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Cape Town’s mayoral committee said on Tuesday it had approved the stepping up of water restrictions to level two.
In a statement the city said the item will now go before council for deliberation on December 10.
“As we are situated in a water-scarce region, the city imposes level 1 restrictions [10% water savings] at all times. Because the city’s dam levels are approximately 15% lower than the norm for this time of year, it was proposed that the city implement level 2 restrictions [20% savings] to preserve the long-term sustainability of the resource.”
If passed by council, residents will have to abide by the following, more stringent regulations:
– No watering (e.g. using buckets) of a garden, sports field, or other grassed area using potable water between 09:00 and 16:00. Facilities/customers making use of boreholes or other alternative sources are not exempt.
– No watering (e.g. using buckets) will be permitted within 24 hours of rainfall that provides adequate saturation. Facilities/customers making use of boreholes or other alternative sources are not exempt.
– Irrigation (e.g. hose pipe/sprinklers) is only to take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during approved hours, and for no longer than an hour in total. Facilities/customers making use of boreholes or other alternative sources are not exempt.
– If alternative water sources are utilised, customers should ensure that they display signage to this effect clearly visible from a public thoroughfare.
– Where a hosepipe is used for irrigation, it must have a controlling device attached at the end.
– No washing or hosing down of hard-surfaced or paved areas with potable (drinking) water.
– A hosepipe used for washing vehicles must be fitted with an automatic self-closing device.
– Automatic top-up systems for swimming pools and garden ponds are not allowed. Furthermore, the use of a pool cover is recommended.
– Commercial car-wash industries must comply with industry best practice norms. Informal car washes must use buckets rather than hosepipes.
– Wash basins in public facilities must be fitted with demand-type taps.
– Showers provided at public facilities must be fitted with demand-type valves.
– Potable water may not be used to dampen sand or other building material to prevent these materials from being blown away.
– Standpipe draw-off taps must be of a height of at least 450 mm, measured above ground level.
– The maximum flow rate from any tap installed at a hand basin may not exceed 6 litres per minute.
– The maximum flow rate of any showerhead may not exceed 10 litres per minute.
– Water closet cisterns may not exceed 9,5 litres in capacity.
– Automatic flushing cisterns or tipping tanks shall not be used for flushing a urinal.
– All automatic flushing cisterns fitted to urinals must be replaced with manually operated systems, or non-manual apparatus that only flushes after each use.
– Terminal water fittings (taps and outlets) installed outside any buildings, other than residential buildings, must incorporate a self-closing device; or have a removable handle for operating purposes; or be capable of being locked to prevent unauthorised use; or be of a demand type that limits water use for each operation.
– Water audits must be undertaken annually by major water users (more than 10 000 kl a month), but excluding where these are multiple dwelling units.
– No person may allow water to run continuously to waste except for maintaining a prescribed level of total dissolved solids in a recirculating plant.
– Ornamental water features may only be operated if the water is recycled.
Fourteen silos holding about 11 500 tons of canola seeds collapsed at the Sentraal-Suid Koöperasie (SSK) in Swellendam on Tuesday, 01 December 2015, at around 08:30 am.
CEO Erenst Pelser said: “About 08h30 this morning I received a call from one personnel. I rushed down there and when I arrived 14 silos were down,”, “Fortunately no personnel were injured and that’s actually a miracle. Luckily, they were on the other side of the premises, busy on the wheat and barley side.”
A team of engineers were expected in Swellendam on Wednesday morning to investigate the cause of the collapse, and also to advise the agricultural co-operative how it could recover the canola seeds.
Beijing – A gas leak at a steel parts factory in eastern China has killed 10 people and left seven others hospitalized with poisoning.
The Zouping County government says on its official micro blog the leak occurred late on Saturday and poisoned 17 people, five of whom died immediately. It says five more died early on Sunday, and the cause of the leak is under investigation.
Satellite images show the factory next to warehouses and low-rise residential homes in a village about 60km east of Jinan, the Shandong provincial capital.
The deadly leak is the latest industrial accident in China, where authorities are under pressure to improve work safety after a huge chemical blast in Tianjin killed at least 140 people and left a swath of the port city in smoldering ruins.
A wave of toxic mud traveling down the Rio Doce river in Brazil from a collapsed dam has reached the Atlantic Ocean, amid concerns it will cause severe pollution.
The waste has traveled more than 500km (310 miles) since the dam at an iron mine collapsed two weeks ago.
Samarco, the mine owner, has tried to protect plants and animals by building barriers along the banks of the river.
Workers have dredged the river mouth to help the mud flow out to sea fast.
The contaminated mud, tested by the water management authorities, was found to contain toxic substances like mercury, arsenic, chromium and manganese at levels exceeding human consumption levels.
Footage has emerged online of an Eskom substation engulfed in flames after an explosion at the Mpumalanga plant. According to the Steelburger, the explosion happened at around 7pm on Sunday night. The Eskom employees at scene were unable to provide a reason for the transmitter exploding. The fire was allegedly only extinguished at 2am on Monday.
The water shortages in parts of Johannesburg were not a crisis because they could be managed, Co-operative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan said.
“The water outage in the south was due to the power failure affecting our systems,” he said, indicating people in high-lying areas were affected.
Water tankers
Earlier the City of Johannesburg said three water tankers deployed following the shortages had been stolen in Westdene, Crown Gardens and South Hills.
Water towers in Brixton and Crown Gardens in Johannesburg almost ran dry this week when demand exceeded supply.
Pump station problem
The Democratic Alliance (DA) said the problem was with Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station.
“Rand Water needs to come clean and explain to the residents of Gauteng why its Eikenhof pump station reportedly stopped pumping water due to a power failure,” DA MP Mike Waters said.
Shortage of bottled water
As the shortages hit Gauteng, some supermarkets on Wednesday had a shortage of bottled water and one put up a sign saying “We have no water”.
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A second independent heritage impact assessment was conducted at Eskom’s Medupi power plant by Mbofho Consulting and Projects. This assessment found a total of 20 heritage sites, which included seven graves, at the site of the power plant.
It appears that the first impact assessment that was conducted prior to construction in 2007 only yielded one grave. The grave that was found belonged to a six-year old boy, and his body was exhumed in 2007. The families say they weren’t consulted when the first heritage impact assessment took place before construction began in 2007. Recommendations from the first assessment suggests that more detailed public participation should have been done.
To remedy this, the second phase of the assessment used a community-driven approach, different from the traditional practice of heritage assessments.
“This approach was preferred to dispel the growing public mistrust that researchers may want to hide some evidence,” notes the assessment document. The new process relied on the claimants’ stories and them pointing out the burial sites at the power plant. Twelve claimants were interviewed (two members from each family) and an additional 15 members of the local community were also interviewed.
Eskom says while it accepts the findings of the assessment, it only knew of one grave when construction started in 2007. “From our point of view there’s no definite proof and the reason I say that is because when Eskom was doing the EIA (environmental impact assessment) we made it a point that we get the professionals, as far as archaeologists are concerned, to inspect the place,” said Abram Masango, acting Eskom group executive for Group Capital.
