“We can say that residents and visitors to the city of Johannesburg needn’t fear about the quality of water supply to city,” the utility’s laboratory support manager Russel Rimmer said.

Speaking at a briefing on the R3.1-billion program of improvements and replacements within the city’s 10,000 kilometer water mains network, he said they conduct more than the legally required number of sample tests on supplies they receive from Rand Water, and were confident that the city’s supplies were safe.

“We do over 40 tests on the samples to be 100 percent sure of the water quality,” he said.

“Sometimes we are even scared to brush our teeth and we go out [in Europe] and buy a bottle of water. So, our water is safe.”

They had recently won the “Blue Drop” award from the department of water affairs which said the city had the cleanest water nationally and ranked among the world’s best.

The George campus, known for its positive response to addressing energy and waste management on site, launched the Green Campus Initiative, of which the Sustainable Campus Project forms part, to compare three houses equipped with solar energy geysers and rainwater harvesting systems to a sample of identical houses utilising conventional systems.

“The Sustainable Campus Project is an exciting, living example of sustainable living that involves monitoring and comparing the daily energy and household water consumption of two groups of students living in houses on campus,” NMMU George campus marketing manager Alet van Tonder said.

The first step was to fit on-campus student homes with relevant green technologies, such as solar panels for heating water and simple mechanisms to ensure the sustainable use of that water. The research data will be used to raise awareness about “sustainable living”. The campus hopes the results of the six-month project will help to develop a practical model which could be applied to other campuses or institutions.

Neil Moll, owner of the company which donated the solar water heating systems, said: “We are … confident the research will prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that, indeed, it is possible to tread much lighter on Mother Earth.”

by Janine Oelofse

The Whisper Ball is a boat shaped like a ball which floats on the water powered by an eco-friendly electrical engine.

It was recognised as the most innovative boat invention of the year at the weekend.

Peter Jacops, chairperson of the Whisper Boat Building Academy for the Deaf in Khayelitsha, said he was extremely happy and excited at the news.

“Hopefully this will help us and the academy further so that we can take on more deaf youngsters and train them to become professional boat builders so that they can earn a decent living,” Jacops said.

The Whisper Ball is docked at the V and A Waterfront and floats around the harbour.

By Nikita Sylvester

If you are passing by villages like Sri Kolayat, Khajuwala, Pugal or Bajju near Bikaner, security guards protecting tanks or even ponds are a common sight. These are places where water is scarce and theft rampant.

Shyam Lal, from Khajuwala, says the guards even keep animals away from quenching their thirst in the local pond. “There are 8,000 villagers and they depend on this water body. So, we have hired four security guards to protect the pond round the clock. And the pond is also drying. It hasn’t rained here properly for nearly five years.”

Guards also ensure that no family gets more than its share. Each family’s quota is decided based on the number of members in the household.

“Often, villagers take away water using pipes and electric motors. But we keep check round the clock and keep outsiders and stray animals away from the water tanks,” said a guard.

A senior police official told TOI that cases of water theft for the purpose of irrigation was higher compared to stealing of drinking water. He claimed the police are also doing their best to keep water thieves at bay but the villagers prefer to let private guards do the protecting. Even if it means pooling in hard-earned money to pay for it.

Though no price has yet been put on the projects, Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told a media conference in Parliament that, ideally, her budget should be more than R100 billion over the three years. As it is, she will have to manage with R8bn , R9.1bn and R9.6bn .

Sonjica also spoke about unconventional water augmentation projects, including desalination plants around the coasts.

The seven new bulk water schemes include the Mokolo River project that will supply water to the Medupi power station . — I-Net Bridge

Eskom has announced that, subject to certain conditions, it will substantially increase subsidies through a 15-30% rebate for the installation of approved solar heaters.  This brings the previous rebate figure of R4900 to a new maximum of just over R12 000.

A solar water heater can save UP to 30% of the electricity usage in an average household.  For a family of four with an average electricity bill of R900 per month, a typical solar system would cost between R12 000 and R35 000 to install.  However this system could produce savings of some R300 per month, or R3600 per year – and even more if proposed electricity tariff hikes in the coming years materialise.

The City will make it easier for residents by offering a fixed repayment plan thought their rates account.

For more information visit:  www.eskom.com/dsm

• Collect grey water from your bath,sinks and laundry and use these for irrigating your garden. You can invest in professionally installed and fully automated grey water recycling system for this purpose.

• Schedule your garden irrigation by watering less frequently, but for longer periods of time – this way, the water will sink deeper into the ground, encouraging a deeper root system and stronger plants.

• Plant indigenous and water-wise plants in your garden – try avoiding planting plants that require a lot of water. Lawns are especially bad culprits, requiring up to four times more water than other plants.  Try and reduce the amount of lawn in your garden with paving and creating more flower beds.

• Make sure your irrigation system is not leaking and spraying where the water is needed and not on the road or pathways.

• Dont let your pool backwash water go to waste, you can use a Water Rhapsody Pool Backwash system to clean the water and send it straight back to your pool.

Releasing the 2010 Host Cities Drinking Water Quality Management Audit Report on Wednesday, Sonjica said the world can rest assured that tap water in all host cities is safe to drink.

The audit used the Blue Drop Certification System, an incentive-based regulation system which the department introduced in September 2008 to rate municipalities across the country.

All of the host cities scored 95 percent under the certification system and were awarded Blue Drop Status.

Johannesburg (98.39 percent) and Cape Town (98.18 percent) got the highest scores, while Rustenburg (95.1 percent), Port Elizabeth (95.08 percent) and Bloemfontein (95.05 percent) ranked the lowest.

Over the last six months the country’s overall South African drinking water quality was measured as 96 percent, an improvement over the 2009 Blue Drop Report when the country’s towns and municipalities scored on average 93.3 percent.

Relative to other countries South Africa have safe tape water.
“You go to other countries and at the hotels there’s a tag there – don’t drink from the taps. We’ve never had that,” said Sonjica

Ben Polley is convinced.

The home builder installed a grey water system last year in the Manitoba Street heritage home he and wife Jen Woodside were renovating.

“Since we’ve installed it we have required zero city water for toilet flushing,” Polley said.

“Grey water” is used water leaving sinks, bathtubs and washing machines. Such water is collected, disinfected and stored in tanks, and then used instead of clean water to flush toilets.

“Most people would agree we don’t need potable water for toilet flushing,” Galliher said, adding reusing grey water can reduce water consumption by 30 per cent, and save homeowners accordingly on their water bill.

The funding will be used to support field testing, which will be done largely by University of Guelph engineering students. Researchers will monitor water quality and survey homeowners to track their satisfaction with the systems, as well as completing cost analyses and examining potential energy savings.

The city’s goal, depending on the study results, would be to install 200 residential grey water reuse systems by 2019.

Polley said he has been “intentionally negligent” with the system at his house to simulate the worst-case scenario of not performing regular maintenance on the system, which mostly involves cleaning out the filter.

He said when the system is not maintained, effluent is simply bypassed into the regular wastewater system “so it’s sort of foolproof. The worst case is you simply don’t realize the benefit from having it.”

Polley said there are a lot of eyes on Guelph to see if the program works, and rightly so.

“This could decrease home water use by 30 per cent if they are mandated to be installed in new homes and retrofitted into existing homes,” Polley said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t all be using grey water.”

This is the message for an environmentally friendly Christmas

Local versus further afield – at worst overseas – is all about cutting carbon emissions, Pierre- Louis Lemercier of the Renewable Energy Centre in Greenshields Park explained.

The further the distance, the worse those greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Distance in this context is that distance from where your Christmas purchase is produced to where you load it in your shopping trolley and unpack it in your home.

African Centre for Conservation Ecology director Prof Graham Kerley suggests that, instead of tucking into imported turkey, one should feast on venison or Karoo lamb.

“Instead of buying toys from China or elsewhere overseas, why not make your child a member of a local conservation organization? The purchase would not only be carbon zero but would also be an investment in the future – your child’s future.”

Having an eco-friendly Christmas also means thinking about that Christmas tree, he said.

“Using a pine tree or branch is good because of the need to get rid of alien vegetation. But the problem is when Christmas is over, these trees usually end up in our landfills.”

Barbara Cohen of Walmer, wife of senior environmental consultant Mike Cohen, said this problem could be avoided by shredding the pine tree and turning it into compost.

To decorate the tree, families can make their own decorations using waste products like bottle tops and milk cartons (the inside is coated with silver).

“A good present would be an indigenous plant. Presents can still be wrapped, but the trick is to use old newspaper which the kids can finger-paint.”

“Instead of over-indulging, why not take that surplus food and throw a little party for some poor families who would really appreciate it?”

For other presents and Christmas tree decorations, thought should be given to recycled goods.