News24 Business | As dams overflow, Cape Town braces for future droughts

The Athlone public swimming pool was emptied due to local water restrictions in 2018. (Photo by Morgana Wingard/Getty Images)

For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.Cape Town, which came dangerously close to running out of water in 2018 amid the worst drought on record, is considering building new desalination plants and treating wastewater to diversify its future supply and reduce reliance on dams.

Water levels at reservoirs that supply South Africa’s second-biggest metropolis fell to less than a 10th of their capacity during the drought, and residents were restricted to using 50 liters a day for cooking, washing and bathing.

While the dams are currently overflowing after heavy winter rains, the authorities are taking steps to meet a growing population’s needs, according to the city’s latest water outlook. It also anticipates that more water will need to be stored to fight wildfires as climate change intensifies and rainfall potentially declines.

“Cape Town has learnt that we cannot solely rely on dams for water security, so the city is busy investing in its new water program,” Zahid Badroodien, the mayoral committee member for water and sanitation, said in a reply to questions. “The strategy aims to build resilience to the effects of climate change and future droughts that are expected to be more frequent and severe.”

The city currently uses about 862 million liters of water a day, and that is expected to rise by 300 million liters by 2030. Almost half of that will come from new projects including a desalination plant to be installed in the main harbour. Another plant, the Faure New Water Scheme, will process wastewater to make it suitable for drinking.

Feasibility studies underway “will consider suitable external mechanisms for the most effective options for financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed plants,” Badroodien said, declining to estimate a cost for either facility.

The city’s other planned interventions include drilling new boreholes, tapping springs and clearing invasive plants to save water and increase supply.