Cape Town Drought: Icebergs From Antarctica Could Help in Solving the Water Crisis But it Will Cost USD 130 Million
Marine experts are devising a plan which involves getting the large chunks from Antarctica till the tip of Africa.
Cape Town is facing one of the worst water crisis in the world. The South African city is battling the grave 'Day Zero' situation from months. The water supply in the city and the usage was being tapped on by the officials. Conservation efforts were in all spree, in fact, other projects like Cape Flats Aquifer are being done. Now a new way to tackle the crisis is eyeing the icebergs in Antarctica. Marine experts are devising a plan which involves getting the large chunks from Antarctica till the tip of Africa. What is Day Zero?
Expert Nick Sloane is looking for some sort of an investment which could help in dragging the enormous pieces between the continents and melt them down into millions of litres of drinking water. If rains do not come well in this part of the country, then Cape Town will surely have dry taps affecting almost four million residents. Sloane has also expressed that his team would wrap the icebergs into fabric skirts to protect them and reduce evaporation. "We want to show that if there is no other source to solve the water crisis, we have another idea no one else has thought of yet," he said. Cape Town Nears 'Day Zero': Virat Kohli-led Team India, South African Side Donate To Avert Disaster
Recently the Democratic Alliance party that runs the administration in Cape Town announced that the Day Zero may never occur due to the many water restrictions that had been imposed by the city. But in the time of global warming, this is not exactly enough. So the bringing of icebergs is being charted out. These icebergs would be chopped into pieces and melted for local water. While this may tackle the problem to a large degree, the cost of the project is too expensive to be executed. As per the estimate, it will cost US$130 million (£95 million) in total. Although it is not yet clear if it will be for one iceberg or several of them.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 02, 2018 02:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).