Business and training: Mike’ s message
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Hot tips for the plumbing industry – invest in water saving
By
Mike Muller
Thanks to Minister Nomvula Mokonyane and her predecessors, some good business is coming the way of the plumbing industry over the next 10 years.
My hot tip for the industry, at least those who operate in the Rand Water supply area( which stretches from Rustenburg to Delmas, Sasolburg and beyond), is to invest in water efficiency and water saving fittings and services.
That is because of the other piece of good news. The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, who is responsible for building the next phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project( LHWP), was finally allowed by Mokonyane to appoint qualified consulting engineers( rather than her best friends) to design the dam and the tunnel. It is quite difficult to build a 163-metre-high dam wall, almost one kilometre long, without a design— the appointment of a designer has been delayed for nearly three years.
We can now put a date on the earliest that the region, which is supplied with water from the Vaal River system, can become water secure. At least we can now plan ahead.
So now we consider what 10 years without water security means?
Because of increasing demand from a growing( and, we hope, more prosperous) community, water demand will rise. Yet, the amount of water available will remain the same. If we are lucky, that won’ t matter. Ten years of good rainfall would keep the dams reasonably full.
But we cannot depend on a decade of good rainfall. The system should be designed and operated so that, even in a relatively severe drought, there is no need for restrictions. And we won’ t have that guarantee until the Polihali Dam( part of the LHWP) is finished.
So, if a drought occurs, we will be in real trouble. And the way to avoid that is to keep the reserves in our dams as high as possible. To do that, we will need almost permanent water restrictions between now and 2025.
In both Cape Town and Johannesburg, we have seen that charging people who use excessive amounts of water penalty tariffs can cut consumption. If they know this will happen for 10 years, they will be more willing to pay good money for water saving devices. That means good business for plumbers.
There is already some enthusiasm for plastic rainwater tanks. But storage to cover an interruption for a couple of days is not the challenge— we must reduce overall consumption. Rainwater tanks only help if they are used continually; if kept full, they cannot collect more water the next time that it rains.
Consequently, systems will be needed to get rainwater into toilets and showers. Similarly, effective use of grey water from baths and kitchens will need more than a couple of buckets in the shower. It will need collection, connection, storage, and new piping systems for those lucky enough to have gardens.
I have never been an enthusiast for saving water just because it is the right thing to do. Quite often it has just meant spending twice to achieve the same result. But now that householders and communities have practical, economically sensible( and environmentally desirable) reasons for doing so, let’ s go for it. PA
We cannot depend on a decade of good rainfall.
Mike Muller
Mike Muller is a visiting adjunct professor at the Wits University School of Governance and a former Commissioner of the National Planning Commission and Director General of Water Affairs.
www. plumbingafrica. co. za August 2017 Volume 23 I Number 6