — water supplies would be cut off intermittently in some areas‚ she said.

De Lille said the moves were among emergency and contingency measures being implemented after dam levels dropped to 33% on Monday‚ leaving 121 days of usable water.

“We are looking at implementing emergency schemes using groundwater from the [Table Mountain group aquifer]. [We are also] looking at re-using water from treated wastewater effluent as well as pumping water from the Cape Flats aquifer for drinking water use‚” said De Lille.

These schemes were part of the bigger plans which could see new water supplies that collectively provided 830 million litres of water per day when fully implemented.

The plans include the Voelvlei augmentation scheme‚ a plan to pump excess winter water from the Berg River to Voelvlei Dam at a cost of R274 million.

Another was the extraction of water from the Table Mountain aquifer‚ which may provide up to 100 million litres per day.

De Lille said the city was also considering water reuse‚ which may provide 220 million litres daily.

The city was seriously considering a desalination plant which would yield 450 million litres a day‚ but building it would cost R15 billion.

Peter Flower‚ the city’s water and sanitation director‚ said such a plant could mean a 50% price hike for water. — TMG Digital/The Times

 

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