Cape Town taps into ‘world’s biggest aquifer’ to meet its water needs
Not long ago, Cape Town stood on the threshold of being the first major city in the world to run out of water.
And while this was ultimately avoided, the city took no chances. In a move to end water insecurity, the city this week started pumping water from the biggest underground lake in the world.
On Wednesday, mayor Dan Plato and mayoral committee member for water and waste Xanthea Limberg launched the groundwater supply project from the Table Mountain Group (TMG) aquifer next to the Steenbras Dam, situated above the Koggelberg mountains.
The city said that once the first phase of the supply project is fully operational it would contribute up to 30 million litres per day to the city’s water supply.
Currently, the city uses between 650 and 700 million litres of water per day.