In the event of a total blackout
The stand-out meeting of the past week was the Premier’s Co-ordinating Forum (PCF), a statutory quarterly get-together of the Province’s Mayors and the Western Cape cabinet, at which we discuss issues that require intergovernmental co-operation. We usually invite the relevant National Ministers and Departmental representatives as well.
One of the items on this week’s agenda was a presentation on how we would co-ordinate our efforts in the (highly unlikely) event of a total electricity blackout. In particular, a presentation by Dave Hugo, a Director with responsibility for infrastructure in the City of Cape Town, made me sit up and take note.
When we have ordinary load shedding, we experience the inconvenience of a cold supper by candlelight without TV (except for those of us lucky enough to have a generator and gas stove).
A total blackout, however, would be a different story altogether. This would occur if unplanned outages resulted in electricity consumption exceeding generation and “tripping the national electricity grid. Should such an unlikely event occur it could take two weeks before the grid could be fully restored. At first it would seem just like the “normal” load shedding, with which we have become all too familiar. The real implications would hit us within 24 hours. And unless there is very careful pre-planning, not even generators can ameliorate the consequences.
Generators need fuel; and once the generator has used up the available supply, what then? Cellphone companies can no longer transmit signals (even if your phone is charged). Radio transmitters also die. So do Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs). Water cannot reach suburbs located at elevations above the bulk storage dam. Within hours, sewage pump stations would overflow, with sewage running into the storm water system, into our rivers and beaches, and onto our crops, with devastating consequences for agriculture and the environment, not to mention public health. Hospitals and clinics would stop functioning. So too, police stations. The criminal justice system, including courts and prisons, would grind to a standstill. Public transport would come to a halt. Shops would close. Criminals would spot their gap. In this context it is easy to see the potential for public panic on an unprecedented scale. Life as we know it, in a modern economy, cannot function without electricity.