Cape Town - World Water Day is celebrated every year on this day to raise awareness of the importance of the preservation of water and the numerous people who still do not have access to safe drinking water.
This year it is celebrated under the theme of “Groundwater”.
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is celebrating the day with a commitment to enhance its efforts to explore the use of groundwater as an alternative water source to ensure water security in communities affected by water supply challenges.
One such plan was the City’s plan to invest R4.7 billion in projects to bring about 105Ml/day of groundwater online to contribute to its drinking supply by 2036.
Water and Sanitation Mayco member Zahid Badroodien said this groundwater supply target was part of the City’s New Water Programme and Water Strategy which identified the Cape Flats Aquifer and the Table Mountain Group Aquifer as resources that could be used to augment water supply within the Western Cape Water Supply System and ensure that Cape Town’s water supply was able to navigate future droughts.
“The City will be investing approximately R2.6bn into the Cape Flats Aquifer project. The boreholes are expected to produce 50 to 60 million litres a day, incrementally starting this year, to help ensure that Cape Town’s drinking water supply is reliable in the face of unpredictable rainfall and climate change,” Badroodien said.
The national DWS’s Surface and Groundwater Information director, Zacharia Maswuma, commended the City for investigating the groundwater potential.
However, humanitarian aid charity World Vision SA warned that clean and safe drinking water availability was becoming less predictable for many families and communities despite the organisation’s drive to install boreholes and water tanks for sanitation in vulnerable water-scare communities.
Maswuma also sent a stern warning to civil society and business to prevent and stop the pollution of groundwater as the results crippled efforts by government towards the provision of water for all.