WHAT’S THE CITY DOING TO ADD MORE WATER?

AQUIFERS

The city is in the process of accessing aquifers to supplement rainwater resources – and a drop of good news in an otherwise empty bucket is that recent surveys have shown the underground sources around the city contain more water than previously believed.

The Cape Flats, Table Mountain Group and Atlantis aquifers will add a total of 150 million litres a day to the municipal water system – 80 million from the Cape Flats, 40 million from the Table Mountain Group and 30 million from Atlantis.

The City of Cape Town hasn’t been able to say exactly when this will happen but recent developments provided more optimism.

Drilling has begun at a site in Mitchell’s Plain, which forms part of the Cape Flats aquifer, and once all the groundwater boreholes have been integrated at various sites in the Cape Flats region between 50 000 and 100 000 litres an hour will be extracted.

This will add 1 million extra litres of water a day into the city’s water system.

Derek Whitfield, a contractor from Environmental Drilling Remediation Services commissioned to drill at the site, says it will “be a matter of weeks before this water gets into the taps”.

Water from the Cape Flats and Atlantis aquifers will be pumped directly into reservoirs, from where it will be distributed through the existing network.

The Table Mountain Group aquifer’s water will be pumped directly into dams that feed the city, says Xanthea Limberg, the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for informal settlements, water and waste services and energy.

DESALINATION

Another plan to augment Cape Town’s water supply is to treat saltwater at four desalination plants being built in the city – one at Monwabisi, another at Strandfontein and two at Cape Town harbour.

Once all the desalination plants are up and running they’ll supply an extra 196 million litres a day to the Mother City and surrounds, Limberg says.

The plants are expected to begin operating in February, when 150 million litres will be added to the water supply, and run at full capacity by July.

Adding nearly 200 litres of water into the water-distribution network will help ease the pressure, the city says, and augment the supply being drawn from the dwindling dams.