Introduction

The rainfall climate of South Africa is one of great variability. Seasonal rainfall percentage deviations since 1960 demonstrate wide fluctuations about the long-term average and it is in this context that large rainfall deficits must be assessed. Between July of 1960 and June of 2004, there [...]]]> A brief synopsis of drought in South Africa since 1960 -2005

Introduction

The rainfall climate of South Africa is one of great variability. Seasonal rainfall percentage deviations since 1960 demonstrate wide fluctuations about the long-term average and it is in this context that large rainfall deficits must be assessed. Between July of 1960 and June of 2004, there have been 8 summer-rainfall seasons where rainfall for the entire summer-rainfall area has been less than 80% of normal. A deficit of 25% is normally regarded as a severe meteorological drought but it can be safely assumed that a shortfall of 20% from normal rainfall will cause crop and water shortfalls in many regions accompanied by social and economic hardship.

Discussion

All but the south-western and southern regions of South Africa rely on summer rainfall, which normally falls between October and March, the summer season. Rainfall is heaviest in the east and decreases westward. For convenience the rainfall season is taken to run from July until June of the following year, but rainfall outside of the summer season is usually insignificant.

The consequence of rainfall being confined to six months of the year is that most crops can only be grown during this period. Similarly, the recharging of water resources is also confined to these crucial six months. When the seasonal rainfall is seriously below normal, crop yields are poor and ground and dam water levels fall dangerously low. Should these conditions occur in swift succession, as in the periods from 1964 to 1970, 1991 to 1995 and again from 2002 to 2005, there is insufficient time for natural resources and the economy to recover from each rainfall-deficit period.

Simultaneous to low rainfall are cloud-free skies and high temperatures. The effect of abnormally high temperatures is an increase in evapotranspiration as well as stress on plants whilst further depleting surface-water reserves through evaporation.

Impacts

The most serious impact, other than dwindling water supplies, is the effect on staple crops and, ultimately, commercial crops. In 1992/1993, undoubtedly one of the most widespread droughts of the last 45 years, maize had to be imported to South Africa (as well as the rest of southern Africa). The knock-on effect of crop failure could be seen in the population drift from rural areas into the cities, farm labour lay-offs and farm closures as well as an increasing indebtedness in the agricultural sector.

Other serious impacts brought about by drought are the devastating veld fires which destroy large areas of grazing at a time when grass is in short supply. Commercial timber and orchards are also prone to damage at such times. In 1992 there were several huge fires which destroyed thousands of hectares of grassland. In one of the worst events, during August, at least nine people perished. In 1994, a combination of unusually strong winds and very dry conditions saw large areas of grazing and timber destroyed. Again, in July of 2002, Mpumalanga was devastated by fires that destroyed 24,000 ha of pasture and left four people dead and damages amounting to more than R32 million.

Severity of Recent Droughts

It is very difficult to look at the entire summer-rainfall region and deduce that drought affected all of these areas equally. On the contrary, some of the provinces in South Africa appear to suffer more harshly than others at times of rainfall deficit.

The outlook for the coming months is not predicted to be entirely favorable either:

• May, June and July: 45 – 50% probability of below normal rainfall
• June, July and August: 40 – 45% probability of above normal rainfall
• July, August and September: 40 – 45% probability of below normal rainfall

Even though the possibility of good desirable rainfall is not showing a colourfull picture, be prepared for rainfalls, whether heavy or not. Contact Water Rhapsody for a no-obligation quote on Rainwater Harvesting and installing a uninterruptable pressure water supply. Become independent from the munisipality water supply and help them in the need to provide enough water to the whole of the Eastern Cape. Re-use your greywater for irrigation or toilet flushing. Make use of what you have and pay for already. The future is unpredictable, but does’nt seem rosy. Be prepared.

One-half of South Africa’s electricity generation could come from renewable energy sources by 2030, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a new report on Tuesday, 10 August 2010.

“Renewable energy is not just an environmental issue anymore. It is about assessing the health of our economy going forward,” said WWF climate change programme manager Richard [...]]]>

One-half of South Africa’s electricity generation could come from renewable energy sources by 2030, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a new report on Tuesday, 10 August 2010.

“Renewable energy is not just an environmental issue anymore. It is about assessing the health of our economy going forward,” said WWF climate change programme manager Richard Worthington.

He said that reaching the 50% renewable energy target by 2030 was distinctly feasible, despite the country’s heavy reliance on coal to produce electricity, and added that it was necessary to ensure low-carbon re-industrialization, which would be required under emission reduction commitments in the climate change arena.

The report, entitled ‘Renewable energy in a just transition to sustainable electricity supply’, argued that South Africa had the potential to rapidly upscale its use of renewable energy, and with a combination of energy-efficiency measures, this would result in cheaper electricity over the medium term.

The report also introduced the sustainable national accessible power planning (Snapp) tool, which was commissioned by the WWF, and was freely available on the Internet. The Snapp tool allowed for interrogation of government’s proposed energy plan, and allowed for the modeling of different energy scenarios, depending on the different inputs made.

The WWF noted that the report aimed at encouraging broad stakeholder participation in South Africa’s policy processes that were currently under way, such as the development of a provisional integrated resource plan, dubbed IRP2010, as well as the review of the renewable energy policy and targets. Both were due by November 2010.

“South Africa faces critical choices around future power generation. The need for increased electricity capacity to meet development objectives coincides with growing awareness of the short-term and long-term implications these decisions will have on the economy, society and the environment,” Worthington stated.

The WWF was also advocating that the construction of Kusile, Eskom’s coal-fired power station to be built after the Medupi power station, be stopped. “At least until the full costs and impacts have been properly evaluated in the Integrated Energy Planning process scheduled for 2011,” said the WWF.

“How we meet base load demand is ultimately a product of how the whole electricity supply system is designed and managed, in conjunction with demand management measures, and should be addressed through comprehensive integrated energy planning. Insisting that a particular type of generation plant, such as nuclear, is essential to meeting base load demand is an anachronism,”

emphasised the report. -SAAEA 18 Aug’10

Solar power is a great choice of renewable energy in sunny South Africa! Here in Eastern Cape,  we have sunny  winters and sunny summers with rainfall usually occurring occasionally during summer or winter,  in the form of soft showers during the night or early morning, clearing up for the rest of the day. Yes Solar Eastern Cape offer a wide range of outstanding Eskom accredited solar geysers/water heating systems (Eskom rebates given on our products) You can reduce your electricity bill by 40% just by switching to a solar geyser.

We also, through Water Rhapsody Conservation Systems, enable our clients to save significant amounts of precious water. Water Rhapsody is no stranger to WWF having won a WWF GREENTRUST award for our systems. Our rainwater harvesting system is cleverly designed to re-pressurise and pump your harvested rainwater from your water tank back into your home for daily use. So during the rainy season,  you can be almost entirely independent of municipal water, rather augmenting your own safe, clean fresh water supply.

¨       Levy on electricity [...]]]> There are 5 Good reasons to use solar energy in South Africa:

1. Power Shortage:

• South Africa cannot meet the energy demand in the country only with existing power generation capacity.
• South Africa must safe 10% on its electricity bill.
• Former finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced various steps and measures in his February 2008 budget speech which includes:

¨       Levy on electricity generated from non-renewable sources, such as generators.

¨       Promised to consider tax incentives for clean energy.

¨       Tax relief for generation of electricity from amongst others sunlight.

• Eskom has announced delays in quoting and perhaps supplying only part or none of the electricity requirements for new developments and requirements for permits.

2.    Rising Energy Cost:

• Electricity costs are very low in SA, but Eskom forces a 25% price increase per annum over the next four years.
• Diesel price increased more than 200% in the last 4 years and will continue to do so for the unforeseeable future. (Source: Stats AS 2007)

3.    Independence from providers:

• Solar energy ensures continued power supply on key appliances at home or in the office, thereby mitigating damage during power surges and outages.
• It reduces the household reliance on Main Grid Energy supply.
• It ensures hot water during load shedding.

4.    Free Energy:

• Solar Energy is free – monthly costs saving on electricity bill.
• South Africa is one of the regions with the highest solar irradiation in the world.
• Countries like Germany with a very low irradiation already have installed over 4000MW of photovoltaic systems (SA: est .< 1MW, Source: CSIR, ESKOM, DME 2004)

5. Environmental Footprint:

• In South Africa, the most abundant source of energy is coal, which is highly responsible for CO2 pollution.
• A 150 litre solar water heater can replace on average 4.5 kWh of electricity per day, resulting in the following environmental annual savings*:

¨       3.0 tonnes of CO2

¨       12.2 kg of NOx  (Source: ESKOM)

Have a look at this video to see the effects of overloading our environment with phosphates usually used in washing [...]]]> Phosphate is a nutrient that is essential for plant growth and is found naturally in the environment. But the excess use of phosphates by humans is overloading our water bodies, which can lead to toxic algal blooms.

Have a look at this video to see the effects of overloading our environment with phosphates usually used in washing powders on a daily basis.

Use our Eco-friendly Products links to find out more about phosphate-free detergents. Also read this very informative post on Eco-friendly Laundry: http://www.watersafe.co.za/2010/03/10/eco-friendly-laundry/

All low fruit of water has been harvested and exhausted.  There is not a single river that can possibly be damned in the country to augment supply.  There are no more augmentation schemes like we know to provide any more water.  Simply put 2010 sees South Africa on its last dregs of supply management as we [...]]]>

All low fruit of water has been harvested and exhausted.  There is not a single river that can possibly be damned in the country to augment supply.  There are no more augmentation schemes like we know to provide any more water.  Simply put 2010 sees South Africa on its last dregs of supply management as we know it.  The future is not rosy.

The future:

Worst hit will be the Reef.  Ground water will soon be polluted with Acid Mine Water which will enter the water table and erode buildings.  Rivers are being polluted with sewerage AMW, and it is not just the acid water that is so toxic to the rivers, but Cyanide, and radioactive substances including isotopes of Radon, Iridium and  Uranium.  The cocktail of these will make it impossible to use this water for anything whatsoever.  Worse still, is that this water will reach the drinking water of the Vaal system and make this water unusable too, soon, within 18 months!

There is not one single sewerage treatment works in the whole country that is able to process all of the sewerage effluent arriving in the pipelines to their works.  This means that raw, untreated effluent is flowing into every river around the country, and all over the country people are dying from drinking toxic water, in a septic state for us to drink!

Water outages have become the norm in many municipalities unable to cope with increasing demand.  Outages will come to Gauteng by 2013 and Cape Town perhaps sooner.

Cape Town is going into a drought cycle, from which they will only emerge in 3 years time, and will be out of water by 2012.  Though the city is way ahead in educational exposure of water matters, the city ignores rainwater harvesting and the water saving aspect of demand management as a tool to provide extra water for the City.

Places like Hartebeest Poort: this is simply an extension of a sewerage treatment works.  The water is toxic and even the municipality drawing on this water admit that they are unable to treat this water for potable purposes.  Worse is to follow.  The AMW has reached this body of water.  Rand Water is contracting to provide the diminishing water from the Vaal Dam at a staggering 200 million Rand to the area for drinking quality water.

The good news:  Enter Water Rhapsody from the wings:

Water Rhapsody will reduce demand for most if not all buildings by at least 50% and in some instances by 90%.  Water Rhapsody too will provide water safe to use in the house by harvesting water from roofs, and pumping under normal pressure to the whole household.  Furthermore Water Rhapsody with its proven conservation systems is able to reduce water demand to as low as 80 litres per person per day.  Country wide the current demand is 240 litres per person per day.  Water Rhapsody does this without getting the user to change his or her lifestyle in any way.  The resultant effluent from a user of the Water Rhapsody Systems of Conservation is a fall in sewerage flow of 90%.  This reduction over a whole suburb would mean that any sewerage treatment works would be able to cope with the effluent volume, allowing water safe to drink running into our rivers.

Clearly Municipalities as well as Government must take notice that we have a disaster that is currently happening.  It is not if, or when this might happen, IT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!!!

The track record and technology for the Water Rhapsody Systems is proven without a single failure ever.  The systems have been built into the biggest companies and institutions including Old Mutual in Pinelands and UCT in Cape Town.

The Government and municipalities treat water as a commodity because they sell water for profit but we must never lose sight of the fact that water is a precious resource.

Lastly, though coastal regions are in a better position that inland cities, none of these cities have enough water.  The buzz words of using ground water and desalination of sea water are not sustainable.  The water for instance in the TMG (Table Mountain Group) aquifer is fossil water from millions of years ago, and be warned – there is a finite amount of water in the aquifer, and the recharge is perhaps thousands of years.  As for desalination of sea water – the energy cost of 4 kilowatt hours to desalinate sea water to make one kilolitre of potable water is simply not a cost effective way of providing water.  Take the smallest of the large dams supplying Cape Town –Steenbras Lower Dam contains 30 million kilolitres  of water which Cape Town would use up in less than 15 days.  It would cost Cape Town 120 million Kilowatt hours of power generation to provide the equivalent amount of water as this dam though the desalination process of Reverse Osmosis (RO).  Clearly this should not be considered as an option.  Cape Town is stressed enough for power supply, and there would not be enough power generation for this option.

Water Rhapsody encourages the  public to make use of their natural resources, not taking away of using more energy to try to create something out of existing resources. People must realize the effect of what we’re implementing now, on our future and those of the one’s we leave behind.