Cape Town desalination plants

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 06: A view of the City of Cape Town’s R240m temporary desalination plant at Strandfontein Pavilion on February 06, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Its alleged that the desalination plant will only start producing the first two million litres of an expected seven million a day in March 2018. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)

Newly launched Cape Town desalination plants will pump 8m litres per day

Capetonians can breathe a lot easier now as the City of Cape Town has announced that three desalination plants have been launched.

Cape Town desalination plants

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 06: A view of the City of Cape Town’s R240m temporary desalination plant at Strandfontein Pavilion on February 06, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Its alleged that the desalination plant will only start producing the first two million litres of an expected seven million a day in March 2018. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)

As the winter draws to a close, Cape Town has received more rain and that means our dams have picked up some weight.

More positive news was announced by the Western Cape government when it confirmed that three desalination plants were up and running, and together, they would produce a cumulative total of eight million litres per day.

Where are the new desalination plants located?

There had been delays in the process of launching the desalination plants in Monwabisi, Strandfontein and the V&A Waterfront.

However, it seems now that they are operational and will hold up well in assisting the strained Cape Town water supply system.

Nothing but praise from Cape Town’s deputy Mayor

Dam levels have never looked this good in a while. Currently, overall levels are peaking at 56.9% and what is even better is that water is not being used in excess in Cape Town. People are still cautious about water wastage.

Alderman Ian Neilson, Cape Town’s deputy Mayor, revealed that the city’s average water use remains below the 500m threshold.

The City of Cape Town, in a statement, cited that it commends

“all the residents who continue to comply with water restrictions as a means of preserving the City’s precious water resources. [It] furthermore commends the staff of the City of Cape Town for their hard work and unwavering commitment to ensuring Cape Town’s taps don’t run dry.”

The City also clarified that if it were not for the increases in water tariffs, they would not be able to fund the launching of the three desalination plants.

The statement from the City of Cape Town ends off with

“The DA in the Western Cape remains committed to improving the livelihoods of all residents. We remain relentless in our efforts of ensuring the sustainability of our water resources for the benefit of all Capetonians.”