Rand Water: Dams full but cities run dry

SA is moving into altered rainfall events with plenty of rain – but this has little impact on water security in the cities where taps are running dry, says water expert Prof Anthony Turton.

Recent heavy downpours in parts of the country may mean the dams are full, but this may not make any difference when it comes to addressing the water challenges faced by many residents.

Rainfall changes

Turton said the intensity of each rainfall event is bigger than it used to be. “Therefore, it translates into flooding but it doesn’t necessarily mean we are getting more rainfall per annum.

“It just means that the rain we’re getting is falling in very intense episodes and is causing the kind of problem that we have been seeing recently in the Vaal River area.

“This does not have any – thing to do with water security in the cities because that is dependent not only on water in dams, but the capacity to get the water out of the dams into water treatment plants, into bulk storage facilities and into the reticulation system into the cities,” Turton said.

“Even if the Vaal dam is full, you are still going to get significant water shortages.

“In fact, there are growing water crises in the entire area of Rand Water supply because of the absence of long-term planning and, most notably, the unregulated inward migration of people that has simply just overloaded the water supply systems.”

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‘Serious crisis’

Turton believes residents in the Eastern Cape are facing a serious crisis because in 2002, the National Water Resource Strategy was quite clear that 98% of all the water available in SA was allocated to a higher assurance of supply to some economic activity.

“It was also clear all of the coastal cities were going to run into significant water deficits by 2025 and, in the case of the winter rainfall areas – Eastern and Western Cape – the problem is you simply don’t have enough water left in the rivers.

“Unless you start thinking carefully about developing other alternative supplies of water, the economic prospects of both provinces are very dire.

“I cannot see a future for any of the coastal cities, from Cape Town to Gqeberha, with – out desalination plants. “Unless we invest in largescale sea water desalination, I do not see a bright economic future for the Eastern and Western Cape… I would, in fact, go so far as to say we have a strong probability of the local economy collapsing in the Eastern Cape, particularly around the vehicle industry, in a decade,”

Turton said. The rainfall prognosis for the winter rainfall areas, ac – cording to the South African Weather Service, points to below-normal rains. Another expert, Dr Lester Goldman, says while weather patterns will always affect water security, of more concern is the treatment of raw water, stressing that poor municipal performance is a greater concern.

“Local municipalities are in crisis and the recent Green Drop reports indicates the relatively poor performance.”

READ MORE: SA dam levels decrease after heavy rainfalls cease

– stephent@citizen.co.za