Water Wheel Nov/Dec 2023: Hydropower

Abstract

HYDROPOWER Cover feature Atlas boost for hydropower If you’re one of the many South Africans who sometimes turns on a tap only to be greeted by groaning noises and hollow coughs, and who much more frequently flicks a light switch, only to confront darkness, there’s a chance you may have found yourself asking: Is there some kind of a link between water supply outages and loadshedding? The answer, as it turns out, is: Kinda. While the two crises have a different genesis, their creation stories have a number of things in common – and we are not necessarily talking about snafus and verneukery. Something called the water-energy nexus appears to be at play. It’s an oft-cited principle that describes the proportional relationship between water supply and energy demand. It tells us that every step of the water and wastewater treatment cycle consumes energy. And almost every power source demands water for its production. This being the case, “technologies that can couple water and energy supply, especially in areas with high population densities” should be explored.

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