The Swellendam municipality in the Western Cape, where the biggest wind farm in South Africa is being built, appears to be deceiving both town residents and the project developers about the source of the water it is supplying for the R13bn facility.
The municipality says it is providing non-potable water to Power Construction, the company that is erecting the 63 wind turbines and associated infrastructure for renewable energy company Red Rocket.
But evidence unearthed by concerned Swellendam residents, and a site visit by the Sunday Times last week, show that municipal officials are secretly diverting drinking water to Power Construction’s tankers — despite having imposed consumption restrictions on the town due to fears of a looming shortage.
“Under the National Water Act, section 151, using water for unauthorised purposes is a criminal offence,” said one resident, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.
The town uses two dams: Grootkloof 3, which holds water for household purposes, and Grootkloof 2, which lies lower down the slope and holds water classified for non-potable uses such as irrigation.
Power Construction is drawing water from dam No 2 in terms of an agreement it signed with the municipality in June. Since then, residents say, the company has pumped about 7,000kl (kilolitres) of water from the dam, yet the dam mysteriously remains all but full.
It does so because water is pouring into the “irrigation” dam through a 250mm diameter pipe that is connected to the upper dam and its potable water. This pipe — installed years ago as a “scouring valve” to wash out sediment — branches off from the pipe that carries drinking water to a treatment plant before it flows into the Swellendam network.
“Dam 3 is licensed for municipal potable supply, but they [municipal officials] are diverting it via the scour valve for industrial use without authorisation,” the resident said.
The Sunday Times, which has seen an engineer’s map of the dams on which the scouring valve is clearly marked, visited the site on November 12 and took photographs of water gushing into the “irrigation” dam through this pipe.
Asked where this water was coming from, municipal manager Anneleen Vorster said in an e-mail: “Your observation that there is a pipe feeding in the lower dam (Grootkloof 2) is not correct.”
Vorster said dam No 2 receives water only from an overflow channel from dam No 3. “There is no other inflow, apart from maybe some rainwater run-off.”
However, there has been no overflow from dam No 3 for several weeks at least because its level is dropping rapidly.
We take the community’s growing concerns seriously and confirm Power Construction will continue only to procure non-potable water supplies
— Red Rocket spokesperson Chanel Ponto
“Grootkloof 3 is currently at 64% capacity,” Vorster acknowledged. Last month, the town council “reconfirmed the level 1 water restrictions that have been in place since last year”, she said. “Water restriction levels will increase as the water supply decreases.”
Asked about the possibility that the municipality was providing potable water for the wind farm construction without admitting it, Red Rocket spokesperson Chanel Ponto said the renewable energy company was a “responsible developer committed to transparency, sustainability and community trust”.
“Power Construction, our appointed contractor, has followed all the correct procedures and obtained the necessary approvals as outlined by the Swellendam municipality,” she said.
“The municipality has, on numerous occasions, assured Power Construction that the water being abstracted is non-potable and designated for irrigation and similar uses. As such, water has only been used for the project on the basis of it being non-potable.
“We take the community’s growing concerns seriously and confirm Power Construction will continue only to procure non-potable water supplies,” Ponto said.
Construction started on the wind farm in March and it is due to start producing power next year. Phase 1 will produce 242MW for Richards Bay Minerals and phase 2 will generate 158MW for Discovery Green.
Power Construction told the Sunday Times that due to the residents’ concerns, it planned to switch its water source from the municipal dam to the nearby Breede River, for which permission is needed from the Breede-Olifants Catchment Management Agency.
Asked if Power Construction knew the true source of the water in dam No 2, SP de Villiers, head of engineering management at the company, said: “I haven’t been there, I haven’t investigated, I haven’t walked the route. If there’s a natural inflow of water, personally, I’m not concerned. I don’t know otherwise, if there’s any other reason. We haven’t had any information that there’s anything to be concerned about.”
He said each of the 131m-tall turbines required 900m³ (about 2,100t) of concrete for its foundation, and the water from the dam was being used to mix this concrete. Borehole water in the area was not of adequate quality for concrete. “So it is quite important we get water from the dam, or potentially the river.”
De Villiers said that up until the end of September Power Construction had taken 2,700kl from the dam, but town residents said a meter on the outlet pipe that feeds water to the company’s tankers showed that by last week nearly 7,000kl had been used.
Vorster said that with dam No 3 at its current level, “with no inflow at all and no rain and with the current consumption continued, the town should have enough water for 60 days”.
She noted the long-term weather forecast was not promising in terms of rain. “Swellendam municipality does not have boreholes to supply water to the town ... and is dependent on rainfall. So yes, without rainfall, Grootkloof 3 may run dry.”
The municipality was engaging with the provincial government about alternatives such as extraction from rivers, “combined with continued water demand management, such as stricter water restrictions”.
She said the wind farm had already given Swellendam a major economic shot in the arm, and 572 jobs had been created.
Town residents said the owners of land on which turbines were being erected were receiving R1.5m per turbine per year. Red Rocket said 13 landowners were hosting turbines, but declined to give more details. “Rental agreements are confidential.”
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