The COP18/CMP8, will take place on 26 November to 7 December 2012 in Qatar, in close cooperation with the Republic of Korea.

– BuaNews

This inisiative result in the improvement in the water quality. It will surely establish a platform for job creation and it will also contribute towards altering climate change.

Nedbank put it’s  money where it’s mouth is; they have had a 17% reduction in their own water consumpion. Now they are also encouraging other corporates to take a stand and take a role in putting conservation and contribution towards it, on the map.

Go to the link below to read all about Nedbank’s Water Stewardship Programme:

http://www.nedbank.co.za/website/content/watersteward_programme/index.asp

To quote Nedbank: “It’s only a water shortage if we do nothing to change it.”

  Not receiving constant water pressure from the municipality?

Then Water Rhapsody is your answer.

We specialize in the manufacturing and installation of Water Conservation Systems and have 16 years of experience behind us. Our Systems include:

• Garden Rhapsody– Grey Water Diverter
  • Re-use your bath, shower and laundry water to irrigate your garden-automatically.
• Grand Opus– Rainwater Harvesting system
  • Harvest clean rainwater and use this water instead of municipality water.
• Second Movement  
  • Grey water for toilet flushing.
• Multi Flush Toilet system
  • Allows you to use the least amount of water to clean the pan.
• Pool Side tank
  • Recycle your pool’s backwash water back into your swimming pool.
• Poseidon Advantage Series
  • Recycling of large industrial grey water producers like car wash bays.

The installations can be as simple as a gutter-to-tank installation or as intricate as an Uninterrupted Pressurized Water Supply (UPWS) system, ensuring you against any water outages.

For more information visit our website at www.watersafe.co.za, mail us on info@watersafe.co.za or call us on 082 7712 062/082 851 9761.

As Jojo Dealers and one of their listed preferred installers, Water Rhapsody is offering the 2500l for R1550 and the 5000l for R2785 (incl VAT & Delivery) until the end of October 2011.

So hurry, order your tank(s) now and we will visit you for a no-obligation quote on the installation thereof. We might be in the unfortunate position of having water restrictions again in the future, so start now becoming independent of Municipal supply.

Saving water is an excellent way to show that you care and are willing to do your little bit to help. Whether you store just a small amount to reduce your use of the municipal supply or get off the grid completely,it will be beneficial for the entire community and for future generations.

“Every backwash of two to three minutes will use between 200 and 900 litres of water”

Stop throwing your pool backwash water away! It is illegal to pump this water to the street and environmentally most unfriendly. Owning a swimming pool means having to waste up to 500 litres of backwash water per week on cleaning the filtration system.

Our Water Rhapsody Poolside Tank system receives the water normally thrown away from a pool’s filter backwash process. The system processes this dirty water and within 24 hours the water can be safely returned to the pool. Should you wish, we can connect the system in such a way that you would still be able to empty your pool for whatever reason you might need to.

Other ways to use less water for your swimming pool:

• Use a pool cover.  It will reduce water loss due to normal evaporation, which can be as high as 25mm a week or as much as 1000 litres from larger pools.
• Repair any swimming pool leaks. Even a small leak in either pool equipment or the pool’s structure represents a substantial amount of water waste.
• If heated, reduce your pool and spa water temperature. Warmer water evaporates more quickly
• Keep the pool water in the pool. If your pool has an overflow hole or pipe, plug it whenever people are swimming. This will prevent water loss through the line when the pool is in use.
• Maintain the chemical balance in your pool. This will help prevent algae bloom which may need to be vacuumed or backwashed which will waste water (unless you have installed the Water Rhapsody Poolside Tank). Correct control of salt levels will also save you money and prevent over salination which may influence your ability to recycle that water, at the same time adding unnecessary salt to environmental water.
• If your pool has a water feature or waterfall, ensure that this remains shut off while no-one is around to appreciate it as these invariably cause considerable additional evaporation and chemical losses. It may pay to have a shut-off valve fitted if you do not already have one.
• Discourage excessive splashing and boisterous play. The more water lost to splashing, the more frequently you will need to refill or top up the water in your pool.
• When you are filling your pool, be sure to keep an eye on your water level. Forgetting to shut off fill water can make for a costly waste of water.

Contact Water Rhapsody for more information on the Poolside Tank, or for a no-obligation quote to have it installed.

“Water Conservation

The following restrictive use of water obtained from the Municipality’s water supply system will be imposed with effect from 25 July 2011:

1. The use of hosepipes, sprinklers, sprinkler and drip systems to water gardens, lawns, grassed areas, flower-beds, racecourses, sports fields, bowling greens, golf greens and fairways, croquet lawns, turf wickets, ploughing fields and the like will NOT be permitted between 10:00 and 16:00.
2. Washing down of driveways, paved areas, roofs and buildings will be permitted only if a pressurised sprayer is used.
3. Washing down of cars, boats and caravans will be permitted only if a pressurised sprayer is used.
4. In terms of Section 73 of the Water Services Bylaw: Any commercial vehicle washing facility must be constructed and operated in such a manner that 60% of the potable water used by such facility is recycled for reuse in the facility, provided that commercial vehicle washing facilities that are in operation when this By-law is promulgated will be granted a period of three years from the date of promulgation (14 May 2010) of this By-law to comply with this.”

This is where Water Rhapsody can be of help. We have the system called ‘The Poseidon Advantage’, and this is a short description of it:

The Poseidon Advantage

A flexible system to digest the food content of “Grey Water”  Grey water contains BOD (biological oxygen demand), and the BOD needs to be removed before filtration can take place.

The process of digestion may be anaerobic followed by aerobic, or simply aerobic, and the filtration may remove suspended solids only or both suspended and dissolved solids.

The applications to which this process may be put are the re-use of car wash water, irrigation through a drip or automated pressurized irrigation system, and for the re-use of clarified water to flush toilets through conventional cisterns.

 Contact us at Water Rhapsody for a quote on the Poseidon Advantage.

The shortage of suitable freshwater resources is fast becoming a global catastrophe.

How do we know this?

In the 20th century the global population tripled and currently 220 000 people are born daily. This population growth, along with industrialisation and urbanisation, has resulted in several countries facing serious water shortages. A direct result of this is that 50% of hospital beds are occupied by sufferers of poor water related conditions.
It may seem hard to believe, but globally more people have cellular phones than access to a toilet.
And water usage in agriculture? Well, 70% of freshwater resources are allocated to agriculture. Practical usage includes:

• 25 000 ℓ of water to raise 1 kg of beef
• 4 000 ℓ to raise 1kg of chicken
• 1 120 ℓ to produce a cup of coffee
• 125 ℓ to produce a sheet of paper (please don’t print this!)

As a result of this looming water crisis, social and government agencies are looking for ways in which to limit new water allocations, reduce the usage by existing users and improve the quality of effluent water. This is all in an effort to improve the availability of clean, healthy water.

Aquaculture is expanding rapidly to supply the increasing gap between the growing world population and the decreasing availability of wild caught fish. The industry faces opposition in both the freshwater and marine environments from parties who perceive the industry to contribute to the demand for freshwater or to pollute fresh and marine waters.

However, it requires only 50ℓ to raise 1kg of fish in a RAS.
If done properly, therefore, aquaculture has enormous potential to alleviate hunger and create wealth without harming the environment.
Several ways in which this can be done include:

• Using recirculating systems to reduce water usage to a minimum.
• Effluent waste water should be used for irrigation to remove the risk of fish or associated pathogens escaping, and to utilise the nutrients in this water.
• Using feeds which are based on plant rather than fish proteins and oils.
• Using treatments that are environmentally friendly, especially those that dissociate into harmless substances.

In comparison to the amount of water required to raise other forms of animal crops, aquaculture has a vital role to play in our global water crisis as an industry that can produce a healthy form of protein with minimal water usage.

For more information on Leslie and Aquaculture Innovations, visit their website at http://www.aquaafrica.co.za/

What is it going to take to stop the plans to threaten our sensitive Karoo region from being destroyed by Shell’s plans to blow it apart in search of natural gas?

A controversial application by oil giant Shell to explore for gas in an area of the Karoo should be put on hold, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. The opposition party warned that exploration would involve processes that risked contaminating surrounding bodies of water, but Shell countered that processes were in place to prevent this happening.

In a letter to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Water, Ms Edna Molewa, Mr Gareth Morgan questioned whether the minister “has the ability to assess the efficacy or appropriateness of these activities at this stage.”

Clearly, it is incumbent that all who know or care about the future of Karoo life should participate as much as possible to ensure that responsible decisions are taken at high level.

He emphasised the serious threat to the rare water resources of this region, due to

• the large quantities of water needed for this fracking process, as “each fracking event uses at least 15 million litres of water and each well can be “fracked” several times”…  I am not sure how many wells Shell would drill if granted the exploration right, but it could be hundreds as they could explore for up to nine years” and
• the threat of ground water contamination. “There is then an attempt to fracture the rock using a high pressure flow of liquid, including water, sand and so-called ‘special-purpose’ chemicals.”
• “The Environmental Protection Agency in the USA has begun a two year study on the possible relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water following concerns reflected by the US Congress about the process in its 2010 budget report. If a country like the USA, with immensely more technical capacity than our own country, is concerned about “fracking” then we should be too. Added to that there is a moratorium on “fracking” in New York State and apparently over 160 municipalities in the USA have banned “fracking” through local by-laws.”

In a letter we’ve received from Dr. David Gaynor, manager of the Sneeuberg Nature Reserve in the Graaff-Reinet, he also looks at the threats to livelihoods and the desertification of the Karoo:

Short-sighted profits rule

“Fracking for gas is not appropriate development for the Karoo. The exploitation of natural gas through hydraulic fracturing threatens the Karoo’s  most valuable resource – clean, uncontaminated water. The granting of exploration permits to Shell and other companies to search for gas in the Karoo will pitch the short-term profits of mining a fossil fuel against the risk of permanently contaminating the scarce water resources of the Karoo.

The gas, a mixture of methane and other gases might be cleaner burning than oil or coal in terms of some pollutants, but produces the same amount of carbon dioxide meaning that it will be a significant contributor to global warming. Each commercial well will probably only produce for 10 -15 years and create very few local jobs. Most of the profits will go into the multinationals pockets and any long-term problems will be left to the inhabitants of the Karoo to live with.

10 million litres of water each time

Initial exploratory drilling will require up to 10 million litres of water, with around the same amount being needed for each hydraulic fracturing of the underground rock. Not only does this water have to be sourced, but it is then mixed with a toxic cocktail of chemicals to aid the drilling and fracturing process.

Most of this contaminated water will be pumped to the surface and will have to be safely stored and treated. Significant amounts of this polluted water will remain underground and could potentially infiltrate underground water sources.
Underground water is the life blood of the Karoo. It is scarce, but if utilized wisely it underpins all sustainable development in the Karoo. It supports the cattle, sheep, wildlife, lucerne and other pasture Lands – the main economic activities in the Karoo. It supplies clean water to the towns and growing townships, whose existence is dependent on clean water and the income from livestock farming, hunting and tourism.

Livelihoods threatened

Are the risks of permanently contaminating the one thing essential for life and livelihoods in the Karoo – Water – worth the short-term and limited local benefits of mining a fuel that will only contribute to global warming?

The best regional models for global warming indicate that with continued use of fossil fuels the proposed area of mining will by 2040 experience conditions so hot and dry as to be only comparable with the Namib desert. It would be ironic if this degradation was fuelled by the exploitation of gas reserves in the very same area, especially when this area has so much potential for the development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

The government has promulgated feed in tariffs that ensure that companies like Shell can invest, assist development and make money from renewables rather than relying on the old carbon economy to make money for their shareholders.

There is currently a public participation process, as Shell needs to consult with all interested in affected people and compile an Environmental Management Plan, before they could be awarded this right.”

Shale gas is natural gas stored in rocks that are rich in organic material such as dark colored shale.

Matthew Du Plessis: “Fracking” doesn’t mean what it used to mean. In the good old days, it was a wholesome substitute for an unprintable expletive – used to its highest glory and fullest effect in the television series Battlestar Galactica. Hearing Starbuck curse was an object lesson in the poetry of vloeking. It was from the heart. The new meaning of “fracking” doesn’t come from the heart. Instead, it’s a punch to the gut. The word “fracking” is a convenient abbreviation of the phrase “hydraulic fracture”. I’ll tell you more about that in a second.

First, let me set the scene. Picture, if you will, the Groot Karoo. Graaff Reinet. Ostrich territory. Dusty, scrub-covered terrain. Angora goats. Sheep. Boreholes. All right. Now hold that image as you cast your mind halfway around the world to where Big Energy has turned its attention from the PR disaster in which oil is engulfed, to the relatively unexplored miracle of natural gas.  Until recently, it was very difficult to get to, but new drilling methods are able to clear a way down.

“Hydraulic fracturing” involves injecting vast amounts of chemically treated water into the cavities created in the drilling process, the pressure of which then fractures the rock formations around it, allowing the gas trapped in the shale to be harvested.

It turns out that many of the land owners who have leased their property out for this process are having a bit of a rough time. Sure, the actual equipment is about the size of a small van – hardly takes up any space at all. But it squirts some apparently rather dodgy chemicals into the ground. Which trickles down into the groundwater – and if the land is serviced by boreholes… well, you can imagine.

But if you can’t, the documentary film Gasland shows footage of people turning on the taps in their home, letting the water flow, and then bringing a lit match near to the running water. Have you ever seen running water, coming out of a tap, catching fire? Watch Gasland. In some instances, we’re talking fireballs.

In the film there’s also footage of farm and domestic animals with hair falling out, testimony from families who have developed serious and chronic illnesses, and energy executives insisting that there’s nothing wrong with the water – yet in the same breath refusing to drink any of it. Of course, the companies involved in the fracking deny there’s any risk to the public. They’ve got studies to prove the chemicals they use cause no harm to the water, the environment or to humans.

Our Karoo. Which lies atop a vast – and evidently gassy – shale formation. They’re lining up for it! Shell International and oil and gas company Falcon already have a licence to scout for gas. And potentially flood the Karoo’s groundwater with tasty chemicals.

“Does it take a genius to predict drought?

While the fear of water restrictions work in favour of those of us who are involved in water conservation, it would be preferable for all of us to have smoothed restrictions rather than an all or nothing scenario.  All of us mean the population at large, the municipality, the Department of Environmental Affairs as well as Water Rhapsody. Please let me explain?

Cycle of drought

Six, seven years or perhaps even eight years may elapse between one and the next season of drought.  These years between drought cycles are winter months in Cape Town of higher than average rainfall, and the reverse in the northern regions of South Africa where we get summer rains. During these years of higher than average rainfall, all thought of the fact that we live in a water poor region of the world, is forgotten.  Forgotten is the notion of drought by the bureaucrats and politicians that run our city.  Drought is a long forgotten figment in the memory of the population at large as well.  Every drought season, virtually a whole new generation needs to be re-educated in our need to use less water, and how to use less of the precious stuff.  We should not forget what was written in biblical times that we have seven years of drought and seven years of plenty.  While some areas north of Cape Town are experiencing floods of the magnitude seen but forgotten, the floods normally coincide with drought in the Western Cape.

During the years of drought in the Western Cape from 2000 to 2004, Capetonians had restrictions and increases in water tariffs imposed the like of which we hadn’t seen before.  The city even appointed some officers to police water use, which officers disappeared into the woodwork (redeployed), and after higher than average rainfall fell in 2005 all restrictions were lifted with the exception of daily irrigation times(no watering between the times of ten till four 0’clock).  Laughable though it is, this is the only water restriction left, and no police to check on this.  It would be silly too to deploy a police force to check up whether or not you were watering your garden a 10.30 in the morning!

New drought cycle.

We are as I write going into a drought cycle in the Western Cape.  This is going to be the mother of droughts ever seen if the stacked reports from climatologists are correct.  We have been warned of this drought, and our Department of Water and Environmental Affairs should know of this too.  It is strange that the people who work for this governmental department have not applied restrictions in a bid to save water while we still have water in our storage dams. Within eight months there will be panic in local and higher ranking government when we have little or no water.  We will have poor rainfall in the winter of 2011, and 2012 and more than likely 2013. This will mean that the supply dams to Cape Town that are falling at record rates and are already getting low for this time of the year may dry up completely.   There are another three months of summer to go and if the dams continue to fall at this rate (2.8% per week), then expect the dam levels to be at around 45% of capacity by mid April.  It would take a year of higher than average rainfall to put the dams back to where they were at the start of this summer season.  But alas higher than average rainfall will is not forecast.  Rainfall of below average is forecast, and perhaps the dams will rise but perchance to less than 80% of capacity.  This is the magic figure at which 30% restrictions get announced, and this decision would be taken in October.

The meaning of 30% restrictions by DWEA

30% restrictions merely mean that DWEA (Department of Water and Environmental Affairs) demand from the Municipality that they show a reduction in demand of 30% less than the volume of water that Cape Town is allocated by DWEA. It is up to Cape Town Municipality as to what restrictions they put in place to lower demand by the prescribed percentage.

Low Fruit

The low fruit has a couple of meanings here.  The first is the low fruit of supply generally, that of dam building and simply robbing rivers of their water. Hereafter desalination of water is the higher fruit as this comes at a price far higher than raw river water.  The second low fruit pertains to the dams, viz water quality in the dams differs from dam to dam, and some are much further away than others.  Also some are deep and others have a huge surface area delivering their yield to evaporation. Actually the aspect of evaporation is very serious.

The low fruit of dam water use has already been picked.  The low fruit of the water in the lower Steenbras dam which though in today’s terms is small, is close to Cape Town and is good quality raw water.  This dam is now below 50% of capacity, and there is precious little inflow to augment the yield.  Although the upper Steenbras is almost full (97%) the majority of this water is stored for electricity power generation. This power generation works under normal circumstances to level the graph of the daily amount of electricity needed for the City of Cape Town which has spikes in the morning and evening, and troughs in the middle of the day and during the night.  During these spikes, water is allowed to flow down to the Gordon’s Bay side through the mountain turning huge hydro electric generators, and in the period of low consumption the water is pumped back up to Steenbras.  However there is a large pipe from the lower dam to the sea, so if we had plenty of water in the upper dam, and needed some extra electricity, this could be used as a hydro electric generation plant until all the water in the dam was used up.  If  we have energy shortages, you bet much of the precious stored water in the upper dam will be used for energy consumption, or at least held in the upper dam for a just in case, which of course makes this water unavailable for domestic consumption but rather kept for energy generation.

Once the water in the lower Steenbras dams is consumed and it is going fast, then Cape Town Municipality must start to rely more heavily on the poorer quality water from Theewaterskloof and other outlying dams. This water is more expensive to process, and the lower the dam level gets, the worse the quality.

Politicians dam building and jobs.

Election fever has also gripped South Africa, and any immediate talk of water restrictions in the coveted Western Cape must be dispelled.  It seems so strange that the issue of drought which inevitable leads to water restrictions should be seen as bad political management.  The city politicians could not be more wrong.  There is a sense of camaraderie in times of shortages, and we all help each other, and in fact jobs are created during these times.  What is unpopular though is the loss of revenue to the Council when restrictions are imposed.  Revenue from the sale of water goes to the fiscal budget and profits are used wherever the bureaucrats and councillors like.  The less the volume of water that is sold by the municipality, the higher goes the tariffs, and in actual fact an escalation in tariffs is an excellent way of stemming demand for water.  In reality though the city staff who run water supply are well aware that when both tariffs and water restrictions are applied together, the average use per person per day drops which is absolutely logical.  What they dont like is that the per capita usage once restrictions are lifted never returns to the same point as before the restrictions were imposed and prices escalated.  The following fact is not just surmise:  this is the reason why demand does not increase after restrictions are lifted shows that devices to save water are very effective. Once Water Rhapsody clients use our unique systems, there is no looking back.   The efficiency of the Water Rhapsody Systems goes on and on.  This very important fact was given to me by Dave Ramsay who was the chief water engineer for Cape Town a few years ago.  If only the authorities would realize what they could possible do for our environment by actually promoting water saving with all the tools at their disposal including the devices that Water Rhapsody supply and install.

Job creation through demand management

Far, far more permanent jobs are created during times of drought than the temporary jobs created during dam building activities.   It was so interesting to hear the engineers responsible for the building of the last dam possible in Cape Town that of the Berg River Scheme using job creation as a motive to build the dam.  They built temporary houses for their staff and housed them there.  After the dam building process was complete, all the staff were retrenched, and the houses were all sold.  So is it up to those who wish to conserve water to provide jobs?  The answer is an emphatic YES.

Politicians excuse

Of course the fact that there are floods in some parts of the country helps the politicians down play any need for water saving in the Western Cape.  We see daily jockeying for positions for Mayor, party elections, and promises regarding jobs etc.  There is simply no time to address items of so little importance as water, and nobody wants to take an unpopular decision like instituting water restrictions.

Cape Town out of water by 2012

I have stated regularly that the year 2012 will be the year that Cape Town runs out of water.  The debate now will be interesting as to who gets priority over supply of water.  Who will get water in times of outages?  Will farmers get their share?  When Theewaterskloof was built and filled, 90% of water from the dam was assigned for agricultural use.  The farmers though could not use all the water allocated to them and the then DWAF (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry) as it was known then decided that because the farmers did not take up their allocation, that this water would be allocated to Cape Town Municipality.  This gave Cape Town water security in the middle eighties, but since Cape Town has grown so rapidly, this will be insufficient in years of lower than average rainfall, which years we are now in.

Future augmentation – desalination

We have plentiful sea water for desalination purposes do I hear you say?  In order to desalinate enough water to provide one days supply, we will need six million kilowatt hours of electricity. We simply do not have enough energy nor will we be able to find this capacity in the near future. If say at worst we should run out of water completely like Beaufort West.  The average daily demand for water is 1.5 million cubic metres.  The amount of extra energy we would need to desalinate this volume of water would be a minimum of 6 million kilowatt hours every day, for the desalination process.  This water would need to be blended with some other water, most likely treated sewerage water for palatability, and pressurized to municipal pressure.  This would be expensive and with energy we simply won’t be able to find.  Until now all the supply water for Cape Town has been virgin raw water extracted from rivers.  The end to this luxury is nigh.

Water outages

Water outages are a blunt but absolute as an efficient demand management measure (to get people to use less water).  Will we have to endure water outages or wont we?

If everyone installed water saving devices as per the Water Rhapsody Systems of Conservation, we would have no need for measures as tough as outages, but this is not the case. The steps of what can be done culminate in the following:  Install the Water Rhapsody Grand Opus to provide rainwater to the whole household.  This unique system receives rainwater from roofs but is also augmented with municipal water to give all households an emergency supply seamlessly. Water Rhapsody fix the emergency supply from the municipal to your water tank/s for an  emergency supply when, (not if) the Municipality turn off the water supply.  If you lived in Beaufort West and had installed the Water Rhapsody System, you would have a contiguous supply, and you would be unaffected by outages.  Secondly should you reduce your demand for water (without a change of lifestyle) you could reduce your water demand (usage) by half.  The reduction in demand is essential to get your precious saved rainwater to go so much further, and is done in five ways viz: by re-using grey water for irrigation purposes, or for toilet flushing, by re-using swimming pool backwash water and lastly by the use minimizing toilet flushing.

As restrictions bite, the municipality will quickly wake up to the erosion of their revenue, and will raise water rates.  These rates will represent the price of the next augmentation scheme, and the capital to provide enough energy for running the water augmentation, that is of course desalination.

All of these systems come at a cost, and the question is frequently asked, can we afford to install such systems?  Our answer is a rhetorical question: can we afford not to do these things?  Well the answer will be a resounding YES as soon as restrictions bite, and bite them surely will!”

Jeremy Westgarth-Taylor

Founder of Water Rhapsody.  Inventor of all the Water Rhapsody Systems.

2011-01-20