Cape Town’s temporary desalination plants will be online by ‘February 2018’

After yesterday’s rains across the metropole, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille briefed media, and Twitter, on updates regarding its water resilience scheme.

The scheme aims to “avoid a time when users do not have access to municipal drinking water”, de Lille explained.

“In terms of our Water Resilience Plan to augment supply with schemes, we are expecting the first water to come online by Dec 2017 /Jan 2018,” she tweeted.

The plan intends to add an additional 500-million litres per day to Cape Town’s water supply by using natural springs, aquifers, and desalination. The latter, however, won’t be ready this year.

“[W]ater from temporary land-based desalination plants is expected by February 2018,” she continued, stating that initially two plants are expected to be online.

I want to assure residents we will not allow a well-run city to run out of water. Today I outline the plan to avoid critical water shortages pic.twitter.com/Z9pQS21adL

— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) October 4, 2017

“These [plants] will be in Monwabisi & Strandfontein. Thereafter from March 2018 onwards, additional desalination projects are expected to come online.”

She also revealed that the resilience plan is subdivided into three phases.

I have met with returned with Water & Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane to discuss water security & licences for the emergency schemes.

— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) October 4, 2017

“The City activated Phase 1 with water rationing through pressure reduction,” she tweeted. “This is a critical stage where we must all do everything we can to stretch the water supply in our dams.”

Notably, Cape Town dams’ total storage failed to breach the 40% mark in September, thanks to below average rainfall.