South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation is considering desalinating seawater to help ease the country’s water problems as it struggles amid its worst drought in more than 20 years.
Speaking at World Water conference in Stockholm, Sweden, minister of water and sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, said the adoption of seawater desalination facilities would be expensive but it was necessary if the government was to guarantee the water supply to South Africans.
Department spokesperson, Mlimandlela Ndamase said that the government would start exploring the use of desalinisation of water in the coastal provinces. South Africa is the thirtieth driest country in the world.