Cape Town are 80 days from running out of water

mugsymugsy

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

New builds in fingal require rain water harvesters. Handy for watering the plants, but unfortunately not suitable for toilets.

Thanks didn't know that!

A Little Pony

ANC must be scrambling to find a way to blame the white man.

El Tarangu

wakka12 wrote: »

And its not that big a deal anyway, there'll always be enough water reserved for drinking water so its not like anybody is going to die. There just wont be any water for toilets/showers/washing dishes

I recently had plumbing issues that made it difficult to do all these things for a few days; sure, I wasn't going to die of dehydration, but it wasn't very much fun.

Alun

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

New builds in fingal require rain water harvesters. Handy for watering the plants, but unfortunately not suitable for toilets.

Why on earth not? I though that was one of the main reasons for installing them, at least proper RWH systems anyway, we're not talking about the plastic water butt fed from the downpipe type of thing here.

Pepefrogok

A Little Pony wrote: »

ANC must be scrambling to find a way to blame the white man.

Won't be long until whites get less rations due to their privilege! Well I suppose if Labour in the UK can charge white people more than black people to attend a conference why not?

wakka12

El Tarangu wrote: »

I recently had plumbing issues that made it difficult to do all these things for a few days; sure, I wasn't going to die of dehydration, but it wasn't very much fun.

I know its really bad!
But the thread title implies literally no water, people going to be causing war over literally having no water to even drink

A Little Pony

Pepefrogok wrote: »

A Little Pony wrote: »

ANC must be scrambling to find a way to blame the white man.

Won't be long until whites get less rations due to their privilege! Well I suppose if Labour in the UK can charge white people more than black people  to attend a conference why not?

As Trump would say it's a ****hole. They couldn't even hold a good World cup. Worst World cup in decades.

Colonel Claptrap

Alun wrote: »

Why on earth not? I though that was one of the main reasons for installing them, at least proper RWH systems anyway, we're not talking about the plastic water butt fed from the downpipe type of thing here.

Apologies, I was referring to a water butt. I thought they were one and the same. Thanks.

testicles

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Dakota Dan

testicles wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You could store and transport it on your, oh never mind

Too Tough To Die

A Little Pony wrote: »

ANC must be scrambling to find a way to blame the white man.

It's the DA's problem. Doubt the ANC are too bothered.

Chrongen

El Tarangu wrote: »

The bigger the icecube, the less surface area will be in contact with the water, the longer it will take to melt.

The idea is not as mad as you think.

Yes, but that was a market for ice, not water? Ice was needed refrigerate things, prior to the development of artificial refrigeration. Why would you bother shipping frozen water to people from the poles when you can just ship water to them from lakes and rivers that are closerby?

Chrongen

kneemos wrote: »

Oil is a commodity,you wouldn't be selling the water.

You want to live in an arid climate then you are going to wind up paying for water.

If I live in a freezing country I'm going to have to pay for heat, no?

Chrongen

Dakota Dan wrote: »

They said on the 9th of January that they can get 150 million litres of water a day from the cape flat and Atlantis aquifers, makes one wonder if the media are making a mountain out of a molehill.

http://www.capetownetc.com/news/aquifers-cape-town-deliver-water-expected/

That's still only 40 litres a day per person. So that's a quick shower and 2 jacks flushes.

Chrongen

Dakota Dan wrote: »

If water charges were enforced all the above would be happening.

Can you explain why all of the above are NOT happening in countries that DO have water charges?

Another water-charge sore ass who has buyer's remorse.

Chrongen

wakka12 wrote: »

With current fuel resources/methods water desalination plants are incredibly wasteful and unsustainable. I think I read somewhere that they won't be viable until fusion power technology is available

And its not that big a deal anyway, there'll always be enough water reserved for drinking water so its not like anybody is going to die. There just wont be any water for toilets/showers/washing dishes

Where Wakka? Everywhere or in certain spots?

rossie1977

Cape Town is one the world's great cities. I was just there in December and the water crisis was really kicking in. You see huge notices in the airport when you land. Pools have been closed since last April/May across the city, they have buckets in the showers to collect water to flush the toilet and even at the beach the water has been turned off.

But this is only the beginning. Cape Town won't be the last major metropolitan area to face such a crisis over the next decade. US cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas are only one or two below average snowfalls winters from following suit. Lake Mead hit all time record low levels and the drought on the western us states has been going on 16 years now https://www.nbcnews.com/video/lake-mead-reaches-record-low-water-levels-amid-ongoing-drought-320641091566

Chrongen

testicles wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

No more than 100 ml allowed onboard, remember.

You might turn it into a bomb and down the airplane.

Chrongen

rossie1977 wrote: »

Cape Town is one the world's great cities. I was just there in December and the water crisis was really kicking in. You see huge notices in the airport when you land. Pools have been closed since last April/May across the city, they have buckets in the showers to collect water to flush the toilet and even at the beach the water has been turned off.

But this is only the beginning. Cape Town won't be the last major metropolitan area to face such a crisis over the next decade. US cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas are only one or two below average snowfalls winters from following suit. Lake Mead hit all time record low levels and the drought on the western us states has been going on 16 years now https://www.nbcnews.com/video/lake-mead-reaches-record-low-water-levels-amid-ongoing-drought-320641091566

So what actually caused this? Drought, I guess?

muppetshow1451

Chrongen wrote: »

Hmm......tow an iceberg 4000 miles from Antarctica to Cape Town in summer.

Journey should take about 8 days.

Try this. Get a glass and half fill it with salt water. Then get a few icecubes from the freezer and plonk them into the glass. Now take that glass and walk with it for a mile on the hottest day of the year and see how much of your cubes are left floating in the glass when you get there.

Its not impossible,but expensive and faces several challenges.
I have towed several icebergs outside Greenland cause they are a risk to offshore installations.
We need to use a fiberrope cause its lighter than a steel cable,and it floats.
So you use it to go around the iceberg untill the ends meet and connect up to our main tow wire,problem then it could slip over the iceberg,so you have to go very slower else you have to start all over again.
Another problem is the seatemperature when coming to warmer areas where the iceberg starts to melt and could start to brake apart.
And the cost of an offshore tug could be anything from 30000-75000 $ a day,and you probably need atleast 2 tugs,so its probably cheaper to send a tanker down to antartica and fill her up and back for the same price.

rossie1977

Chrongen wrote: »

So what actually caused this? Drought, I guess?

Extreme drought in the western cape but also the explosion in population of Cape Town. Between 2001 and 2011 population increased by 30%.

*checks distance from cape town*

*Carries on with day*

Chrongen

muppetshow1451 wrote: »

Its not impossible,but expensive and faces several challenges.
I have towed several icebergs outside Greenland cause they are a risk to offshore installations.
We need to use a fiberrope cause its lighter than a steel cable,and it floats.
So you use it to go around the iceberg untill the ends meet and connect up to our main tow wire,problem then it could slip over the iceberg,so you have to go very slower else you have to start all over again.
Another problem is the seatemperature when coming to warmer areas where the iceberg starts to melt and could start to brake apart.
And the cost of an offshore tug could be anything from 30000-75000 $ a day,and you probably need atleast 2 tugs,so its probably cheaper to send a tanker down to antartica and fill her up and back for the same price.

Or just start building water pipelines from water sources to population centres?

Chrongen

rossie1977 wrote: »

Extreme drought in the western cape but also the explosion in population of Cape Town. Between 2001 and 2011 population increased by 30%.

Is there a similar problem in other parts of SA?

What's the population of the Western Cape?

muppetshow1451

Chrongen wrote: »

Or just start building water pipelines from water sources to population centres?

If you can find any reliable source?that could be one of the main problems in Africa and middle east in general.

bodhrandude

We could do with swapping the Galway City Climate with Cape Town, some amount of rainfall here today.

rossie1977

Chrongen wrote: »

Is there a similar problem in other parts of SA?

What's the population of the Western Cape?

Population is roughly 6 million of which Cape Town and the surrounding environs make up close to 4 million.

Seems to be only the Western cape that's been badly effected by drought

Deise Vu

I was in Cape Town last November. Bizarre that a city right beside the sea that has howling gales blowing in from the ocean every day and a cloud covering Table Mountain most of the time but there is no precipitation. Maybe some meteorologist could enlighten us?

I was staying in the poshest hotel I ever stayed in my life - The Table Mountain Bay Hotel and there were signs everywhere asking you to reconsider flushing the loo. There seemed to be plenty of money about but it seems they seriously fúcked up when it came to keeping the water infrastructure up to speed with other developments and were slow to take precautions when the drought hit three years ago.

VinLieger

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Not everywhere is like Ireland.

Ohh i love people who think Ireland is corrupt compared to SA.....

You really live a very sheltered and comfortable life

shaunr68

50 litres per person per day! I bet we use less than that now in our house. Short showers, two loads of washing per week and toilet flushed twice a day. We lived for a year in a motorhome touring the continent which really opened our eyes as to water consumption. An 80 litre onboard fresh water tank plus 25 litre jerry can carried as "reserve" would last us 2-3 days. The Truma water heater operated on mains or gas and had a tank capacity of 7 litres heated to 70c which was sufficient (mixed with cold of course) for two short showers. 50 litres per person per day is no hardship at all as long as people are careful.