Cape Town's dam levels decline 0.3%
Dams that supply Cape Town have declined by 0.3 percent over the past week to 46.3 percent of storage capacity, the City of Cape Town announced on Monday.
According to the City’s records, dams were at 20.8 percent of storage capacity at the same time last year, and at 22.4 percent of storage capacity in 2017.
Engineering News, 6 May 2019
Steering the flow of water in modern cities
One definition of a resilient, smart city is a city that harnesses all resources at its disposal to cope with multiple challenges. Yet we find that existing water sector investments currently favour "built infrastructure" to pipe, store and filter water, writes David Schaub-Jones, Water Funds Programme Manager at The Nature Conservancy and an African Utility Week Advisory Board member.
Urban water utilities in sub-Saharan Africa source at least half of their public water supply from surface water (3.5 billion cubic meters annually), while the rest of the supply comes primarily from groundwater.
ESI Africa, 6 May 2019
Dirty sea water brings Cape Town desalination plant to a halt
The ZAR60 million V&A Waterfront desalination plant has been sitting dormant since February. Quality Filter Systems (QFS), the plant owner and contractor, said the decision to stop operation was due to concerns about the "legality" of the ocean water being injected into the plant, GroundUp reports.
According to QFS managing director Herman Smit, the company sent a letter to the City of Cape Town in February asking for confirmation that the feed water is safe for injection, but there has been "no clarity or instructions" from the city in response to its concerns.
Engineering News, 9 May 2019
UN, AfDB drive UN international water management body
The African Development Bank and the United Nations Water Convention have agreed to jointly encourage African countries to join the UN water management organisation.
The aim is to promote integrated and sustainable management of surface and groundwater resources.
ESI Africa, 10 May 2019
The above reflects a summary of certain news articles published during the preceding week.
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