Cape Town’s Granger Bay, Hout Bay and Dido Bay may soon be home to three proposed new desalination plants that the city intends commissioning to make extra drinking water for its residents and visitors, according to tender documents issued this week.

Earlier on Thursday  announced that the city planned to produce an extra 500Ml of water through a mix of desalination plants, ground water extraction, and water reuse.

This is part of its acceptance that the city’s ”new normal” is to be short of water because of droughts and climate change.

Already at Level 4b water restrictions that have reduced water usage from 1000Ml a day to 610Ml a day over the past year, even more needs to be done to make sure that taps don’t run dry, said De Lille. Further restrictions to Level 5 might have to be introduced in the future, but in the meantime, it has also issued its first tender for new desalination plants.

The proposed Granger Bay sea water extraction site is intended to be located in the Oceana Yacht Club’s harbour near the Green Point stadium, and should help produce 8Ml of potable water over the next two years.

It will be linked to intake pumps, a generator and a pipeline that will run along Beach Road past the golf course to the desalination plant. The proposed desalination plant, pump station and generators will be located within the public parking area in Beach Road west of the V&A Waterfront.

The contract specificatons are vast, and include the procurement of sandbags to stabilise the intake pipes running overland.

The proposed extraction plant for picturesque Hout Bay will be situated near the crayfish factory in the harbour. That desalination plant will produce 4Ml and it is proposed that it will be located within the harbour complex on the open gravel parking area south of the main entrance.

A third proposed sea water extraction point will be from a beach in Dido Valley, False Bay, between Gleincairn and Simonstown.

That pump station is intended to be installed on an off-shore float ±250m from the coast line, behind the wave line.

The proposed 2 Ml/d containerized desalination plant, pump station and generators will be located within the naval grounds off Main Road, 2km north of Simon’s Town.

A meeting for further information and clarity on the proposals will be held at the Milnerton Library in Pienaar road at 10:00 on Friday, and next week the city will take prospective contractors on site tours.