Cape of evaporating hope hunts water solutions

12 November 2017 - 00:00 By BOBBY JORDAN

Desperate times, desperate water measures. Many Cape Town residents are now using their swimming pools in the service of drought relief.
Leading the charge for innovative solutions to the crisis is mayor Patricia de Lille, who has filled in her pool, cut her household's monthly water bill to R51 and taken charge of the desperate battle to prevent "day zero" arriving.
Constantia Virgin Active operations manager Taariq Behardien said this week that the gym had hired a contractor to fetch swimming pool water from residents who were abandoning their pools."We've had a couple of members give us water, and from all over Cape Town," Behardien said. "We get notified, extract the water, and add it to our pool. Our water levels have dropped but not to the point where we have to close it."
Anthony Philbrick, from Wetland Pools, said there was a trend towards drought-proof pools that were usable even when near empty, and "natural" pools that use vegetation to filter their water and can double as emergency drinking water.
"These are the kinds of queries we are getting - people are taking a more holistic approach to water," he said. "In an emergency a [natural] pool can become a drinking supply - it doesn't have chlorine."
Dwindling municipal supply has prompted several urgent government interventions, such as this week's tapping of natural springs in the City Bowl. Two million litres a day are now being piped into a reservoir to augment supply.
De Lille told the Sunday Times that the city was urgently trying to get help from the UN Green Climate Fund to help bankroll its R5-billion emergency supply plan, but was embroiled in red tape that meant only national governments could access the fund.
"I have made an appeal to lobby for the amendment of this cumbersome restriction," she said.
In addition, the World Bank had sent an expert to Cape Town to look at the water crisis. "He will be here for a week and will provide me with a report," said De Lille.
The mayor and her officials have come under fire on social media over slow implementation of emergency interventions such as desalination and groundwater extraction.De Lille said she was spending about 70% of her time leading the response to the water crisis. "I still make time to attend to all other city matters," she said.
This week a group of private business people launched their own initiative to find a solution. "The politicians have been struggling, and now business must step up to the mark," said Martin Humphries, CEO of the Messenger Media Innovation Group. "Businesses are very angry that the crisis had been allowed to develop to this level."
De Lille said she and Western Cape premier Helen Zille were due to meet "captains of industry" tomorrow to ask for their help.
Many businesses are already relying on their own water sources, including South African Breweries in Newlands, which historically has used a portion of municipal supply for its kitchen and ablution facilities.
"We installed capability to switch over and use treated spring water from the brewery, which would take us off the municipal grid," said plant manager John Stenslunde.
Patricia de Lille’s tap tips
• “I take showers of under two minutes”
• “I use water from buckets in the shower to flush the toilet”
• “I no longer have a swimming pool. Last year I had a truck come and pour rubble and sand in there. The area that used to be my pool is now paved over”
• “We use waterless products to wash vehicles”
• “We only do laundry and dishes when there is a full load”
• “I keep the water in the kitchen basin throughout the day to wash up as we go along”
• “No garden watering with potable water. We sometimes use the water from our showers”..

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