Mayor Patricia de Lille visited the site of a pilot project for the abstraction of water from the Table Mountain Group Aquifer (TMGA) at the Steenbras catchment area yesterday.
This came as the Western Cape water crisis deepens.
The Table Mountain Group (TMG) is a deep-lying group of rock formations or layers that extends from Van Rynsdorp to Cape Town and from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth.
“The TMG aquifers have the potential to develop a large scale scheme to augment the City’s water supply on a more permanent basis,” De Lille said afterwardsi.
“The City is currently drilling test abstraction boreholes in the Steenbras catchment area, which will inform the design of a full-scale well field and support a water use licence application for full-scale production.”
The City had also identified other areas with access to the TMG aquifers that could be developed as part of the broader water resilience project that aims to ensure water security in the years beyond 2018, it said.
“The yield from the other areas of the TMG aquifers such as the Helderberg, South Peninsula and Wemmershoek will be approximately 50 to 60 million litres per day.
“The TMG aquifers have the potential to develop a large scale scheme to augment the City’s water supply on a more permanent basis,” said De Lille.
“Capetonians have done well to save water as illustrated by the fact that Day Zero has been moved out to May 13 next year, but we still need to do more if we are to avoid Day Zero altogether.”
De Lille said if every
person did not reduce their water use to 87 litres per person per day there was still a risk that residents would have to queue for water daily at collection sites across the city.
“We can only beat this drought if we work together: each person saves water
while the City brings its side of the bargain to bring
additional supply.
“Climate change means that we cannot rely only on rainwater to supply our needs and we all have to fundamentally change our relationship with water,” she said.