Special team tasked with avoiding acute water shortages

THE City of Cape Town has appointed a Water Resilience Task Team, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that “acute water shortages are avoided”.

Mayor Patricia de Lille requested assistance from water industry specialists to partner with the city to hammer out “a new water resilience approach to water management in the city”, which is less reliant on surface water.

“Being resilient in an urban environment means we have the capacity as individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt and grow no matter what kind of acute stresses and shocks we experience,” said De Lille.

Caught in the worst drought in 100 years, the city would not be taking the recent rains for granted and was forging ahead in its bid to find as many temporary water solutions as possible.

Under the leadership of the Chief Resilience Officer, today the City would “formally post a Request for Ideas/Information to the market for proposed solutions that will enable the city to temporarily establish several small, intermediate and possibly even large plants to supply potable water”, said De Lille.

In the quest to produce at least 100 million litres to 500 million litres of potable water a day, the city is considering plants that use reverse osmosis, desalination or similar technology from sea water, other surface water sources or treated run-off.

“The city seeks to gauge the interest of for-profit and non-profit entities in forming possible partnerships with the city to supply, install, and operate temporary plants at various locations along the sea shore and at certain inland locations, for the injection of potable water into the city’s water distribution network,” said De Lille. Industry responses were due by July 10. It is envisaged that the first plants would be available for production towards the end of August.

The city would require these plants to be operational for at least six months, but might require them to be in operation for longer.

The city would conduct regular water quality tests at each of the sites.

“It must be stressed that the temporary installation of water plants is intended to build resilience and to ensure that the households and businesses of Cape Town are not adversely affected by acute shortages of surface water,” said De Lille. – Staff Reporter

‘RESILIENCE MEANS WE CAN SURVIVE NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF STRESSES WE EXPERIENCE’