New water restriction tariffs hit Cape Town: what you need to know

[PeterBee]

Broken link!

Facts would help with pressure reduction! We have residents ready to riot, and blaming trustees for cutting off their water.

Posted on the other thread: Pressure down to 50kPa, barely a trickle on ground floor, nothing above that level...

Here we go :
https://m.news24.com/MyNews24/cape-town-water-crisis-could-palmiet-save-us-from-day-zero-20180126

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

I know of a lot of people spending small fortunes for day zero and personally I've already spent R10K with another R10K coming up this weekend.

But I have an actual ROI on this expense as we have a home based business that closes it's doors when the taps run dry. The business will not only be able to recover this money from potential loss of income avoided but long term we retain more clients, continue water saving through using rain water harvesting and also put in place a much needed backup system for planned/unplanned water cuts due to maintenance in my area.

We also ensure we are able to pay salaries.

Our risk analysis of the situation indicates we will only have a total of 2 weeks where our business will run at reduced capacity. This is based on historic rainfall patterns and day zero dates.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Sadly - I had my gardener pull all our non-water wise plants yesterday, even from pots - they weren't taking the drought well, and we weren't generating enough grey water.

Now I have a empty garden, and empty pots... and a not so happy wife

Five years ago I removed all plants from house when I bought it and replaced it only with indigenous plants. Yes, originally wife was upset and did not like indigenous plants but she now likes them.

See this as an opportunity.

 

[Nerfherder]

Calm your horses
Steenbras = 37mil m³ and 67km² catchment area
Kogelberg = 19mil m³ and 179km² catchment area

So Kogelberg is half the size, and with more than 2.5x the catchment area. So it being full is not some miracle. Also, national water uses this dam primarily for agriculture. Since farmers have essentially used up their allocation for the year I suspect only now is national water allowing CoCT to use this dam

and Steenbras is even smaller than Teewaterskloof.

Its like saying Newlands reservoir is full so we fine.

 

[xrapidx]

That was a it of a drastic move!
What if DAY zero does not happen? What are you going to do then?

Started replacing them with more water wise plants, that require little to no watering.

 

[Gordon_R]

Calm your horses
Steenbras = 37mil m³ and 67km² catchment area
Kogelberg = 19mil m³ and 179km² catchment area

So Kogelberg is half the size, and with more than 2.5x the catchment area. So it being full is not some miracle. Also, national water uses this dam primarily for agriculture. Since farmers have essentially used up their allocation for the year I suspect only now is national water allowing CoCT to use this dam

Edit: Thanks. Missed your post (see below, no end-users). Basically it fills faster than it can be emptied...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kogelberg_Dam

Here we go :
https://www.news24.com/MyNews24/cape-town-water-crisis-could-palmiet-save-us-from-day-zero-20180126

Thanks. Seems Kogelberg dam is a type of 'closed' system, flowing in and out of Palmiet River only (no end-users AFAIK).

http://www.dwa.gov.za/Documents/DWS_DAMS LIST INTERNET.pdf

No Name of Dam Closest Town Province River Wall Type Purpose Capacity (1000 cub m)
137 KOGELBERG DAM GRABOUW WESTERN CAPE PALMIET ARCH & EARTHFILL INDUSTRIAL USE (HYDROPOWER) 19300

Edit: Also of interest:

243 ROCKVIEW DAM GRABOUW WESTERN CAPE PALMIET ROCKFILL HYDROPOWEWR & DOMESTIC 16400

Edit: It seems Kogelberg/Rockview/Steenbras-Upper are all used for pumped-storage hydropower, but also transfer some water when there is surplus in the Palmiet River basin. It is not desirable to empty those dams, but in theory they are part of the Day Zero emergency reserve.

 

[Aghori]

The solution is quite simple. Either buy water or move out of the desert.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Started replacing them with more water wise plants, that require little to no watering.

Nice.

That dessert rose needs a larger pot soon, once it takes root it goes ballistic. Also that plant to the left of it also grows quickly. Really nice in the garden and we have seldom watered ours, actually gave 90% of them away recently to make space in the garden.

 

[xrapidx]

Nice.

That dessert rose needs a larger pot soon, once it takes root it goes ballistic. Also that plant to the left of it also grows quickly. Really nice in the garden and we have seldom watered ours, actually gave 90% of them away recently to make space in the garden.

Yeh - that lot never gets watered.

We usually break pieces off and move them around - amazing how they're coping. I now have about 10 planters to fill - and about 20m of garden beds which look like sand pits.

The Milnerton market usually has interesting waterwise plants, so going to go visit on Sunday. Popped into Builders yesterday, and they've put serious markup on waterwise plants. R130 for a single plant in some cases.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Garden - go zen, gravel and stone.

Pots - Cacti

TexMex ? No thanks...

 

[Rouxenator]

When you say a dam is small, just how long will it take for Cape Town to drain it?

 

[greg_SA]

When you say a dam is small, just how long will it take for Cape Town to drain it?

Quicker than a large one?

 

[Rouxenator]

Quicker than a large one?

Unlikely, the rate as which the actual (not media) consumption has come down it might take a bit longer. People are quick to downplay smaller dams, but they can last for a while.

 

[greg_SA]

Unlikely, the rate as which the actual (not media) consumption has come down it might take a bit longer. People are quick to downplay smaller dams, but they can last for a while.

Maybe add some context to your original post... at the moment, it just sounds like you don't understand basic physics :crylaugh:

 

[noxibox]

While I have no doubt that things could get very bad in terms of crime and civil unrest (even though every other town in this country that's run out of water indicates otherwise), the idea that the water situation could lead to civil war is a load of doo doo.

In fact in general water should not lead to war, because unlike some resources it isn't in short supply or running out. Solutions exist to extract water and distribute it while not destroying the environment.

Yeah go burn those dams down..

I suspect the ANCYL and ANCWL might really try it, and then wonder why they can't get the water to burn.

What we did when we had water restrictions up here in Gauteng is we applied a rationing process to the plants as well. ALL got water, but not nec enough to make them flourish. We only lost two plants.

That's long been my policy with the garden. I have to look after the garden, so I want the least hassle.

 

[noxibox]

Deputy mayor - "together we can push out day zero".

The word avoid is no longer used.

It means fundamentally same thing if, as in 2017, it is pushed out to a point where rainfall increases the supply.

 

[C4Cat]

It will take only one major rainstorm over the catchment areas, sometime over the next 3 months, to save us from day 0. It's happened before in the late summer months and can happen again! We live in hope!

 

[SauRoNZA]

Press release on Tues 30th. Water was cut on Fri 26th. I'm not a mind reader!

Aaah, that wasn’t forthcoming from your post.

 

[Geoff.D]

Yeh - that lot never gets watered.

We usually break pieces off and move them around - amazing how they're coping. I now have about 10 planters to fill - and about 20m of garden beds which look like sand pits.

The Milnerton market usually has interesting waterwise plants, so going to go visit on Sunday. Popped into Builders yesterday, and they've put serious markup on waterwise plants. R130 for a single plant in some cases.

You missed painting the window wall to the right of the window and you messed some paint on the window frame ..

 

[xrapidx]

You missed painting the window wall to the right of the window and you messed some paint on the window frame ..

Original paint from when we bought the house in 2009 - repainting is immenent. Just not happy with the quotes so far (as per the DIY thread) - +-R90k for exterior and roof work.