South Africa is a water-scarce country with an average rainfall of 450 millimetres — compared to a world average of 860 mm — and conditions are expected to worsen as a result of global climate warming.

“South Africa has a boundary consisting of approximately 3,000 kilometres of sea water, and this water is presently unusable because of its high salt content,” Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said in her budget vote speech on Thursday.

“We therefore made a decision to press ahead with unconventional water treatment, in this case desalination, largely because of the unavailability of river water due to drought,” she said.

Popular tourist coastal towns Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, George and Mossel Bay are facing severe water shortages due to prolonged drought in the southern Cape region.

These towns have turned to purifying seawater, as well as treating so-called grey water — waste water generated from domestic activities like laundry and bathing — to help meet their drinking needs.

Cape Town is also eyeing the option of desalinating water.

“Desalination has become the preferred purification option in terms of both the cost benefit and the flexibility of application,” Sonjica said.

However, she said the government needed to exercise caution in extending its desalination programme because of possible negative effects to the environment.

“There is ample scientific evidence that the impact of the effluents from the desalination plants on the seawater environment increase the seawater temperature, salinity, water current and turbidity,” said Sonjica.

Desalination is big business in the desert conditions of some Middle East countries, where it is a major supplier of clean drinking water to economic hubs such as Dubai.

Think of the climate in South Africa – we have less water per capita than Namibia and Botswana. The variable in the equation, PRICE, is bound to increase for South African’s relative to world prices. And what if global warming cause world prices of water to rise?

Sewage as well as animal blood and offcuts are apparently being dumped into the Vaal River, The Weekender reported on Saturday.

An abbatoir in Frankfort was pumping animal blood and offcuts into its evaporation dam which was in turn seeping into the Vaal River, Freedom Front Plus Mafube municipality councillor Peter van der Westhuizen said.

“We saw a large area of red in the water.

“We are conducting tests to establish exactly what is causing it”.

A member of the Blue Scorpions Nigel Adams confirmed the dumping of the animal offcuts, saying it had first been noticed during an aerial survey.

Van der Westhuizen also said court orders since 2004 had not managed to get the municipality to repair broken pipes and water purification works which were allegedly causing sewage to ooze over the ground that leads into the Vaal River.

Water scientist and activist Professor Anthony Turton said sewage, in particular, was causing a build-up of blue-green algae containing microcystims which are deadly.

“Some of SA’s dams contain some of the highest levels of microcystins (in the world), caused by sewage being pumped into the water supply.

“In Finland, they get excited if they find 10 micrograms of microcystins per litre in their water, and in the US, they are concerned if there are 60 micrograms per litre.”

Turton said in SA the five largest dams have between 10 000 and 16 00 micrograms of microcystins per litre. He said the only way to filter these out of the water was by using an activated charcoal filter.

Rand Water Board spokesperson Francois van Wyk said at the moment the water of the Vaal was safe.

He said the level of microcystins decreases during the cold winter months. Van Wyk said the board kept a close watch on microcystin levels.

Mayor Louis Ntombela said the sewerage was caused by a “broken pump” at the sewerage works.

He said the problem was “the timing of getting one fixed so that there is still one working.

“At first I would say it was a problem of finances but the problem was solved some six months ago. The regular breaking down of the pump station was the problem.”

Dirk Niesing, a health and safety consultant called in to investigate the issue by an environmental group, said while the discharge of sewage into the dam was not necessarily “a deliberate act… it is due to negligence and poor maintenance of the sewerage works.”

The Blue Scorpions’ Adams said municipalities which do not comply with court orders to stop pumping raw sewage into the Vaal River could now face criminal charges.

This week, he was investigating the alleged transgressions at the Vaal River.

He said police forensic team was collecting photographic evidence and scientific samples so that a fresh case could be brought against Mafube Municipality which includes areas like Villiers, Frankfort, Cornelia and Tweeling. – Sapa