Water updates from South Africa
Africa: Partnership formulated to accelerate green growth
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote programmes, projects, joint studies and research activities to accelerate green growth options for African countries.
The two organisations will work together to generate synergies in areas, such as the Global Green Growth Institute’s cities programmes and the bank’s initiatives on clean energy, sustainable landscapes, green cities and water and sanitation, with the ultimate goal of strengthening climate resilience in Africa.
ESI Africa, 26 May 2018
DWS, Sanbi launch ZAR90m water project
Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti and South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) chairperson Nana Magomola on Thursday launched the ZAR90-million Ecological Infrastructure for Water Security project, in Johannesburg.
The project is aimed at transforming the way people think about, value and invest in water and ecosystems, and aims to increase investment in the management of ecological infrastructure.
Designed in close consultation with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the project will support the implementation of the National Water Resource Strategy and it is included as part of the Call to Action in the draft Water and Sanitation Master Plan.
Engineering News, 31 May 2018
Analytical tools seen as increasingly essential to water management
It is inevitable that water utilities will continue to face various challenges, but technology can be used to ensure visibility of water quality throughout the value chain, and automatic communication to stakeholders and consumers. In this regard, investment in analytics can be a quick win for water utilities, says information and communication technology multinational Accenture Resources South Africa senior manager Maanda Ramutumbu.
Analytical tools can be deployed to empower utilities to manage their water resources more efficiently and provide them with the tools to take proactive steps to mitigate the impact of events over which they have little control.
Analytics can provide a utility with much-needed resources to forecast water consumption based on use patterns that are correlated with weather data to measure the quantitative water demand. These solutions will enable utilities to make timeous decisions that will allow water supply to remain sustainable.
Engineering News, 1 June 2018
Renergen impairs hydro project to focus on South African natural gas market
Integrated alternative energy business Renergen impaired its ZAR12.2-million Côte d’Ivoire Hydro hydroelectric project during the 2018 financial year and shifted its focus to the South African natural gas market.
The impairment decision was taken after studies revealed that the electricity tariff required to deliver reasonable investment returns from the hydroelectricity project to Renergen were above the norm, and that the company would benefit more from deploying that investment to developing Tetra4’s Evander gasfield, as well as bringing a second operation online.
Engineering News, 1 June 2018
The above reflects a summary of certain news articles published during the preceding week.
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