On April 26, in the full council sitting, I raised three issues with mayor Patricia de Lille regarding the deepening water crisis in Cape Town.
These were the Working for Water project, rain water harvesting and fog harvesting.
While the first two have been widely canvassed, fog harvesting has also to be drawn into the equation.
The Water Research Commission (WRC) invented an apparatus,
called the Whirly, that can be used to harvest water from fog during near-windless conditions.
The WRC has funded research projects to determine the feasibility of harvesting the fog and to optimise the structure and design of the systems.
I believe De Lille in conjunction with the provincial government, should embark on a joint pilot scheme to assess the magnitude and reliability of extracting water from fog.
Over the last few days, as everyone will have noticed, there has been very little rain but we have had a considerable amount of fog.
Captured water can be used for domestic, horticultural and agricultural purposes.
It is heartening to note that according to the International Development Research Centre, in addition to Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, the area with the most potential to benefit is the Atlantic coast of southern Africa.
If the fog along the coast and in our main catchment areas can contribute a percentage of our water needs and the costs are within acceptable levels, it is a source that must be tapped without delay.