Does South Africa have a water crisis or simply a water problem?

[Supervan II]

How is pressure achieved?

0.75KW pump and controller.

 

[Vorastra]

You'll find that most houses built since the 1980's do not have any exposed outlets/drains as they are plumbed directly into the sewerage system.

What do you mean exactly?

 

[bwana]

0.75KW pump and controller.

These days, with load shedding, I'd consider adding a pressure tank into the mix.

 

[Supervan II]

These days, with load shedding, I'd consider adding a pressure tank into the mix.

Yeah, that's no biggie either. The 0.75kw pump is bit of an overkill for my needs, so might opt for a 0.37kw one and run that off an inverter (which I have just recently acquired).

BUT: Will be going totally off-grid (solar) in the very near future

 

[Supervan II]

What do you mean exactly?

One used to get kitchen/bathroom outlets that were exposed just above the drain, like this:

 

[Vorastra]

One used to get kitchen/bathroom outlets that were exposed just above the drain, like this:

Ja, I have that. But it's just for the kitchen. My house is from the 30s.
We also have manholes.

But what do you mean by plumbed directly in?
That the municipal sewer connection is inside the property?

For example, we have a main underground pipe that the house is connected to, which then runs down to the municipal pipe under the road. Our connection stops at the boundary wall.
Isn't that how all houses are?

So once something goes down the drain, okes have no direct way of interacting with the pipe? Besides digging a hole of course.

 

[Supervan II]

Ja, I have that. But it's just for the kitchen. My house is from the 30s.
We also have manholes.

But what do you mean by plumbed directly in?
That the municipal sewer connection is inside the property?

For example, we have a main underground pipe that the house is connected to, which then runs down to the municipal pipe under the road. Our connection stops at the boundary wall.
Isn't that how all houses are?

So once something goes down the drain, okes have no direct way of interacting with the pipe? Besides digging a hole of course.

Excepting for the traps inside, all water is drained directly into the sewer system. There are inspection/rodding and mini man-holes, obviously, but that's it.

 

[Geoff.D]

We haven't built any dams in years yet most of them are full. Its not a water problem.

Instead of pointing fingers at consumers lets first start with the average 37% of water supply being wasted across the country due to leaking and unmaintained water infrastructure.
Some municipalities lose well over 50% of the water they are allocated.

Then once that has been sorted out (in 50 or 100 years time) we can start focusing on the consumer behaviour. Even if consumers reduce their consumption to zero it won't fix the supply side water wastage issues.

Here’s how much water SA loses through water leaks | Infrastructure news

Water leaks are becoming a bigger cause for concern with municipalities desperately trying to conserve more water, while trying to decrease the amount of clean water that is being wasted through burst water pipes.

infrastructurenews.co.za

DOWN THE DRAIN: Enormous amounts of water are wasted daily — now municipalities are being told to ‘stop the leaks’

South Africa is one of the driest countries in the world and it is facing a 17% water supply shortfall in less than a decade — yet billions of litres of clean water are going down the drain every year due to leaking pipes and neglected infrastructure in towns and cities nationwide.

www.dailymaverick.co.za

And both of these are The useless ANC-led government's fault! The dams that were planned before 1994 had a dual purpose: One was for storage and the other was for flood control. Now we suffer because of both! Just imagine if all that water that rushed down the Vaal/Orange rivers could have been collected in the two dams that were supposed to be built along the lower orange!

 

[Geoff.D]

So much for global warming..

There is no global warming, beyond a known amount of about 1/10th of a degree per decade. The entire GW fallacy is based on a misinterpretation of the data available.

 

[Geoff.D]

Think how much water you use on a daily basis then work out how much of that really needs to be potable. It's really not much of a challenge.

This! It is crazy that we purify water only to throw it all away again except for that little bit that is actually consumed.

 

[Geoff.D]

Which brings one into a different topic - are we replumbing our houses to seperate rain/ground/grey water from potable taps?

It is a simple matter of educating people as to which tap to use for potable water. We already filter ALL our drinking and cooking water - why not just add one more stage/process to purify that water?

 

[rvZA]

South Africa is in a crisis in any way you look at it under the ANC. An electricity crisis, water crisis, food crisis, public service crisis including hospitals, traffic authorities, policing, justice and more, unemployment crisis, racism crisis. Things are about to get a lot worse in coming years.

 

[Speedster]

Let’s revisit this during a drought.

When is the last time the vaal system was below 50%?

 

[Supervan II]

It is a simple matter of educating people as to which tap to use for potable water. We already filter ALL our drinking and cooking water - why not just add one more stage/process to purify that water?

RO system under the sink/counter-top RO system?

 

[wingnut771]

PE is currently experiencing a drought and the [vast] majority of it's water is currently coming from Gariep...

because there's no drought there, and a few years ago Gariep was empty too.

 

[wingnut771]

When is the last time the vaal system was below 50%?

I don't know. I think it's quite hard to deplete the dam when the infrastructure is broken. Anyway, weren't we talking about coastal cities?

 

[Speedster]

I don't know. I think it's quite hard to deplete the dam when the infrastructure is broken. Anyway, weren't we talking about coastal cities?

Sorry. Didn't realise South Africa implied coastal cities.

 

[wingnut771]

Sorry. Didn't realise South Africa implied coastal cities.

See from post #12.

 

[noxibox]

2. Not all containers are safe for storing water. Plastic breaks down in water and bacteria also thrives in stored water.

Most are safe and bacteria are an extremely minor risk.

 

[noxibox]

So much for global warming..

Global warming would weaken the Gulf Stream, among other things. It is well known that global warming will lead to more weather extremes, both hot and cold.