Cape Town of South Africa Will Be Running Out of Water in April-Social Media & Desalination Come To The Rescue
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precious water drop (presented at WindermereSun.com) -
water purple (presented at WindermereSun.com) -
high speed photography of water drop (presented at WindermereSun.com) -
water (presented at WindermereSun.com) -
Talita Van der Heever (L) using WhatsApp to help to alleviate Cape Town, South Africa's water crisis (presented at WindermereSun.com)
Dear Friends & Neighbors,
Talita Van der Heever (L) using WhatsApp to help to alleviate Cape Town, South Africa’s water crisis (presented at WindermereSun.com)
precious water drop (presented at WindermereSun.com)
water purple (presented at WindermereSun.com)
high speed photography of water drop (presented at WindermereSun.com)
water (presented at WindermereSun.com)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
We Floridians have been blessed with both natural resources of plentiful water and a well organized and planned state and city governments. A recent report of another part of the planet earth should remind us all not to take these things for granted.
Drought, dramatic increase in population, and rapidly changing climate have brought the city of Cape Town in South Africa to the edge of disaster. It’s been forecasted that on April 16 (some say it might be April 12), 2018 (aka Day Zero), Cape Town’s tap will run dry. It is understandable that these people would be angry, confused, and afraid.
Cape Town is the second largest city in South Africa and a top international tourist area. But now each day residents play a delicate game of water math, from recycling bath water to help flush toilets to limiting showers to 90 second duration. Hand sanitizer, once somewhat of an afterthought, now is in high demand. The city has lowered the water pressure in its mains to help stretch the water supply. But residents of Cape Town still haven’t dropped their water use sufficiently, according to Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, leaving the city with 86 million liters above the target usage goal. “It is quite unbelievable that majority of the people do not seem to care and are sending all of us headlong towards Day Zero. We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them.”
For a closer look at Desalination of seawater, please refer to the video below:
So, beginning on Feb. 1, 2018, residents of Cape Town will only be allowed to use 50 liters (a little over 13 gallons) of water per person, per day, and irrigation will be restricted to Tuesdays and Saturdays for one hour, before 9:00 am and after 6:00 pm.
Water crisis has been an issue for Cape Town since 1990’s, but nothing has been done to remedy the situation. Now a resident of the South African city of East London, Talita van Der Heever, is doing something about it. Out of her concern for need of water for the baby formula for her 18-month old daughter, van Der Heever recorded a message on WhatsApp and sent it to about 300 people she knew in East London. The message is very simple: We need to help Cape Townians before it’s too late. People in East London (of South Africa) were asked to donate two five-liter jugs of water to Cape Town. They also offer access to drop-off points across the city. Van der Heever also came up with a plan to carry the water to Cape Town using her inside knowledge of the farmers market. Thanks to social media, the response was overwhelming. In less than 24 hours, van der Heever’s WhatsApp account was inundated with requests from people and companies reaching out to donate water bottles, farmers pledging to transport water at no charge, and businesses offering their premises as drop-off points. As time goes on, she also received requests from other parts of South Africa to help Cape Town. Hurray for Social Media!
Now, allow me to introduce to you the World’s Largest Solar Powered Seawater Desalination Plant at Al Khafji (Saudi Arabia), the largest desalination plant fully powered by renewable solar energy.
Photographed, gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
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Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:
www.kiva.org/team/sunisthefuture
www.facebook.com/sunisthefuture
www.pinterest.com/sunisthefuture
www.youtube.com/user/sunisthefuture
www.cafepress.com/sunisthefuture
