Why complain about a desalination plant?

It is somewhat perplexing to see how a community gets the wrong end of the stick and gets up in arms over something that has benefits that far outweigh its downside. I started reading about desalination plants some years ago and have always been excited about the possibilities that they may provide to our country.
South Africa is a water scarce country. We do however have an enormous coastline and access to a vast unlimited resource of saline water. With a population that is growing at a high rate and the strain that is being put on our natural fresh water resources through consumption and pollution, there is no option but to use technologies such as desalination plants to ensure that our children won’t end up living in a post- apocalyptic world of collapse.
It is therefore not a matter of ‘if’ but rather of ‘when’ and ‘when’ is rather now than in the future when other issues may prevent us from doing so. We may think we have the luxury to protest and run away from the reality but eventually it will be forced upon us. So why not be wise and start today?
Right now we have water restrictions over most of our regional municipality and the solution only lies in balancing the consumption with the prevailing rainfall. It is clear that the rainfall is inadequate and therefore we have to make huge sacrifices and our gardens on which we spend a lot of time and money will be the first to go and its effect will be visible and dire.
The alternative to the desalination plant would be another dam at huge cost. Dams impede on arable land and it takes away big swatches of land from the landscape where we could grow agricultural products in a country that may soon battle with food security. Dams have a huge impact on the environment as well, make no mistake.
The only environmental impact the desalination plant has is that it uses a large amount of electrical power. The brine output will be well managed in a well run plant. Do not forget that this plant delivers potable water which means we don’t have to send the water to a water purification plant, it is already done. So no extra water purification plant.
Consider the impact of a sewerage treatment plant on the environment and then feel yourself an expert to point fingers at such an advanced clean facility as a desalination plant. It is compact and clean and unobtrusive and it provides a community with one less thing to worry about.
All these other plants also consume electricity and impact everyone around them. So we do move the problem of water and electricity (energy) away from water and make it one issue of electricity and as we all know that eventually that issue should also be solved with clean and renewable energy. In that way we are moving towards a futuristic world with clean energy and adequate water resources that has respect for the environment at the same time.
There are currently five desalination plants running in this country in Mossel Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Sedgefield, Knysna and East London. I am not aware of any wars that broke out over those. They solved huge problems.
I believe the community of disgruntled people around Tongaat are immature and uninformed about what it is that they are fighting. I would rather suggest that the disgruntled people go to the seaside and look at the amount of litter and beer and liquor bottles that lie there and start to get pro-active to campaign and get rid of this and other environmental damaging effects due to don’t care attitudes.
The real environmental damage on our coastline is caused by the everyday man that just doesn’t care or take responsibility for his own doing. Don’t nit-pick at well planned progress, rather take a no tolerance approach to environmental slackness.

CHRIS KLEYNHANS
Sheffield Beach