Cape Town's water supply

My question is who is going to police the queues ? Day one or two might be 'Fun"with everyone in the spirit of things (remembering our first democratic elections) by day three it will be .... if you jump the queue in front of me I will stab you in the eye....

I am part of a family of 5 how the hell to I carry that much water?
 
PeterBee said:
Can a bit of sea water not be added to potable water, without making it unsuitable for drinking, washing etc? I mean at what point does the salt content become a problem?
Click to expand...

It can, but the bigger threat to this idea is salt build-up in the pipes causing blockages, and wearing down and rusting away pumps and PVC pipes, as well as whatever build-up and damage it'll cause in consumer appliances and pumps, like those in washing machines. Sea water could be a viable option for maintaining the sewage system, so it just gets used for toilets, but CoCT's systems need to be designed for that use.

It also happens that a lot of the underground plumbing systems could be made up of concrete pipes. Until very recently, around 2015 or so, we had no effective means of making concrete withstand damage from saltwater in a cheap way. Turns out the Romans mixed volcanic ash into their concrete and that does the trick. We can do it now, but it's not going to help at all for existing infrastructure.
 
simm_card said:
See you guys soon.

73db3847f339e33d817a5760a9798fb2.jpg
Click to expand...

You built a ground level HAARP to manipulate the weather?
 
satanboy said:
FB post:

he only problem is there are 18600 of us, at 5min each means 93000 mins, or 1550 hrs or in days basically 62 of them before the whole 18600 have had a drink. Then we start it all over again.... wake up people , its unworkable!!!!

Just imagine people in the 60-100 age group lugging a filled 25l drum around with them. Most of those people wouldn't even be able to lift such an object.
Click to expand...

This person assumes only 1 person at a time fills their container. Obviously there will be dozens or even hundreds of "hoses" per collection point. It also won't take 5 minutes. Maybe 60 seconds.

But despite this, yes, it is totally impossible to service that many people in a day, regardless.
 
CataclysmZA said:
It can, but the bigger threat to this idea is salt build-up in the pipes causing blockages, and wearing down and rusting away pumps and PVC pipes, as well as whatever build-up and damage it'll cause in consumer appliances and pumps, like those in washing machines. Sea water could be a viable option for maintaining the sewage system, so it just gets used for toilets, but CoCT's systems need to be designed for that use.

It also happens that a lot of the underground plumbing systems could be made up of concrete pipes. Until very recently, around 2015 or so, we had no effective means of making concrete withstand damage from saltwater in a cheap way. Turns out the Romans mixed volcanic ash into their concrete and that does the trick. We can do it now, but it's not going to help at all for existing infrastructure.
Click to expand...

Dammit! Was totally going to use Sea water to flush the loo.
 
Gaz{M} said:
This person assumes only 1 person at a time fills their container. Obviously there will be dozens or even hundreds of "hoses" per collection point. It also won't take 5 minutes. Maybe 60 seconds.

But despite this, yes, it is totally impossible to service that many people in a day, regardless.
Click to expand...

I’m curious on how they will handle water wastage at these collection points and will they appoint people to service the collectors. They are already talking about drive throughs.
 
PeterBee said:
Jeepers so was I - back to the drawing board...
Click to expand...

I think people will do it anyway.... as long as we dilute it with grey water. It wont be too bad long term. The pipes silting up with turds is much worse.


Also might rinse my dishes with sea water, will make the cleaning water usable for longer.
 
chewiesw said:
My question is who is going to police the queues ? Day one or two might be 'Fun"with everyone in the spirit of things (remembering our first democratic elections) by day three it will be .... if you jump the queue in front of me I will stab you in the eye....
Click to expand...
Guns.

chewiesw said:
I am part of a family of 5 how the hell to I carry that much water?
Click to expand...
They are taking that into account, you might be able to fill up the containers in your car.
 
raind33r said:
Dammit! Was totally going to use Sea water to flush the loo.
Click to expand...

PeterBee said:
Jeepers so was I - back to the drawing board...
Click to expand...

I think that sea water ending up in the pipes is a thing that happens anyway, and sand definitely gets into the system especially in coastal towns thanks to beachgoers. Temporarily using sea water for some things might work out just fine, but if everyone does it, it'll become a big problem.

Nerfherder said:
Also might rinse my dishes with sea water, will make the cleaning water usable for longer.
Click to expand...

The salt content might be enough to substitute dishwashing liquid as well, so you could wash and rinse with sea water.

Again, though, I'm quite sure that Cape Town's plumbing infrastructure isn't built to handle lots of sea water. Copper piping alone would ensure that it's going to be problematic once a lot of people start doing this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X