Water
Desalination explored
The honourable MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs for KwaZulu-Natal, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, said at the recent WISA 2016 conference in Durban that all options – including that of desalination – are being considered in a bid to ensure continuous water availability for South Africans.
The option of desalination – a process in which salt is extracted from sea water – has been a leading topic of discussion in the industry for many years but is now being further researched due to the water shortage brought on by the current drought.
MEC Dube-Ncube said the consideration of this international initiative was to ensure that the lack of water had no lasting effects on the various sectors of South Africa.
“ For us, as we are gravely affected by the drought, this is a step forward. We have already done the Environmental Impact Assessments, we have them in place and we have already looked at the industry. We are currently looking at the small package plants, where this could be affordable, along the coastal municipalities.
“ This is because we do believe that if we could enable our region to operate in the way in which our coastal municipalities
explore desalination, while our inland areas are provided with water through our normal reticulated system that could begin to alleviate some of the pressures we are already experiencing.”
Also present at the briefing was Margaret-Ann Diedricks, Director- General of the Department of Water and Sanitation.
Diedricks said while the desalination process is one that is considered to be quite expensive, in times such as this and in water scarce countries such as South Africa, the issue of cost can be negated.
“ This is why the minister has been in discussions with various countries, to look at where the technology has evolved to and to find it as inexpensively as possible. The decision has been made to roll-out where it is necessary. The relationship with all other countries such as the Netherlands is about scalability. It is about upscale, it’ s about leapfrogging. The time of just talking about the expense has come and gone. We have to look at how we move towards adaptation and facilitation.”
The WISA 2016 Conference and Exhibition ran from 15-19 May 2016 at the Durban International Convention Centre. It features more than 100 expert speakers dissecting 16 sub-themes crucial to the effective management of our water resources.
WRC to receive Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation 2016 Water Award
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HE Mr Bernard Fautrier, Vice-President of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Foundation’ s Board of Directors, and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco will be presenting the Water Research Commission( WRC) with the 2016 Water Award, for outstanding commitment to providing sustainable access to water resources and water supply and sanitation in South Africa, the WRC recently announced.
Dhesigen Naidoo, CEO of the WRC, will accept the Prize on behalf of the WRC during the official Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’ s Award Ceremony on 30 June 2016 in the Principality of Monaco at the prestigious Salle des Etoiles. This event will take place within the framework of the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Foundation.
The foundation was created in 2006 by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and dedicates its work to environmental protection and sustainable development focused on climate change, biodiversity and water.
SABI | JUNE / JULY 2016
According to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Board of Directors, the WRC has done outstanding work in South Africa in the field of sustainable water resources, water supply and sanitation.
Upon receipt of the news, Naidoo congratulated the WRC staff for their hard work and confirmed that the award is indeed a great honour for the WRC.
The WRC is South Africa’ s premier funding agency dedicated to water research. The strategic approach of the WRC focuses on promoting integrated approaches to meeting South Africa’ s societal and water-sector R & D needs, providing integrated solutions to complex, inter-disciplinary problems facing the water sector, encouraging strategic identification of needs in the water sector and investing in knowledge creation, transfer and dissemination in strategic research areas. By delivering on these strategic goals, the WRC has emerged as one of the research, development and innovation leaders in the South African water sector.