Rainwater Harvesting
It is now viable to harvest rainwater for your whole household. This includes rainwater harvesting, storing and pumping rainwater for bathing, showering, toilet flushing, pool, laundry and irrigation. Rainwater harvesting together with other Water Rhapsody products can save up to 90% of your water bill.
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Tag Archives: Water sources
Innovations needed as climate change sees water supplies dwindle – Andrew Muir
LARGELY due to climate change, South Africa is becoming drier from the west to the east. Climate modelling for our area shows that our annual precipitation (rainfall) will reduce by between 10% and 15% at current warming levels. As a result, along coastal areas fresh water has to be transported from further and further afield to meet the demand of ever-growing urban areas. This has become a worldwide challenge, and around the globe researchers and scientists have being looking at the use of technology to increase the supply of fresh water. Proposals include towing icebergs from Antarctica to water-stressed regions, cloud-seeding, desalination plants and extracting fresh water from deep submarine aquifers. A longstanding proposal beginning in the late 1970s has been to tow icebergs from Antarctica to supply fresh water to water-scarce regions of the world. One major challenge to this proposal has been how to tow the icebergs towards the equatorial zone without them melting before reaching their destination. Cloud-seeding is a process in which dry ice or potassium iodide particles are used to increase rainfall. Although there is little scientific evidence that this actually works, many communities faced with water shortages are willing to try it. There is … Continue reading
R750-Million for Desalination Plant not available
Two weeks ago I posted the report that our Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs (DWEA) Minister Buyelwa Sonjica has said that her department was forging ahead with plans to supply desalinated water to Cape Town, and furthermore extract water from the Table Mountain (TM) aquifer. This week it was reported in The Algoa Sun, that since Nelson Mandela Bay was declared a drought disaster area, very little has been done to pull the area out of the crisis. Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron says that since the declaration, the minutes of the meeting were send to the national and provincial disaster management centres. “We have received feedback from the national centre which has assessed the area and confirmed our situation,” said Baron. However, no funding has been made available to the municipality thus far. He said in the interim, funding would have to be allocated from the current municipal budget. According to Baron there are several facets of the disaster plan that have already been set in motion. They currently had four reputable companies working with the municipality to determine the environmental impact a deslination plant would have in and area.”An area close to the Swartkops power station on the Swartkops River has been identified … Continue reading
Posted in Grey Water Recycling, Rainwater Harvesting, Water Conservation, Weather
Tagged Dam Levels, drought disaster area, Eastern Cape, Greywater re-use, Port Elizabeth, Rain fall, Rainwater Harvesting, Saving water, Water Conservation, Water Restrictions, Water sources, Waterproblem
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Rain-making lasers could trigger showers on demand
Lasers that stimulate condensation may help to induce rain artificially. Zeeya Merali Make rain while the laser shines.J-P. Wolf / University of Geneva The rain dance is getting a twenty-first-century revamp using laser technology. Optical physicists have demonstrated that shooting lasers into the air can trigger the formation of water droplets, a technique that could one day help to stimulate rainfall. For more than 50 years, efforts to try to artificially induce rain have concentrated on ‘cloud seeding’ — scattering small particles of silver iodide into the air to act as ‘condensation nuclei’, or centres around which rain droplets can grow. “The problem is, it’s still not clear that cloud seeding works efficiently,” says optical physicist Jérôme Kasparian at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. “There are also worries about how safe adding silver iodide particles into the air is for the environment.” Kasparian and his colleagues realized that there might be a more environmentally friendly alternative. Firing a laser beam made up of short pulses into the air ionizes nitrogen and oxygen molecules around the beam to create a plasma, resulting in a ‘plasma channel’ of ionized molecules. These ionized molecules could act as natural condensation nuclei, Kasparian explains. … Continue reading
The Green Drop Report
Municipalities battling to manage human waste will be scrutinised by the state. Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica on Friday vowed a turn-around strategy will be implemented, to improve performance. Her ministry released its Green Drop Report on Thursday examining the state of waste water treatment plants countrywide. Most local authorities have been found wanting. The report painted a shocking state of affairs at sewage plants countrywide. It suggested most of the plants could be described as either poor or non-functional. South Africa’s 852 sewage plants and pipelines treat and transport about eight billion litres of waste water daily. Sonjica estimated her department will need more than a R100 billion over the next three years, to tackle shortcomings. “We will be introducing alternative waste water treatment technologies in some municipalities. We are going to have a programme of coaching the municipalities because some do not have the necessary capacity,” said Sonjica. She added municipalities that have failed to comply with the required sewage treatment standards will be under close surveillance. Read he Green Drop Report for the Eastern Cape at this link: http://us-cdn.creamermedia.co.za/assets/articles/attachments/27314_greendropreport.pdf
Posted in Green, safe water, Water Conservation
Tagged Eastern Cape, going green, Port Elizabeth, safe water, Water Conservation, Water sources, Waterproblem
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Earth Day angers greenies
An Ohio river so polluted that it caught fire. A spectacular California coastline covered in slimy oil from an offshore drilling snafu. These were the two main events that prompted the first Earth Day event 40 years ago in New York. Now the annual observance is marked everywhere from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. But despite the huge global awareness about environmental issues, activists maintain that the ecological problems are worse than ever.
Posted in Green, safe water, Water Conservation
Tagged eco-friendly, going green, Saving water, Water sources, Waterwise
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24 Hour Rainfall EC
Daily Rainfall over South Africa to the nearest mm Preliminary 24-hour rainfall data ending at 08:00 on the 2010-04-29 Rainfall in whole mm EASTERN CAPE ADDO ELEPHANT PARK 48 BISHO 13 CAPE ST FRANCIS 22 DOHNE – AGR 09 EAST LONDON WO 07 ELANDS RIVER-BOSBOK RAND 15 FORT BEAUFORT 08 GRAHAMSTOWN 11 JOUBERTINA AWS 02 NAHOON DAM ARS 02 NGQURA (COEGA) 07 PATENSIE 05 PORT ELIZABETH WO 15 SOMERSET EAST 15 STEYNSBURG – POL 19 SWARTKOPS POWER STATION 15 THIRD AVENUE DIP ARS 50 TSITSIKAMMA 06 UITENHAGE 55 Port Elizabeth had an impressive amount of rainfall last night!! But unfortunately that was not the case with our catchment areas. Still, 02 – 05 mm is better than nothing. Start acting now! With 50mm of rain, you could have harvested approximately 8500 l of free, clean, pure rainwater! Contact us at Water Rhapsody, to give you a free quote on installing our Grand Opus, which includes the harvesting of rainwater from all possible roofarea, and making use of this heavenly water for your household, or whatever you might wish to use it for.
Host cities’ tap water safe
Cape Town – Tap water in the 2010 Soccer World Cup host cities is safe to drink, the water affairs department assured soccer fans on Wednesday. Visitors could be certain the tap water in host cities complied with required standards, Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told journalists, speaking in Cape Town at the release of her department’s 2010 Host Cities Drinking Water Quality Management Audit Report. According to the document all nine host cities – Cape Town, Ethekwini, Johannesburg, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenburg and Pretoria – have achieved Blue Drop status. Blue Drop certification means the city concerned has scored 95% or higher for its compliance with chemical and microbiological standards. Remarkable improvement The report shows Blue Drop scores achieved by the cities included 98.39% for Johannesburg, 96.36% for Tshwane, and 95.05% for Mangaung. Audits of the host cities were carried out between October last year and February this year. There has been a “remarkable improvement” in drinking water quality across the country, the report notes. “For the past six months, the overall South African DWQ (drinking water quality) was measured at 96% on average for both microbiological and chemical determinants (across the country including smaller towns … Continue reading
Posted in safe water
Tagged Nelson Mandela Metropole, Port Elizabeth, safe water, water safe, Water sources
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Plans to supply desalinated water
The article by Melanie Gosling, environmental Affairs writer refers. Water and Environmental Affairs (DWEA) Minister Buyelwa Sonjica has said that her department was forging ahead with plans to supply desalinated water to Cape Town, and furthermore extract water from the Table Mountain (TM) aquifer. As mentioned in the article, all rivers in the Western Cape have been dammed, and the maximum amount of water is being extracted. There is no more water that can possibly be squeezed from our rivers. What was not said is that this water is used, polluted and largely wasted to rivers around the Western Cape with concomitant damage to riverine and marine life. The focus has always been and remains to supply more and more water. Now DWEA are looking at other ways, hence the aquifer extraction and sea water desalination. Has the Minister not been advised by scientists that by extracting fossil water from the TM aquifer, the relatively finite amount of water in the aquifer is being permanently reduced for all practical intents and purposes. This is a fossil aquifer, and has been there for millions of years. Not only would extraction permanently reduce the amount of water in the aquifer, but it … Continue reading
Metro to supply Water tanks to RDP Houses
“Ten directorates from the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro were requested by Dr. Sitembele Vatal, Director of the Metro’s Integrated Development Plan, to cut R750 000 from theirbudget to supply 1000 water tanks to governmental houses. They believe the water tanks will solve the current water crises in the Metro. The only problem with this project will be that none of the 40 square meter RDP house are equipped with gutters. Gutters are necessary to collect the rainwater and divert it to the water tanks. The total amount to be spend on the water tanks will be R7.5 million, which indicate that R7500 will be spend per water tank. Does this include the installation of gutters? No clear answers on this could be given, as the spokesperson for the Metro: Mr. Kupido Baron is currently participating in the SAMWU-strike. This project was not included in the water crisis plan that was approved by the Integrated Development Plan last month, but Mr. Vatala indicated that the water crisis in the Metro requested such drastic action. ” – Die Burger This project should also be an indication of the necessity for public to prepare their residents for rainwater harvesting, not only for gardening purposes, but mainly for household usage. This … Continue reading
Water Facts
Some 1.1 billion people, or 18% of the world’s population, lack access to safe drinking water, and over 2.4 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. More than 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die each year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation. A report released in early October 2009 by the Water Research Commission of South Africa found that South Africa has 4% less water than 20 years ago. Rand Water is predicting that demand for water in South Africa will ourstrip supply by 2025. It also believes that Gauteng is potentially facing a water shortage as early as 2013. In Cape town the scenarion is not much better with a water shortage prediction by 2016. If South Africans continue with their wasteful water practices, there simply will not be enough water to meet the country’s future needs and, we may have to start paying even more for water! South Africans can change the scenario by changing their behaviour towards water usage and becoming water wise and savvy about rainwater harvesting. This is what Water Rhapsody is all about: We would like to establish a cultural behaviour in … Continue reading
