Building the City of Cape Town’s water supply system resilience through the permanent Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant

The City of Cape Town (CCT) is developing a permanent 70 Mℓ/day seawater desalination plant at Paarden Eiland to enhance water supply resilience. Currently in the feasibility design phase, the project is part of the New Water Programme (NWP), which aims to add 300 million litres of water per day from diversified sources. The plant will utilize a multi-barrier process including reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation. Procurement opportunities for technologies, construction, and consumables are expected to reach the market in 2027, with the project estimated to create 30 direct jobs and 100-150 indirect construction jobs.

• The City of Cape Town's New Water Programme (NWP) aims to add 300 million litres of water per day from new sources, with the goal that by 2040, approximately 25% of the city's water will come from desalination, groundwater, and reuse.
• The permanent Paarden Eiland plant is designed as a 70 Mℓ/day seawater desalination facility using a multi-barrier treatment process.
• The project is currently in the feasibility design phase, with a comprehensive feasibility stage report planned for submission to the CCT Council in the second half of 2025, and procurement opportunities expected to be available in 2027.
• The plant is expected to generate approximately 30 direct jobs and 100 to 150 indirect jobs during a construction phase lasting around two years; the workforce is projected to be 55% low-skilled, 30% semi-skilled, and 15% highly skilled.
• Global desalination capacity has grown at an average annual rate of about 7% since 2010, with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region accounting for 70% of global capacity as of the cited data.
• The CCT has implemented a public participation schedule for the Paarden Eiland project, including events for the EIA Pre-application Draft Scoping Report in late 2024 and various public engagements under the Municipal Systems Act (MSA) and Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) through 2025 and early 2026.

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). Building the City of Cape Town’s water supply system resilience through the permanent Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Desalination-Industry-Brief-2025.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Building the City of Cape Town’s water supply system resilience through the permanent Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Desalination-Industry-Brief-2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Building the City of Cape Town’s water supply system resilience through the permanent Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Desalination-Industry-Brief-2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendbuilding, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Building the City of Cape Town’s water supply system resilience through the permanent Paarden Eiland Desalination Plant}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Desalination-Industry-Brief-2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }