Water-saving scheme for Cape Town

THE Nature Conservancy (TNC) on Friday launched a newly-funded Water Fund and revealed a new study, showing how Cape Town could tap into a new water supply by clearing alien trees from catchment areas.

The research revealed that a water supply equivalent to two months of current supply, or a whole new Wemmershoek Dam, could be unlocked every year.

According to managing director of water funds at TNC Andrea Erickson current options to tackle water shortages with desalination, recycling waste-water and tapping groundwater supplies cost on average 10 times more.

By contrast, TNC found that R372 million could fund a 30-year programme to clear invasive trees.

“The scale of the challenges we face and the speed at which they are growing requires both innovation and evolution,” said Erickson.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson agreed that the method would improve water security in the city.

The study showed that non-native trees such as pines above dams were far thirstier than indigenous vegetation and drew more groundwater through their roots. They send more moisture back into the air through evapotranspiration and interrupted rainfall that would otherwise run-off into soil and rivers and feed dams.

The findings form part of a business case for a new public-private mechanism to finance water security, linking public and private sectors around a common goal of using green interventions instead of new infrastructure construction.

In total, corporate partners, foundations and philanthropists have already committed close to R53m to the new Water Fund, which has the backing of South Africa’s national authorities.