icebergs towed Antarctica to South Africa
© ReutersHuge icebergs could be towed from Antarctica to Cape Town to solve South Africa's worst drought in a century.
Huge icebergs could be towed from Antarctica to Cape Town in a bid to solve South Africa's worst drought in a century.

Marine salvage experts are floating the plan to tug the icebergs to the region after its seen the worst water shortage in decades.

Salvage master Nick Sloane told Reuters news agency he was looking for government and private investors for a scheme to guide huge chunks of ice across the ocean, chop them into a slurry and melt them down into millions of litres of drinking 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 Sloane, who led the refloating of the capsized Italian passenger liner Costa Concordia in 2014.

Nick Sloane
© Splash NewsNick Sloane hopes they can float the ice to Cape Town and then turn it into drinking water
South Africa has declared a national disaster over the drought that hit its southern and western regions after 2015 and 2016 turned into two of the driest years on record.

Tough water restrictions are already in place and Cape Town 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 port city's four million residents.

Cape Town-based Sloane said his team could wrap passing icebergs in fabric skirts to protect them and reduce evaporation.

Large tankers could then 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.

Iceberg South Africa drought
© Moment Unreleased RFA single iceberg could produce 150 million litres of water a day for a year.
A single iceberg "could produce about 150 million litres per day for about a year," around 30% of the city's needs, said Sloane, a director at the US marine salvage firm Resolve Marine.

He said he was planning to hold a conference later this month to try and sell the £94 million project to city officials and investors.

Engineers and University of Cape Town academics have been assessing the plan and Dr Chris von Holdt from Aurecon's advisory practice told the Mail and Guardian : "I believe it has sufficient technical feasibility and economic merit to be considered seriously as a supply option for filling the supply gaps during periods of drought."

The city council was not immediately available for comment.