The City’s large-scale augmentation procurement programme involving desalination, aquifers and recycling, among others, is unprecedented in scale.Yesterday, the City initiated Phase 1 of its critical water shortages disaster plan, with water rationing under way as dam levels stand at 38.5% and useable water at 28.5%. The City said yesterday that the unprecedented procurement programme is under way to help supplement water supply during this drought crisis. It is foreseen that between 130 and 240 million litres a day will be at some stage of production between December and May 2018. This includes land- and sea-based desalination, water reclamation and groundwater abstraction projects, if all goes according to plan. City Mayco member for finance Johan van der Merwe said: “We are doing in months what it would usually take years to do.” Almost 7 000 water management devices have been installed by the City on the properties of delinquent water users. Where applicable, tenders related to the emergency augmentation programme are published on www.capetown.gov.za, in relevant local newspapers and the National Treasury’s e-tender portal.

(LINK)