Cape Town has saltwater everywhere ... but any more drops to drink?

After issuing tenders for eight desalination plants‚ Cape Town has issued a final invitation to would-be suppliers: anywhere else you can think of?

The eight plants include three around the harbour and others in Hout Bay‚ Dido Valley‚ Strandfontein‚ Monwabisi and Harmony Park‚ Strand. The tenders ask bidders to build the plants‚ operate them for two years then decommission them.

Now‚ in its efforts to head off “day zero” — when Cape Town runs out of water — the council has asked for bids to put up plants at “sites not currently under consideration”.

It says: “Ideally‚ the respective plants shall produce between 5 million and 15 million litres per day of potable water‚ but proposals with capacities in excess of 15 million litres per day shall be considered.”

Large parts of the City of Cape Town coastline are off-limits for desalination plants because they fall into protected areas or are surrounded by the marine protected area which stretches north from Cape Point to the harbour.