proposed school in Noordhoek with 600 students is going to fill Chapman's Peak drive with cars..

[Patchelicious]

If the Zuptas are too blame for all things bad, are they behind the development of vertically mounted shocks too? #ShockCapture #SestaLeaks

[Shebeen]

I have been taken photos from THIS vantage point for a few months -

 

At its lowest point this is what Theewaterskloof looked like -

June 2017-14.jpg

 

After the various rains and storms we have had over the last months -

Rain-4.jpg

 

 

Looking closer one notice that the ground is now saturated. The rivers feeding the dam is flowing, but stil SLOW. We need a LOT of rain ....

this is glass half empty vantage. take a pic from the dam wall

[ChrisF]

this is glass half empty vantage. take a pic from the dam wall

 

like this -

 

 

or like this -

 

or even like this -

 

even tried this -

 

and this -

 

 

None of these gives me a "context" or the "feel" of what you see when you are standing there.  Bear in mind we KNOW this area, and I  KNOW this island where only the "peak" stands out above the water ... so to now see a little stream running around it is VERY visual of what is happening !

 

AND, getting to that specific rock to take repeated shots is so easy, and allows for a real comparison of what is happening on site.  Though one has too look a lot closer to notice:

- the ground is now finally saturated, two weeks back there were still sand storms

- the inflow rivers are still VERY slow !

- there are various farm dams that needs to fill up first before water will flow freely into Theewaterskloof

- one of these dams is in a valley just past Villiersdorp .. this dam was hardly 20% full 2 weeks back

These dams will take some filling before we get real inflow into the main dams ....

 

 

PS - not a negative person, certainly not a glass-half-empty type ... But as an engineer I see the stats and values for what they are.  As a frequent traveler I take a few detours to monitor the dam levels myself, taking note of the inflow conditions etc to try and understand the bigger picture.  But I sure hope the snow will make a significant impact .... will be back to take more pics in a week or two .... HOPING this "glass" will be more than half full by winters end .....

 

PPS - I do have a few projects in Durban.  We are WAY behind with water conservation in the Cape !!!!!  And lot of this relates to the large number of people still believing we dont have a problem .....

[Patchelicious]

 

 

PPS - I do have a few projects in Durban.  We are WAY behind with water conservation in the Cape !!!!!  And lot of this relates to the large number of people still believing we dont have a problem .....

 

Thats post is very sobering.

 

I think very few people will say that we don't have a problem.

 

Dont confuse "not taking certain Hubbers seriously" vs "not taking the problem seriously".

[i24]

If this is using every square inch of space, then I'd say that they're doing pretty well!  

I also don't see three stories anywhere on their proposed plans?

Personally I think this looks a lot nicer than the current neglected ground.  And it's not as if this school is going to kill all of the toads - they live most of the way down Noodhoek Main Road, not just on this little triangle of land.  

 

 

I think we are on the wrong track with this. This is a cycling forum and today is Friday.

 

So what we actually going to get is 2400 trips per day in and out of this school. Ie Take to school, back home, fetch from school, back home x 600. (It is a private school, don't expect too many pupils to arrive by bus or taxi.) Granted some of these journeys are already happening over Ou Kaapse Weg, but the local horses are certainly going to notice this.

 

What we ACTUALLY NEED is for the developers to:

 

- Provide safe parking for 50 to 100 bicycles at the school.

- Sponsor the construction of safe cycle paths from the school to Fishhoek and Sun Valley

- Pay ADT or similar private security to patrol those paths for an hour before school and after school every day.

 

This is much cheaper and environmentally friendly than 2400 trips per day. Also the horses will be less stressed and might drink less water.

[Shebeen]

like this -

 

Damme-7 (Large).jpg

 

or like this -

Damme-9 (Large).jpg

 

or even like this -

June 2017-20 (Large).jpg

 

even tried this -

Theewaterskloofdam-20.jpg

 

and this -

Theewaterskloofdam-17.jpg

 

 

None of these gives me a "context" or the "feel" of what you see when you are standing there.  Bear in mind we KNOW this area, and I  KNOW this island where only the "peak" stands out above the water ... so to now see a little stream running around it is VERY visual of what is happening !

 

AND, getting to that specific rock to take repeated shots is so easy, and allows for a real comparison of what is happening on site.  Though one has too look a lot closer to notice:

- the ground is now finally saturated, two weeks back there were still sand storms

- the inflow rivers are still VERY slow !

- there are various farm dams that needs to fill up first before water will flow freely into Theewaterskloof

- one of these dams is in a valley just past Villiersdorp .. this dam was hardly 20% full 2 weeks back

Damme-5 (Large).jpg

These dams will take some filling before we get real inflow into the main dams ....

 

 

PS - not a negative person, certainly not a glass-half-empty type ... But as an engineer I see the stats and values for what they are.  As a frequent traveler I take a few detours to monitor the dam levels myself, taking note of the inflow conditions etc to try and understand the bigger picture.  But I sure hope the snow will make a significant impact .... will be back to take more pics in a week or two .... HOPING this "glass" will be more than half full by winters end .....

 

PPS - I do have a few projects in Durban.  We are WAY behind with water conservation in the Cape !!!!!  And lot of this relates to the large number of people still believing we dont have a problem .....

Like i said before, scaremongering could well be the preferred tactic - definitely helps people use less.

It's very easy to make a dam look empty, just take a picture of mud next to it. fool around with perspective and it can look like armageddon is nigh.

 

here's a pic from TSC when it was at it's lowest, doesn't look so bad now, does it?

[MTBeer]

here's a picture of water in a dam. looks pretty full. nothing to worry about

 

 

[ChrisF]

here's a picture of water in a dam. looks pretty full. nothing to worry about

 

 

hehehe .... 

[ChrisF]

Like i said before, scaremongering could well be the preferred tactic - definitely helps people use less.

....

 

 

Just for clarity - I have ZERO vested interest, and absolutely no reason to buy into what politicians tell us.  

 

THAT is why I spent my time and fuel to drive out to various dams and to see for myself just what exactly is happening to the water level.

 

Understanding a bit about the inflow and saturating the ground before the levels increase etc etc I have made various trips over the last months.

 

My only dissapointment is that I did not take photos of the water level in previous years .... though I KNOW that only the tip of the "island" was visible above the water level back then.

 

 

and NO, I am not stocking up on bottled water ....    I am not an alarmist or doomsday prophet.

[Shebeen]

Just for clarity - I have ZERO vested interest, and absolutely no reason to buy into what politicians tell us.  

 

THAT is why I spent my time and fuel to drive out to various dams and to see for myself just what exactly is happening to the water level.

 

Understanding a bit about the inflow and saturating the ground before the levels increase etc etc I have made various trips over the last months.

 

My only dissapointment is that I did not take photos of the water level in previous years .... though I KNOW that only the tip of the "island" was visible above the water level back then.

 

 

and NO, I am not stocking up on bottled water ....    I am not an alarmist or doomsday prophet.

 

Don't always need to drive out, all the info is available. eg. here is elandskloof. I was there in early may (we tried to go and find a sunken boat - the level was low enough!)

 

You're talking about Champagne island - yes normally it is fully surrounded. I've placed a checkpoint on it in a race I've organised before. The 12km paddle leg that day would be a run today.

 

https://www.google.co.za/maps/place/Villiersdorp,+6848/@-34.0126978,19.1902019,1064m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x1dcd9360b04f77b5:0xeb8475fb9192946!8m2!3d-33.9859244!4d19.2861268

[(Deon)]

I think we are on the wrong track with this. This is a cycling forum and today is Friday.

 

So what we actually going to get is 2400 trips per day in and out of this school. Ie Take to school, back home, fetch from school, back home x 600. (It is a private school, don't expect too many pupils to arrive by bus or taxi.) Granted some of these journeys are already happening over Ou Kaapse Weg, but the local horses are certainly going to notice this.

 

What we ACTUALLY NEED is for the developers to:

 

- Provide safe parking for 50 to 100 bicycles at the school.

- Sponsor the construction of safe cycle paths from the school to Fishhoek and Sun Valley

- Pay ADT or similar private security to patrol those paths for an hour before school and after school every day.

 

This is much cheaper and environmentally friendly than 2400 trips per day. Also the horses will be less stressed and might drink less water.

I ACTUALLY had to wait for Monday to respond to you because to commend you on a Friday, I might have looked just as mad.

 

Thanks for bringing some perspective to the thread. ADT will be very busy however..