Water Wheel May/June 2023: Research And Innovation

Abstract

Study busts the barriers to implementation of water innovation When drought strikes again, guests at Cape Town’s Radisson Blu won’t go wanting. A borehole beneath the posh Waterfront hotel supplies an in-house desalination plant which uses a special membrane to produce about 7 000-litres of drinking water an hour. Also in the Mother City, University of Cape Town (UCT) engineering students have come up with a ‘biobrick’ . It is made in part from human urine employing a method said to be similar to how nature forms seashells. Meanwhile in Howick, designers have developed the Arumloo, a toilet inspired in form and function, we are told, by the beautiful, indigenous arum lily. It combines an effective vortex with a patented trap to provide a clean flush from a miserly 2-litres or less of mains-or grey-water. These are just a few of the many good ideas already in service or under development in South Africa. They represent beacons of hope in what might otherwise be a gloomy landscape – the country’s water, sanitation and hygiene sector.

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