News
Even the spotty dog wears a mask
Wear your mask outside your home, its the right thing to do.
Off the grid
Bacterial filtering plant – step 1
I work at Old Mutual at Mutualpark in Cape Town. It is a massive campus of several buildings serving about 10 000 people. To provide water for that many people requires about 450 000l water per day; that amounts to about 45l per person total (this is total consumption including the restaurants, kitchens, aircon units etc). So I think it’s a remarkable achievement that they managed to get the entire campus off the water grid by building an onsite world-class water recycling plant.
Storage tanks
The main source of recycling water is waste water from the campus – yes every time you flush or wash your hands the output is recycled into drinking water, and its supplemented with grey water from the city (which then also goes through the filtration system). No city drinking water is needed.
Sand filtering – step 2
I was very lucky to go on a tour of the plant, and its impressive. It is capable of generating up to 800 000l water per day; that is almost double what is required on the campus. The water is super-clean, is tested everyday, and is compliant will the regular legal requirements (SANS 241 to be specific). It is the first privately developed waste water filtration plant in South Africa and can supply water to the campus without any clean municipal water required. None at all!
Reverse osmosis – step 3
Note: I mentioned 3 steps but that is massively simplified; it is a complex multi-step filtration system they use.
So between the solar panels, waste recycling and now water recycling I think they are doing a good job with the environment. And it makes business sense. The water plant will only need a few years to pay for itself. This is what large companies should be doing.
Cape Town Cycle Tour
Last year the Cape Town Cycle Tour was cancelled because of dangerously high winds. This year there is not a breath of air. It is perfect conditions for the cycle tour. Since I discovered running I have almost completely stopped cycling, but I still like to walk down to Main Road to support and watch the cyclists. I prefer to wait for the tail-end to come through; they are far more social and relaxed on the road.
Enjoy the pics from Sunday.
New informational boards in Muizenberg
While I was on my run a few days ago, I notices something new. Informational signs have popped up on the side of Main Road, from Muizenberg all the way to Kalk Bay. Each board is different and tells a story about the area. The ones that I saw cover the history, architecture of the old buildings, fishing and indigenous people of the area. They are well put together and informative. I’m not sure what are on the other boards (after all I was on a run, not a walk).
Why don’t you pop down to Muizenberg and take a slow stroll to Walk Bay and learn a little more about the area while you enjoy your stroll?
My persona and giveaway
Firstly don’t forget about the giveaway – a free signed Beatles print worth over R280 to a randomly selected commenter.
A few days ago I posted about the Persona Art Project, creating interesting art from bathroom signs.
They kindly offered to create me my own persona, so I sent them a few pictures of me finishing a marathon, and they did! Have a look at what they created. I am surprised at how good the caricature of me is, even down to the artwork of my dragon tattoo, and the iPod shuffle that I was listening to. Ok so the race number is different, but that is the number that I was wearing on another of the pictures. Here is the source pic for comparison.
Anyway, they now have a Kickstarter campaign running, including some cool stuff for participating, including
- prints
- postcards
- images
- and your own persona image
Check it out and please support it if you can (I have bought one of the packs myself). I think that anything so creative and original deserves some backing.
And don’t forget to leave a comment to maybe win the print.