 Water resources in South Africa are under “immense pressure”and the department wants to partner with communities to increase protection for wetlands and rivers.
“We realise that our water resources are under immense pressure from using water and from pollution impacts. We are taking various steps to improve that,even in our legislation where we make provision for the right of the natural water resource,”head of the Western Cape regional office in the department of water affairs resource protection section,Wilna Kloppers,told News24. The department is rolling out the Adopt a River programme that seeks to encourage communities to take responsibility for rivers and wetlands in the environment. The community of Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats recently adopted the Kuils River and an intensive clean-up has improved the area around the river,but Kloppers said that government remained committed to environmental responsibility. “The idea is that government and specific levels of government have a specific mandate and a specific responsibility and role to play.”
Continue reading Save our water  Fynbos,a vegetation found only in the Western Cape,is under serious threat from climate change,according to recent findings by a team of scientists.
University of Cape Town professor Michael Meadows and others found that winter rainfall for the province would decrease as the planet warmed due to a build-up of greenhouse gases. Some projections estimated that annual rainfall would reduce between 10 to 30% in winter rainfall zones by 2050,threatening more than 5 500 endemic plant species. “These plants are tough and they are already used to dry conditions. But further aridity could make fires more frequent as well,which could damage the soils and make it even harder for the native plants to survive here,”Meadows said in a statement. “Unfortunately,this is their only native habitat,so such a change here might eventually threaten their very existence.” The project was funded by the National Science Foundation in the US,and published in the Climate of the Past journal recently. The scientists extracted earth sediment samples from Verlorenvlei,an elongated former estuary at Eland’s Bay on the West Coast. They also looked at ice core data from Antarctica. Through the samples they reconstructed the history of the lake level fluctuations over the past 1800 years to show past rainfall patterns in the area.  Apple plans to power its main US data centre entirely with renewable energy by the end of this year,taking steps to address long-standing environmental concerns about the rapid expansion of high-consuming computer server farms.
The maker of the iPhone and iPad said on Thursday it was buying equipment from SunPower and startup Bloom Energy to build two solar array installations in and around Maiden,North Carolina,near its core data centre. Once up,the solar farm will supply 84 million kWh of energy annually.
Continue reading Apple to go Solar  The department of water affairs is determined to ensure that water resources are equitably used and that communities and officials work together to protect rivers and wetlands.
“A person sells a farm to somebody;you’ll find that a person owns the farm,but you don’t own the water. Some still have that water allocation,but they’re not using the water,”deputy minister of water affairs,Rejoice Mabudafhasi,told News24. Water allocations are a contentious issue in SA because it is a scarce resource and the agricultural sector currently consumes about 62%. On Wednesday,Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa,told Parliament that the government was pushing ahead with plans to create “water equity”. The department is considering limiting water entitlements that can currently be sold or traded.
Continue reading Water allocations in South Africa  Eskom will in the next few weeks issue tenders worth more than R500m to contractors for installing energy-saving equipment in homes across the country.
The value of the work is estimated at up to R2 000 per house,but it will cost homeowners nothing. The contractors’accounts will be settled by Eskom. A R500m trial run has effected a 80MW saving on the national power grid during peak periods. On Friday Andrew Etzinger,head of demand management at Eskom,told Sake24 that the new tenders will be considerably larger than those of the trial,but the Eskom board still has to determine the exact amount.
Continue reading Eskom to instal energy saving equipment  Attempts to recover the fishing trawler which ran aground at Clifton’s First Beach will resume on Monday morning,says City of Cape Town spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.
The 50m Eihatsu Maru ran aground in thick fog at 05:15 on Saturday,with 28 Taiwanese crew and a dog on board. Solomons-Johannes said 19 of them were evacuated. The remaining crew and the captain are still on board as per the requirements of international maritime law. The dog remained on board on the insistence of the captain,its owner. Solomons-Johannes said marine engineers had initially considered fitting a metal plate to the ship to tow it. However,the plan was aborted. There is reportedly 90 tons of fuel and ammonia on board. The Disaster Risk Management Centre conducted an aerial surveillance on Sunday afternoon to prepare for any eventuality. Solomons-Johannes said the salvage operation had been suspended for the day at 16:45 due to unfavourable surf conditions that would have endangered the safe operation of the tug boats and the crew on-board. It was not known what made the trawler run aground. Its engines remained in working order and generators continued to work. The thick fog was suspected to have played a role.  Tiny Pacific nations which are most at threat from rising seas have vowed to dump diesel and other dirty expensive fuels blamed for causing global warming and replace them with clean sources.
Using coconut biofuel and solar panels,Tokelau –which consists of three island dots half way between New Zealand and Hawaii –plans to become self-sufficient in energy this year. The leaders of other so-called small island states around the world made commitments at a meeting this week organized by the UN Development Program and the Barbados government. The Cook Islands and Tuvalu in the Pacific are aiming to get all of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020,while St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean is aiming for 60% from renewables by 2020.
Continue reading Clean energy for Pacific nations  Petty hunters,corrupt wildlife officials and Asian traffickers have all been snared in South Africa’s crackdown on rhino poaching as special prosecutors battle syndicates feeding the trade in horns.
More than 160 people are currently before the courts,exposing the complex supply chain stretching from South African parks to Southeast Asian consumers,said Joanie Spies,a prosecutor with the Rhino Project. “Slowly but surely we’re moving upward and getting higher people who did not pull the trigger,”said Spies. The National Prosecuting Authority set up the team to help combat the dramatic surge in poaching that has seen more than 200 rhino killed so far this year. The cases have exposed corruption within the systems meant to protect the animals.
Continue reading Crackdown on rhino poaching  Municipalities in Gauteng have given that province the top score for its drinking water in South Africa after a national analysis conducted by the department of water affairs.
Gauteng scored 98.1% for its Blue Drop certification,followed by the Western Cape with 94.2% and KwaZulu-Natal at 92.1%. The Blue Drop and Green Drop programmes aim to recognise excellence in the management of drinking and waste water respectively. Ekurhuleni jumped from fourth position in 2011 to take the top score this year,pushing the City of Johannesburg to second. Mogale City Local Municipality in Gauteng rounded out the top three with 98.7%.
Continue reading Gauteng scored 98.1% for its Blue Drop certification  Water affairs has red-flagged 14 municipalities in seven provinces,warning residents of numerous small rural towns in these areas not to drink untreated tap water.
According to the 2012 Blue Drop report,released by Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa on Monday,the warning remains in place until the management of the affected municipalities communicated otherwise. “Residents and visitors are hereby warned not to consume the tap water supplied in these towns without some form of acceptable disinfecting treatment at home [boiling or the addition of bleach],”the report states. The municipalities include: - Ikwezi Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape,including Jansenville,Klipplaat,Waterford and Wolwefontein; - Koukamma Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape,including Clarkson,Coldstream,Joubertina,Kareedouw,Krakeel,Sanddrif,Stormsrivier and Woodlands;
Continue reading Red-flagged municipal water | 
Water Rhapsody a WWF Green Trust award winner can save us up to 90% of our municipal water bills.” |
Water resources in South Africa are under “immense pressure”and the department wants to partner with communities to increase protection for wetlands and rivers.
