We sighted land, Cape Town.
We sailed by Steenbras Dam and Desalination Works on the coast by Gordons Bay. Our senses were burning with the smell of salt, and the noise of penguins.
This is where Cape Town gets the necessary freshwater.
Seawater is pumped into a heated vat that runs parallel to the dam. The water becomes vapor, rises from the vat, and is contained within an enclosure. Concurrently, water is pumped from the dam, is cooled underground, and is circulated through the enclosure, flowing in a cistern. Water vapor from the enclosure condenses into the cistern, increasing the supply.
When the seawater in the vat is halved, it has become brine. This heavily salted water is pumped to another facility. There, in a saltern, the sodium is processed for use in solid state batteries, and for old fashioned table salt.
A little more seawater is pumped in to flush the brine out, and then the process is repeated 24-hours a day. This massive operation meets the city’s water needs.
Coastal cities in Africa have ironically become the places where African societies gather because of climate change. While the sea level has risen and caused trouble, droughts and heat have caused more trouble in Sub Sahara Africa. It is a sad fate, but there is always hope that wildlife will rise to abundance again.
