The theme of National Water Week is “Water is life: respect it, conserve it, enjoy it”, underlining the need to manage this scarce natural resource. JOHANNESBURG Water is gearing up to celebrate National Water Week, which this year has the theme “Water is life: respect it, conserve it, enjoy it”. The week runs from 5 to 11 March. Residents are called upon to conserve waterThe municipal-owned entity is also calling on residents to help conserve and protect the city’s water resources. Tebatso Baldwin Matsimela, Joburg Water’s marketing and communications manager, says: “We are not just dedicating a week for the awareness campaign, but are using this as an opportunity and a platform to call upon residents to do their bit in conserving water on a daily basis. It’s a collective effort and we can win this battle once all role players have come to the party.” Water Week will be officially launched at Thokoza Park on 5 March. Matsimela says there will be interaction with community members and the programme of action will be outlined. Scarce resource South Africa has been identified as a water scarce country. Rainfall varies dramatically from season to season and the limited water availability is distributed unevenly across the country. Earlier this week, Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa spoke about the government’s plans to spend billions on infrastructure, in particular on water infrastructure. South Africa could face a “near crisis situation” with its water supply within the next decade if urgent steps were not taken, she said on 28 February. Warnings have been sounded that increasing demand for water would place severe strain on the country’s ability to supply this finite resource. In his Budget Review a week earlier, tabled on 22 February, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said South Africa would start running out of water 13 years from now without better management. “On current projections, South Africa’s water demand will outstrip available supply between 2025 and 2030,” the review states. He allocated R75-billion over the next three years for water infrastructure, quality management, resource planning and support to local government to address this problem. Molewa said: “We don’t want to wait until we have a situation like we have with electricity.” Apart from infrastructure upgrades and developments, she indicated another option was the “realignment” of water prices. Each year, the water boards applied for and set their own tariffs for various agricultural and industrial users. “This inequality is what we want to address at the moment … Every year there is this approach, and we really think this is not on. By the end of the year [2012] we will have that programme in place.” The public would be invited to give input on the programme, which would affect the price they would pay for water, before it was taken to the cabinet for approval, she said. Molewa said the problems of leakages also needed to be addressed. In some areas, up to 41 percent of the water supplied was being lost before it even got to the user. Furthermore a behavioural change needed to be made by South Africans. “If we don’t act, we will face a near crisis situation in the future.” In his state of the nation address on 9 February, President Jacob Zuma said Water Affairs would “invest heavily in the maintenance and construction of bulk water supply infrastructure over the next two years”. Water Week Against this background, National Water Week is an important week-long awareness campaign to focus attention on water as a scarce and rare commodity. In Johannesburg, activities will highlight key issues affecting the state of water in the region and will continue building awareness of the need for water conservation. A number of educational activities have also been planned. Water Week activities will invlove educational tours of all regions “We are going to visit all the regions in the city educating and raising awareness of the importance of saving and conserving water. This will be done through exhibitions and educational workshops,” Matsimela says. “We believe that the week-long activities will help in raising awareness and change perceptions when it comes to water resources while encouraging responsible use of water on a daily basis.” Joburg Water points out that this awareness is coupled with the responsibility that every resident should take to ensure the integrity of the city’s water resources and their efficient use. “We therefore appeal to all residents to take practical steps to conserve and protect our resources.” Practical steps would be checking that there are no leaks – either seen or hidden – at their homes; turning the taps off while washing their faces, brushing their teeth and shaving; using a bucket rather than a hosepipe to wash cars; and avoiding flushing the toilet unnecessarily. More water saving tips can be found on the Joburg Water website. Read more: http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7796&catid=88&Itemid=266#ixzz1nxiQcudL
The pretty gardens, lush green lawns and exotic plants may all be a thing of the past for most homeowners as water experts warn not only that South Africa may run out of water in the next 10 years but that Eskom-style increases in water tariffs are on the way. Many cities and towns are unable to account for significant water losses. It also follows reports that the costs of municipal services have increased by 46% year on year. Water Affairs acting director-general Trevor Baltzer says that cheap water is a thing of the past and that government is looking at ways to fund new developments that will provide security of supply in the coming years. Indigent households will continue to receive free water from government but a new scale for water tariffs has will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval before the end of the year. Once approved, the new tariff structure will be released for general comment. The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority’s business analyst and water expert Richard Holden, claims that the water tariffs being charged by municipalities does not cover the actual costs of infrastructure maintenance and repairs. He says that a lack of funding would contribute to a collapsing infrastructure and could result in high losses and be detrimental to consumers. He has urged municipalities to start implementing higher water tariffs now so that, in the future, they can be spared sudden, massive and unexpected hikes in the costs of water. Water losses in South Africa are known to be excessive particularly in municipalities where pipes have not regularly been replaced as they rust. Moreover, burst pipes – which also contribute to significant water losses – are constantly being reported as the existing municipal infrastructure starts to fail. Currently most municipalities charge between R3,80 and R4,70 per kilolitre of water. He says that once the municipal infrastructure needs are included, the charges should rise by an additional amount of between R3,00 and R4,00 providing base charges of between R6,80 and R7,40. South Africacurrently needs to spend at least R1,3-billion to fix infrastructure backlogs and undertake specific maintenance work. Moreover, many cities and towns are unable to account for the significant water losses. Statistics show that Johannesburg ‘lost’ between 35% and 40% of its water last year. The losses were attributed to household wastage and a crumbling and aged infrastructure. Cape Town was unable to account for about 83,4-million kilolitres of water in 2009. Municipalities currently owe South Africa’s water boards R1,7-billion. Source: Property24.com
It's been a while in the making but eventually we're there. The on-line shop for Free Rain Conservation is now up and running. Go check out www.waterfilteringsolutions.co.za.
TASK TEAM TO INVESTIGATE
Pretoria – Cabinet is expected to give direction in the next two weeks on how South Africa will deal with the potential crisis posed by acid mine drainage (AMD) in Gauteng.
Environmentalists have described AMD as the single most significant threat to South Africa’s environment and as heavy rains persisted this week, fears grew that the problem may be exacerbated. But the Water Affairs Department on Thursday said a decision was looming on the matter following an Inter-ministerial Committee (IMC) meeting with Cabinet to discuss the situation.
It comes after Cabinet mandated the Minister of Water Affairs, Edna Molewa, in August to urgently establish a special task team to investigate how the government should respond to reports of acid water drainage in some parts of the country, mainly in Johannesburg.
The team of experts, chaired by Mineral Resources Department Director General, Sandile Nogcina, has handed over a list of recommendations to be considered at the next Cabinet meeting before a public announcement can be made.
“What we can say is that government is very concerned and takes this matter very seriously and at this stage the recommendations have been signed by both DGs in the Department of Water and that of Minerals and is ready for Cabinet discussion. Everyone will know the way forward in a week or so,” said spokesperson Mava Scott.
Nogcina was not immediately available for comment but Scott said once President Jacob Zuma and his executive have had an opportunity to look at the document, a public announcement will be made and all the necessary steps will be taken to avert the AMD situation.
Acid mine water, or water contaminated with heavy metals as a result of mining activities, is reportedly affecting the South Africa’s economic hub Gauteng, with other cases in Mpumalanga, North West and Free State provinces. Reports suggest that this drainage poses health and economic risks for the country.
Scientists predict that if drastic steps are not immediately taken to shut down disused mine shafts and pump out the acid mine drainage, the poisonous water will flow into rivers and low-lying areas at a rate of up to 70 megalitres a day.
Sputnik Ratau, spokesperson for the Environmental Affairs Department, said the recent floods, which have raised the levels of the toxic water in the mines, has been a cause for concern.
“We have always said that there are certain periods when the impact will be major due to rains but we are hoping that the next two weeks will provide direction on this matter – but what cabinet decides, is what cabinet decides,” he said.
As a short-term measure, an amount of R218 million was set aside by the department to fit pumps to avert any situation that might arise. – BuaNews
Water in Johannesburg is constantly monitored – from tap water to koi pond water and everything between – to make sure it meets requirements and disease is kept at bay. WATER quality in Johannesburg is constantly monitored by Joburg Water to ensure it meets the requirements of the South African National Accredited System for Drinking Water. Joburg's drinking water goes through stringent testingThis is done through the water utility’s Cydna Laboratory in Houghton, which is responsible for testing the water consumed by about 3,8 million residents of Joburg. It offers a comprehensive chemical and microbiological lab service within the company and offers other City departments a centrally located lab complex with two satellite facilities. Water supplied by Joburg Water must meet the requirements of the South African National Accredited System for Drinking Water, SANS 241 Ed 6.1. To maintain standards, an extensive monitoring programme is in place. This involves an analysis of at least 500 samples every month, covering all reservoir zones, tower zones and informal settlements. Through these tests and constant monitoring, the water utility is “able to respond quickly to any water quality problems and assure the public that every drop of the more than billion litres of water that passes through our network per day is well within the SABS standard for class one drinking water”, notes Tebatso Baldwin Matsimela, Joburg Water’s marketing and communications manager. E.coli Between October 2009 and September 2010, 6 258 samples were analysed and 60 869 tests were done. The lab tests drinking water, industrial water, water from rivers and streams, seepage water, borehole water, sewage, effluent and other waste water, koi and other fishpond water, as well as water from ornamental water features. Escherichia coli, or E.coli, is the most important indicator of the microbiological quality of drinking water. At least 99 percent of samples need to be free of E.coli. Turbidity measures the clarity of water; according to SANS 241, 95 percent of the samples must measure less than one nephelolometric turbidity units (NTU). During the review period, the turbidity in 98,8 percent of the samples was less than one NTU. Water samples are also tested for coliforms, heterotrophic plate count, colour, odour, taste, pH, residual chlorine and conductivity. The lab has state-of-the-art equipment such as flow injection analysers, gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers, inductively coupled plasma / optical emission spectrometers, laboratory information management systems, ion chromatographs, colilert equipment and cryoscopes. The average values of selected constituents, together with a maximum allowable value, are: - Sodium, with an average value of 10 and a maximum allowable value of 200mg per litre;
- Potassium, with an average value of 3,1 and a maximum allowable value of 50mg per litre;
- Chloride, with an average value of 10 and a maximum allowable value of less than 200mg per litre;
- Fluoride, with an average value of 0,1 and a maximum allowable value of less than 1mg per litre;
- Calcium, with an average value of 18 and a maximum allowable value of less than 150mg per litre;
- Magnesium, with an average value of 6,1 and a maximum allowable value of less than 70mg per litre; and
- pH, with an average value of 7,8 and a maximum allowable value of 5 to 9,5mg per litre.
A full compliance statement is available monthly online. The Department of Water Affairs also recently gave Joburg Water a Blue Drop award for 2009/2010. It assessed the provision of water to Johannesburg in December 2009, and a score of 98,39 percent was achieved. The prestigious award was given to Joburg for exceeding 95 percent, the highest in the country. The water utility has numerous other accolades under its belt and has countless public education projects that aim to conserve water and water demand management through behavioural change. Read more: http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6128&catid=88&Itemid=266#ixzz1CaLQpuCa
Cape Town - Climate change is likely to increase the threat which invasive alien Acacia plants, including wattles, rooikrans and Port Jackson, pose to South Africa's already highly stressed water supply.
In a written reply to a Parliamentary question, tabled on Friday, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said recent studies showed some Acacia species could respond to warmer conditions by developing stronger, deeper root systems, which sucked up more water.
“The research on the impacts of climate change on the ability of invasive alien plants species to out-compete indigenous vegetation is being led by the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
“So far, one of the most significant findings was that the root and shoot systems of some Acacia species could become stronger, which means that they will be able to access water deeper below the soil surface.
“This could make them more aggressive and increase the potential for invasions, leading to an even bigger threat to our natural resources and biodiversity.”
Research on this was ongoing, but “very expensive” and dependent on the availability of funding, Sonjica said.
Earlier this year, an Agricultural Research Council (ARC) report, commissioned by the department of water affairs, found invasive alien plants now infest 20-million hectares of South Africa - an area twice as large as previously estimated.
Among the ARC's findings were that invasive black, green and silver wattles alone have taken over more than 1.6-million hectares of the country.
The two most badly affected provinces in this regard are the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where an estimated 600 000 and 300 000 hectares (condensed areas) respectively have been overrun by alien wattles.
In her written reply, Sonjica said recent research - by the Water Research Commission - in KwaZulu-Natal showed stream flow increased by 75 000 cubic metres a year after 65.4 hectares of invasive black wattles were cleared from one study area.
She said the research had also shown that reduction in stream run-off per hectare was twice as great in wattle-infested areas adjacent to streams compared to water losses in infested areas further away from them.
Earlier this year, a senior water affairs official told Sapa that a “conservative” estimate of what it would cost to rid South Africa of invasive alien plants was R34-billion, spent over the next 25 years. - Sapa
Written by: Wilma den Hartigh
Scientists from Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape have developed and patented an inexpensive and effectivefiltering device that could provide safe drinking water to millions of people. This innovation can considerably reduce the prevalence of water-borne illnesses such as cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases.
Prof Eugene Cloete, Dean of the Faculty of Science and chairperson of the Stellenbosch University Water Institute, says the filtering sachet combines years of research on water purification, nanotechnology and food microbiology into a practical filtration solution.
The sachet will provide easy access to clean drinking water for communities living near polluted water sources and therefore vulnerable to water-borne disease.
Cloete was inspired to develop the water filtering device when he saw technology developed by Dr Eugene Smit of the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science. The technique, known as electro-spinning, applies high-voltage electrical fields to polymer solutions to weave ultra-thin fibres on a nanoscale. This causes the formation of fibres a thousand times thinner than a hair.
“Right away, my mind started churning through the possibilities of how it could be used to clean polluted water,” Cloete says.
Stellenbosch University polymer scientists and researchers from the Department of Microbiology jointly developed the disposable filtering device. The sachet, which is identical to a tea bag in shape and size, is made of the same biodegradable material as an off-the-shelf rooibos tea bag.
How it works
What makes this product distinctive is that the inside of the tea bag material is coated with a thin film ofbiocides encapsulated within tiny nanofibres (defined as fibres with diameters up to 100 nanometres).
A biocide is a chemical substance that kills all disease-causing microbes. Biocides are often used in medicine, agriculture, forestry and industry to prevent the fouling of water and oil pipelines.
The water is poured onto the sachet, which is filled with active carbon granules that remove all harmful chemical pollutants. The nanofibres create a pore size small enough to filter bacteria out of the water.
“The combination of nanofibres and activated carbon is a new combination that hasn’t been tried before,” says Cloete.
Water safety and testing
Once used, the bag is discarded and a new one is inserted into the neck of the bottle. Each bag can clean one litre of water from a river containing contaminated water or water of an unknown quality, making it 100% safe to drink.
There are also plans to commercialise the filter bag into a product that can be used by travellers or hikers, or even people who want to improve their water quality at home. Cloete says people living in cities can also filter their water using the sachet, but as the water would generally be cleaner, one bag could filter approximately 10 litres of water.
Dr Michéle de Kwaadsteniet, a postdoctoral fellow who is working on the project with Cloete and Prof Leon Dicks of the Department of Microbiology, says that they tested the filter with water taken from a river in the Stellenbosch area. The samples were highly polluted, but after filtering with the sachet, the water wascompletely clean.
The bag filter is also currently undergoing testing at the South African Bureau of Standards.
A solution to the continent’s water woes
Water quality is a universal problem and Cloete says that the world will increasingly come to rely on technologies such as these. In many countries on the continent and abroad, water infrastructure is lacking, faulty or aging.
“For many, piped water is a luxury and it is simply impossible to build purification infrastructure at every polluted stream,” he says.
South Africa is facing major challenges in meeting the rising demand for safe drinking water. The lack of adequate, safe and affordable water impacts on vulnerable groups such as the poor, the elderly, HIV/Aids patients and children.
“More than 90% of all cholera cases are reported in Africa, and 300-million people on our continent do not have access to safe drinking water," says Cloete. "Clearly, something has to be done about this."
The tea bag-like filter also is 100% biodegradable and has no ecological footprint. It is a “point-of-use” technology that, because it is used on the spot, can meet the needs of people who live in remote areas, or people whose regular water supply is not treated to potable standards.
In a statement, Prof Russel Botman, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the university, said it is important that science should serve the needs of society. “By aligning the expertise of our scientists with the national and international development agenda, we want to become more relevant to society.”
The invention is one of the first major projects of the newly established Stellenbosch University Water Institute, a transdisciplinary initiative established to step up the search for solutions to the country and continent’s water problems.
The institute and the water filter invention form part of the Stellenbosch University HOPE project, a set of development goals aimed at improving the lives of South Africans and people in the rest of the continent.
Commercialising the product
Once all testing is complete, the team hopes that the filters can be made available to various communities. Cloete says one of the reasons they chose the tea bag design is that the same technology used to pack tea bags can also be used in production of the filtering sachets. This is an economical and practical way to more easily get the product out into the market.
He says that they never expected so much interest in the product and since it has started receiving more exposure, they have been inundated with enquiries. Companies, aid organisations and philanthropists have also shown interest in the filter, and some are looking to purchase the sachets to distribute as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes.
The commercial pricing of the filter hasn’t been finalised, but it will be relatively inexpensive in comparison with similar purification technologies on the market. Distribution is expected to start in January 2011.
“This product can change the lives of ordinary people because it is so simple and efficient. It has captured the imagination of people and it is going to have an amazing impact,” says Cloete.
Source: www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com
The average American lifesyle is fueled by how many gallons of water per day?
A) 2
B) 20
C) 200
D) 2,000
The answer, astounding as it may be, is D.
While that may surprise you, the real kicker is that, according to National Geographic, only 5 percent of that water flows through toilets and taps.
Crazy as it sounds, the other 95 percent is tucked away inside the food you eat and the energy you consume.
To figure out your true H20 footprint, click through National Geographic's Water Footprint Calculator.
Johannesburg - Millions of litres of highly acidic mine water is rising up under Johannesburg and, if left unchecked, could spill out into its streets some 18 months from now, Parliament's water affairs portfolio committee heard on Wednesday.
The acid water is currently about 600m below the city's surface, but is rising at a rate of between 0.6 and 0.9m a day, water affairs deputy director water quality management Marius Keet told MPs.
"(It) can have catastrophic consequences for the Johannesburg central business district if not stopped in time. A new pumping station and upgrades to the high-density sludge treatment works are urgently required to stop disaster," he warned.
Speaking at the briefing, activist Mariette Liefferink, from the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, said the rising mine water posed an "enormous threat", which would become worse if remedial actions were further delayed.
"This environmental problem is second (in SA) only to global warming in terms of its impact, and poses a serious risk to the Witwatersrand as a whole. At the rate it is rising, the basin (under Johannesburg) will be fully flooded in about 18 months."
Mine drainage
She said the rising mine water had the same acidity as vinegar or lemon juice, and was a legacy of 120 years of gold mining in the region.
Acid water is formed underground when old shafts and tunnels fill up. The water oxidises with the sulphide mineral iron pyrite, better known as fool's gold. The water then fills the mine and starts decanting into the environment, in a process known as acid mine drainage.
Keet said the problem was not just confined to Johannesburg, which is located atop one of several major mining "basins" in the Witwatersrand, known as the Central Basin.
In 2002, acid mine drainage had started decanting from the Western Basin, located below the Krugersdorp-Randfontein area. The outflow had grown worse earlier this year after heavy rains, prompting his department to intervene.
However, a lack of treatment capacity in the area "compelled in-stream treatment as a short-term intervention".
This intervention saw the department pouring tons of lime, an alkali, into the Tweelopies Spruit in an effort to neutralise the acid mine water. This had led to problems with the resulting sludge that had formed in the water course.
The region's Eastern Basin, below the town of Nigel, was also threatened. The last working mine still pumping out water in the area was Grootvlei. Keet said that if the mine stopped pumping, acid water would start decanting into the town "within two to three years".
Legal action
Water Affairs is currently taking legal action against the mine, after it allegedly failed to comply with a departmental directive to treat the pumped water before discharging it.
On stopping the growing threat below Johannesburg, Keet said about R220m was needed to establish pump stations, pipelines and treatment works. Responding to a question, he said there were plans to tackle the problem.
"The idea is to build a pump station; the challenge is where the money will come from," he said.
Liefferink said if the acid mine water rose to the surface in Johannesburg's CBD, it posed a threat to the city's inhabitants, its buildings and the surrounding environment.
She told MPs that residents of many of Gauteng's poorer communities were living alongside, and in some cases on top of, land contaminated by mining activities. They were exposed to high concentrations of cobalt, zinc, arsenic, and cadmium, all known carcinogens, as well as high levels of radioactive uranium.
"In some cases, RDP houses are being erected next to radioactive dumps," she told MPs, who expressed shock and concern at the news.
Liefferink said acid mine drainage was exacerbating the problem, because it dissolved the heavy metals and precipitated them in water sources and wetlands, where people grew crops and abstracted water.
Threat
She also warned that some of the heavily polluted streams drained into the Vaal River system, and posed a threat to the region's water supply.
Liefferink, who backed up her presentation with a series of photographs showing, among other things, shacks erected on top of an old mine tailings dump, received a round of applause from MPs.
Mining started on the Witwatersrand about 120 years ago. More than 43 000 tons of gold and 73 000 tons of uranium have been extracted from the region's mines.
According to Liefferink, this mining activity has left a legacy of about 400km² of mine tailings dams and about six billion tons of pyrite tailings containing low-grade uranium.
"Waste from gold mines constitutes the largest single source of waste and pollution in South Africa... Acid mine drainage may continue for many years after mines are closed and tailings dams decommissioned," she said.
- SAPA
Ben Murray
Villagers in a drought-stricken region of South Africa have taken up a simple and novel method of supplementing their water supply as dry conditions plague their area: fog harvesting.
Designed to catch moisture from the air in a region that sees frequent fog but little rainfall, the system involves a series of sheets or "fog nets" that are stretched between pillars and hang over a catchment gutter collecting droplets,Reuters AlertNet reports.
The mesh sheets pick up the tiny droplets, which then run in a gravity-fed system through a filter to a storage tank for use by the residents of Cabazane, a remote village of just 180 residents.
With up to five liters of water per day produced by every square meter of fog net, at 700 square meters the system can provide thousands of liters of water daily, depending on conditions.
Fog harvesting isn’t a brand-new idea—researchers have been experimenting with its modern form since the 1960s, and the idea may go back thousands of years in arid regions.
In recent years, a number of areas have tried the water-collection method. In the islands of Cape Verde off the east coast of Africa, fog nets set up in 2005 can collect up to 4,000 liters of water a day in good conditions, in an area where clean water is hard to come by.
Fog harvesting projects have been set up in Morocco, Chile, Peru, Nepal, Guatemala and other places.
The fog collection method is a functional solution for small or remote communities because it’s inexpensive to set up: the Cape Verde project cost around $12,000, and the Cabazane nets went up for $40,000, as opposed to millions it could take for a regular municipal water system.
The systems also require no power to run. New filters and net repairs are the basic maintenance requirements. Drawbacks generally come from dust and debris that blow into the nets and spill into the water as it collects.
Often resembling volleyball nets, the fog-catchers are made of plastic mesh and championed by groups like FogQuest, which specialize in setting up the collection projects.
And for those really interested in the technology, the 5th International Conference on Fog, Fog Collection and Dew is right around the corner. The summit, which has taken place every three years since 1998, will be held in Munster, Germany, July 25 to 30 this year, and will cover a range of fog-related topics.
Sessions on fog chemistry, fog physics, fog sensing and fog modeling are all on the agenda, at an event that bills itself as “a unique melting pot for scientists and applied users of fog and dew collection techniques from all continents.”
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