Skip to main content

Unfortunately, you can't participate in this project anymore because it has been archived

Comment on the feasibility of the planned Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant through an external service delivery mechanism

The City is assessing the feasibility of providing the planned Paarden Eiland Plant through an external mechanism.

Comment period: 31 January – 27 March 2025

Phases

Phases overview

Phase 1: Comment on the feasibility of the planned Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant through an external service delivery mechanism

Comment on the feasibility of the planned Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant through an external service delivery mechanism

Comment on the feasibility of the planned Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant through an external service delivery mechanism

31 January 2025 22:00 - 28 March 2025 22:00

In line with our new water programme, we plan to construct a desalination plant in the Paarden Eiland area. The planned 50 to 70 million litre per day plant will form part of the City’s various water augmentation projects outlined in our Water Strategy, which aims to develop an additional 300 million litres of water supply from diversified sources.

We previously informed the community of our intention to:

investigate and assess the feasibility of utilising an external mechanism for the provision of municipal services for the planned Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant, and
collect input from the community as directed by section 78(3)(b)(iii) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000.

We invite you to submit your input in respect of utilising a suitable external service delivery mechanism to implement and operate the Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant.

We will consider all feedback in the finalisation and completion of the feasibility study report, which will be made available to the community for comments prior to its submission to and consideration by City Council.

Information sessions

Attend one of our information sessions to find out more about the feasibility study.

Session 1:

Date: 12 February 2025

Time: 18:00 – 20:00

Venue: Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Civic Centre, 12 Hertzog Boulevard, Cape Town

Link: Access

Session 2:

Date: 19 February 2025

Time: 18:00 – 20:00

Venue: Auditorium, Milnerton Library, Pienaar Road, Milnerton, Cape Town

Link: Access

Presentation.pdf

(5.9 MB)

Desalination Booklet.pdf

(733.1 KB)

Cape Town Water Outlook - March 2024.pdf

(3.4 MB)

C25_04_24 [ITEM 03] - CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES OF ORDINARY MEETING - 27 MARCH 2024.pdf

(812.5 KB)

C27_03_24 [ITEM 76] - IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATION OF THE CITYS FIRST PERMANENT DESALINATION PLANT ETC (1).pdf

(6.2 MB)

11 issues

unknown author1 year ago

unknown author1 year ago Huge concern is that City is bringing all these projects / ideas to table and specially supply of water, which at the end of the day come at a huge cost to the consumer and specially the residents / property owners of City Cape Town. If we look back couple of years when we had the huge water shortage, residents were not happy with the increase of water tariffs, City allready had their following option up the sleave and that was the "Water / Pipe Levy", which was only suppose to last for that period of water shortage, we at the end became permanent. Let's hope that this cost to be use in order to cover this project will be covered by City with a the income allready made and not put the burden on the poor resident / property owners who allready is CRIPPLED when it comes to City improvement projects at the cost of their pockets.

unknown author1 year ago Fact: Desalination means removing of salts from a water source. Fact: The amount of salts in sea water is levels of magnitude greater than the salts contained in treated sewage effluent. Fact: Currently, sewage is treated to an acceptable environmental standard (at great cost) and then discharged via various routes (under exemption) into the sea to mix with water already containing more salts than the treated effluent. Fact: Water supply and sewage are part of a single cycle and need to be seen holistically. It is basic logic that it would be more economical to remove the remaining salts in the treated affluent than to remove the salts from raw sea water. What is being proposed is similar to pouring a can of Coke into a swimming pool and then extracting the coke from the entire swimming pool, instead of pouring the Coke into a jug of water and then extracting the coke. If the feasibility study on which the current decision is based comes to any other conclusion, then it must be flawed to such an extent to render it non credible and the decision made on incorrect, incomplete or biased information. The yield expected from the proposed desalination plant could be obtained far more economically by "desalinating" the treated effluent from existing sewage treatment works and it is a disservice to the ratepayers and paying consumers of water in Cape Town to implement a project that is so obviously more expensive than an alternative. It may be that at some stage in the future the desalination of seawater may become a necessity, but until all more economical options have been exhausted, this should not even be considered. The fact that the CoCT is exempted from the general statutory requirement that all water released from a supply system should be returned to source should not be accepted as a motivation for such a project and this sound principle should rather be adopted to produce at least irrigation quality water that could enable swapping out of raw irrigation water allocations from existing raw water sources to increase the domestic allocations from those sources. I believe that any councilor with basic common sense would agree with the above and take the necessary action to get this decision reversed and rather implement a way forward that better serves the City and its residents. Please see attached image extracted from a proposal (ignored by the City in 2005) in which the principal of re-use of treated effluent would have resulted in the provision of additional water source in excess of some 260Ml/d at a unit raw water cost of less than the water supplied from the Berg river Dam. (This schematic is obviously outdated at this time, but the principles are still applicable) For more information and background, any interested party is free to contact me directly (Jon Lijnes Pr. Eng. - 082 577 3023)

errol anstey1 year ago whilst i understand that the proposed site allows the city to access the water network easily this becomes irrelevant if the water quality is not up to standard. the city has already experienced a desalination plant near the waterfront that never was able to provide water at the acceptable quality and the suppliers spent a small fortune and lost it all, blamed the water quality near the harbour, whilst it may be feasible to extract water from an area near a working harbour, any qualified expert will tell you that your Maintenace costs will rise steeply, you will need to replace filters much more frequently and will require more energy to operate and at the end the quality may still not be acceptable. Anybody walking along the harbour walls can see oil, litter, and waste from ships. the water colour is never clear. In additional you have the Black River (Swart River) flowing into the sea nearby. All the streams from informal areas and township land up in the Black River and out into the sea. So, on the one side you have a working harbour and on the other side you have a River discharging everything into the sea. really!! In addition, the city has issues with the stormwater outlet in Grey St Paarden Eiland, discharging into the Zoarvlei wetlands and into the sea and the Aukland pump station has been known to experience frequent operational failures contributing to sewer overflows that enter the stormwater system. Since Sept 2024 the issues have persisted non-stop. This places addition risk on having a desal plant near an industrial area and harbour. the Final decision should rest on whether the Officials who decides will pay back to the city for wasteful expenditure when you have been warned of the high risks of using water contaminated by high levels of pollutants. the proposed site cannot be expanded if you wish to increase the size of the plant in the future. it makes more sense to build in an area where the plant can be expanded over time. surely the water demands will require at least 300 to 500 million liters day extra in teh near futures besides all the other proposals. there are many potential sites that will supply a better-quality water supply, with expansion options. thank you

unknown author1 year ago The City’s decision to explore an external mechanism for implementing the Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant is a step in the right direction. Bringing in international expertise ensures access to proven experience, reducing risks associated with design flaws and unnecessary expenditure on research already conducted elsewhere. This approach has the potential to deliver a highly efficient and reliable desalination plant. However, the requirement for external companies to partner with local Black-owned firms under Preferential Procurement policies presents challenges. While equal opportunity is important, this requirement may limit the ability to fully leverage the expertise of the best international specialists. The key concerns include: Risk of skills mismatch: The best international desalination experts may have to partner with a local firm that lacks direct experience in desalination, which could affect efficiency and quality. Increased costs without added value: If the local partner does not have the required expertise, they may still need to be paid a significant share of the contract, potentially inflating costs without improving project outcomes. Reduced accountability and efficiency: Instead of forming partnerships based on technical competence, compliance-driven collaborations could introduce inefficiencies and complicate decision-making. Given these constraints, it may be more practical to rely entirely on local expertise from the outset. While this carries risks, such as limited local experience in large-scale desalination, it would at least ensure a more streamlined process without the complexities of forced partnerships. If the City truly seeks the best outcome, it should either consider an exemption from certain procurement constraints for this critical project or commit fully to a local approach while investing in the necessary skills development to ensure long-term sustainability.

unknown author1 year ago I understand that 6/10th of the water is returned to the sea as "brine", but you are discharging the brine in an area of the bay that (in my opinion), may not have sufficient sea currents to mix the brine back into the broader open ocean. My concern is that the immediate area where the brine is discharged may over time become saltier than the local sea life (mammals, fish and shellfish), could tolerate. Has a study of the sea currents been done in the area to see if the brine will in actual fact not affect local sea life, for example by putting a biodegradable ink in the water to measure and observe the brine discharge - not theoretical models, but actual observations.

unknown author1 year ago

unknown author1 year ago

Masixole Madikane1 year ago I really support this initiative, it means that City of Cape Tow’s leadership is proactive. This process would help the City and its residents to prevent the unforeseen circumstance. In 2018 we had a serious drought/ day Zero, public had to use water 💦 very wisely and there were serious restrictions and tariff increase. In conclusion I support this process because it is vital and crucial we don’t know as to when are we going to face the drought again, then if it occurs we should be on the safer side as the City of Cape Town muni and and our residents. Forward with this brilliant investment forward. Thank you

Jenny Calder1 year ago The surrounding buildings make the site unsuitable for expansion and given the high cost of the plant expansion in future may be a more cost effective way of increasing capacity. Discharging brine into the ocean is problematic and will affect marine life even if diluted and diffused. It increases salinity and decreases oxygen which kills marine life. A bay is also not an ideal site for such an operation. I propose a more suitable site be used that has the space to create salt pans or the ability to process the waste product into a useful commodity like caustic lye. The high cost of energy and the high usage of a desalination plant, and the fact that energy using fossil fuel is not guaranteed due to inefficiency of the national government and mismanagement of resources by them, a more suitable site might be one where renewable power might be sourced for the operation of the plant (solar or wind). Using nuclear energy is also a cleaner option than fossil fuel but again all energy is fed into and supplied to the national grid. It's impracticable to solve the delivery of one service by creating a problem with another. How clean is the intake water? When was it tested for this project? How energy efficient is the plant and how is it likely to affect climate change? How will noise be mitigated? Given that the Potsdam Water Treatment plant which feeds into the Diep River and into the ocean at Woodbridge Island, and the poor quality of effluent that does enter the ocean at this point, and the proximity to the desalination plant, would this site be deemed to be the most suitable? We have room for improvement at all our water treatment plants so I'm sceptical that the upgraded Potsdam Plant would improve this situation. It is being upgraded to double capacity. Desalination plants risky and are costly, and dirty environmentally. I would feel happier seeing several of the more environmentally methods of increasing the capacity of potable water supply to the City. The alien vegetation clearance project has yielded good returns and is a fraction of the cost. Updating and maintaining our water treatment plants could supply the balance of our needs. Currently very few of them are operational. Use the design of the Atlantis project to look at more environmentally friendly ideas of dealing with this. We don't have the knowledge or expertise to run design, implement, and run a desalination plant, so it is feasible to outsource. Hopefully the contract with the successful bidder will include a contingent of local labour. * There are many sources I've used to come to this conclusion which I'm happy to supply should you need them.

unknown author1 year ago

Filters

Total posts: 11

No values available.

Selected zero tag filters.

Upcoming and ongoing events

0 events have loaded.

No upcoming or ongoing events are currently scheduled.

Past events

Information sessions: Comment on the feasibility of the planned Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant through an external service delivery mechanism
Event date: February 19th, 2025 from 16:00 to 18:00.
Milnerton Library
Read more
Information sessions: Comment on the feasibility of the planned Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant through an external service delivery mechanism
Event date: February 12th, 2025 from 16:00 to 18:00.
Read more

2 events have loaded.