Challenge-ID
Description

Describe your everyday interactions with water. Consider water collection, water uses, water treatment, water storage

I live in a city - called Cape Town, which up until last year was facing severe water shortages. Ironic given that we are a sea facing city - but the reality for us was that we faced severe water shortages, water was cut, we had to use bottled water, use alternative methods for washing, cleaning and no watering of plants, agriculture etc. The dams were running dry and there was a concert effort from the local government and national government about the water shortages we were facing in Cape Town. The situation is better, but it is by no means resolved and we are still feeling the impacts of the water restrictions in our city.

Describe your situation / problem below, considering the above provided guiding questions (Note: the text field expand once you write, submit a full textual description here)

In Cape Town the water is sourced from the surrounding dams which collect the rain fall water from the mountains. The water is pumped via a distribution network to households and businesses. In 2018 and 2019 water supply was severely disrupted due to limited rain fall during the winter rainfall season. As a consequence of this water demand was severely reduced to prevent the dams from running dry - which at a particular point the dams were as low as 10% of capacity. Residents were obliged to reduced consumption and penalised for over use. Recreational use was banned and alternative supplies of water were transported via tankers to Cape Town. The City also tried a temporary de salination plant, at a huge costs- to assist citizens. After a good raining winter season in 2020, the dams are moderately full again but the risk of another drought is ever present. There are surrounding aquifers however the quality of the water has not been fully assessed, more technical data will assist in this regard.

The aim: What does a desired situation addressing the above-described situation/problem look like?

Having multiple sources of clean water available at low cost. Having data available to assist with analysing water sources, water quality, predictions etc.

What do you think are potential solutions?

Use of remote sensing data to identify potential new water sources, identify quality of water and potential sustainable sources of water.

What resources would you have available to help address the above-described problem? (e.g. time, budget, technical means available locally...)

Some of this information can be found at the following website.http://ws.dwa.gov.za/IRIS/mywater.aspx

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