Agri Kultuur February / Februarie 2018 | Page 13

*Elgin, Grabouw, Vyeboom, Villiersdorp For more information contact Johan Groe- newald: [email protected] How the water will be transferred The Eskom Palmiet Pump Storage Scheme consists of two dams i.e. the Rockview Dam on the mountain side and one at the bottom in the Palmiet River, the Kogelberg Dam. Over weekends when electricity demand is lower, water is pumped to the upper dam to enable the system to generate electricity in the next week during day time. Every day of the week water is released down to the bottom dam, generating electricity in the process and at night some of the water is pumped back into the Rockview Dam. Every day the level in the upper dam is a bit lower, getting quite low by Friday, which is why weekends are used to replenish the upper dam’s levels. The Groenland Water User Association (GWUA) in the Overberg opens sluices to relieve Capetonians thirst. Picture Hortgro of water from their water system to one of the major dams supplying Cape Town, the Upper Steenbras Dam. The water is only earmarked for urban use According to Groenewald, producers in the re- gion have been pro-active with drought-plan- ning and used water-wise irrigation tech- niques. “For example, producers apply better scheduling programmes and make sure all equipment is regularly checked for leaks. We also regularly inform all water users about the water scarcity. There is a clear shift among water consumers and everyone realizes water is a scarce natural resource. “ In an effort to develop the deciduous fruit industry in the region, Elgin and Grabouw fruit growers have over several years built dams with private money. The water is managed in a sustainable and responsible manner. The GWUA does not provide water to the Vyeboom and Villiersdorp area, because these farmers get water from Theewaterskloof Dam. The two water networks are not connected. AgriKultuur |AgriCulture As part of the Western Cape Water Supply Sys- tem, 30 million m 3  of water is transferred from the Palmiet River to the Upper Steenbras Dam during the winter by making use of the pump storage scheme. More water than is required to fill the upper Rockview Dam is pumped to allow the Rockview Dam to spill into the 3 km connecting canal between the Rockview and Upper Steenbras dams. This is done to augment the water supply to the Greater Cape Town area. The Groenland Water User Association has now offered to pump more water than is needed by the pump storage scheme itself to the upper dam, for that dam to reach overflow levels. The overflow will then run via a canal – not long, only about two or three km – to the important Steenbras Dam. Depending on the available pump capacity, the process of transferring 10 million m³ of water will occur over a period of two to three weeks. This volume of water is estimated to last the City of Cape Town for about 20 days – if inhab- itants were to keep to their combined daily quota of 450 million litres, but that total is unfortunately far from being reached current- ly. According to city authorities, inhabitants’ daily water use hasn’t even come down to 500 million litres yet. It won’t be the first time that water has been transferred to the Steenbras Dam in this way; the same was done during this past winter 13