Massive icebergs could be towed 1,200 miles from Antarctica to Cape Town to provide water for drought-stricken South Africa

  • Plan was created by Cape Town-based salvage expert Nick Sloane
  • South Africa is currently experiencing its worst drought for a century
  • Sloane says one iceberg could provide 150m litres of water a day for a year
  • His team plans to tow huge icebergs from Antarctica using an underwater net 
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A salvage expert has an ambitious plan to solve the crippling water shortage in South Africa. 

South African native, Nick Sloane, wants to capture an iceberg in Antarctica and tow it back to his homeland. 

The challenging mission would involve a 1,200 mile (1,900 km) trip across open water and could provide millions of litres of clean water. 

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South African native, Nick Sloane, wants to capture a iceberg in Antarctica and tow it back to his homeland to solve the crippling water shortage in South Africa. Mr Sloane believes the project could produce about 150 million litres per day for about a year (file photo)

South Africa is currently in the grip of its worst water shortage for a century.  

Salvage master Nick Sloane told Reuters he was looking for government and private investors to back his scheme. 

Mr Sloane was responsible for the refloating of the capsized Italian passenger liner Costa Concordia in 2014. 

He hopes to drag huge chunks of ice across the ocean, chop them into a slurry and melt them down into millions of litres of water.

‘We want to show that if there is no other source to solve the water crisis, we have another idea no one else has thought of yet,’ said Mr Sloane.

Cape Town-based Sloane is a director at the US marine salvage firm Resolve Marine and said his Southern Ice team could tow the huge icebergs using an underwater net. 

Wrapping a passing iceberg in a fabric skirt would also stop the iceberg melting before it reaches South Africa as the specialist geotextile would help reduce evaporation.

Despite their best efforts, the team admits the berg is likely to shrink by about 30 per cent on its journey northwards.  

The project would target an iceberg with ‘tabular shape and steep sides,’ according to Olav Orheim, the former director of the Norwegian Polar Institute and now part of the Southern Ice project.


South Africa is in the grip of its worst water shortage in a century. Authorities have warned that taps could run dry altogether as soon as next year and Mr Sloane believes that an iceberg could solve the shortage 

HOW CAN AN ICEBERG PROVIDE WATER FOR DROUGHT-STRICKEN AREAS?

There have been several attempts at moving icebergs to end droughts. 

In 2017, the UAE was experiencing severe water shortages and a project was set up to tow an iceberg to the region. 

These plans involved harvesting icebergs from Heard Island, around 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) off the coast of mainland Antarctica.

The only details provided at the time, was that towing would be the most likely method. 

South Africa in 2018 is experiencing its worst drought for a century.

A renowned marine salvage master from the country also believes towing an iceberg could be the answer. 

Cape Town-based Nick Sloane, director of Resolve Marine, wants to tow a rogue iceberg 1,200 miles form the Antarctic ocean to Cape Town. 

He intends to do this by using a material skirt, made of a specialist geotextile, which would fit around the underside of the huge chunk of ice.

In order for this to be successful, the iceberg must be of specific size and shape, with steep sides.

Huge tankers would guide and pull the iceberg through the water and the skirt would help reduce evaporation.  

A milling machine would then then cut into the ice, producing a slurry and forming a saucer structure that will speed up the natural process, he said. 

The removal of the salt from the water would require huge desalination plants, and a large injection of cash to build plants capable of processing several thousand tonnes.     

More than 2,000 billion tonnes of ice breaks away from Antarctica every year, and the Southern Ice team predict that about 7 per cent of that would be suitable for towing. 

Large tankers would be used to guide the blocks into the Benguela Current that flows along the west coast of southern Africa.

A milling machine would then then cut into the ice, producing a slurry and forming a saucer structure that will speed up the natural process, he said.

One major obstacle that the team faces is desalination – making the sea water suitable for human consumption.

The removal of the salt from the water would require huge desalination plants, and a large injection of cash to build plants capable of processing several thousand tonnes.     

South Africa has declared a national disaster over the drought that hit its southern and western regions.

This latest drought comes after 2015 and 2016 turned into two of the driest years on record.

Tough water restrictions are already in place and Cape Town is at real risk of running dry completely.   

Authorities have warned that taps could run dry altogether as soon as next year if winter rains do not come to the rescue of the city’s 4 million residents.

Mr Sloane believes that his project ‘could produce about 150 million litres per day for about a year,’ around 30 percent of the city’s needs. 

Mr Sloane intends to hold a conference later this month to try and sell the $130 million (£94 million) project to city officials and investors.  

The city council was not immediately available for comment.

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