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We mean radical as in “characterised by departure from tradition; innovative or progressive”, but pull off the iceberg solution and I think we’ll agree that this is pretty damn radical, bru.

As our water crisis deepens (we laid bare just how much kak we are in HERE), everyone and their auntie is throwing around possible solutions. Perhaps you’ve heard someone drag up the old ‘tow in an iceberg’ theory, but is there any substance to this?

The Daily Maverick set out to investigate, so let’s check if this one holds any water:

What’s the theory?

Icebergs are giant clumps of frozen fresh water which come in all sizes. Some can be the size of a small country. The Abu Dhabi-based National Adviser Bureau estimates that an average iceberg contains up to 20-billion gallons (more than 75-billion litres) of fresh water. If Cape Town succeeds in getting its water usage down to 500-million litres per day, one iceberg could theoretically provide all water for the city for almost half a year.

How would we get an iceberg to Cape Town?

We would have to tow it by ship. In 2009, a French software form called Dassault Systemes asked 15 engineers to create a simulation of the challenge…

The simulation looked at transporting an iceberg from the waters around Newfoundland, off Canada, to the Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa. The computer model predicted the iceberg’s arrival in under five months, with a 38% loss of its mass. (Icebergs don’t melt easily, because most of their mass is underwater.) That journey would be around 4,300 kilometres.

The distance between Antarctica and Cape Town is (counterintuitively) somewhat greater, at 6,965 kilometres, so one could likely add a few months to the towing time in our case.

So it arrives in Cape Town harbour and we all start chipping at it?

…a “water-processing operation will swing into high gear, chipping off blocks of the iceberg above the water line and then crushing the pure polar ice into drinking water which would be stored in large water tanks and then filtered through a water processing plant”.

We pause briefly to inform you that there was enough space on that floating door for Rose AND Jack to have survived in Titanic.

Back to more pressing matters.

Is the idea of towing an iceberg even possible?

Yes, actually. The Guardian reports that Canadian oil and gas outfits regularly tow icebergs away from offshore platforms. The problem is that these icebergs are a lot smaller than the ones we’re talking about, and they are usually only towed for “a few dozen kilometres”.

Technical challenges in towing an iceberg to South Africa would be many and varied, including the question of how you would lasso – so to speak – a massive iceberg: using a net, or ropes? Experts also say that the iceberg would have to be towed extremely slowly to prevent it breaking apart.

OK, OK, but let’s talk money. This is going to cost a fortune, right?

The French project mentioned earlier – towing an iceberg from Canada to the coast of north Africa – was estimated to total almost $10-million (R132-million). And as noted, that would be a shorter trip than the one we’d require. It would be a decidedly pricey business.

Should the City of Cape Town look into it – if they haven’t already?

Let’s answer that by means of a quick historical detour. The place: southern California. The year: 1990. A four-year drought drags on.

Amid scarce water and fewer ideas, the Ventura city council announces that it will investigate the possibility of hauling icebergs from the polar caps and planting them off the coast. A chorus of naysayers instantly announce that it’s absurd.

Vice Mayor Don Villeneuve, however, has a more pragmatic attitude.

“If all the iceberg studies have been done, then fine,” he tells the LA Times. “It will only take our consultant a day, or even a few hours, to look into it and discard it as an alternative. I don’t see the harm in making sure that we take a look at every possible alternative.”

So you’re saying there’s a chance?

Truth be told the City is probably far better served investing in other crisis plans, but desperate times call for desperate measures and all that.

For now just be lekker and use water sparingly, because if you think Cape Town is bitchy now wait until the taps run dry.

[source:dailymaverick]