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Rondebosch and Claremont, each independent municipalities with a rates income of a few

thousand pounds per annum, could no longer rely on the mountain springs which fed the
Liesbeeck River for their growing water demand. Only Henry Ladell, Town Engineer of

Wynberg was comfortable, content in the knowledge that his dams at the Constantia end of
the mountain could supply sufficient water to his ratepayers for the foreseeable future. (Fig.

3.30.)

Menmuir persuaded his councillors to look further afield, and they agreed that surveys should

be done in the Hottentots-Holland Mountains to find a dam site for Woodstock’s personal
use. But Menmuir was a gentleman engineer – his preferred office attire included a dark

morning coat, striped trousers, spats and side-button boots. So he employed the rather more

practical Tom Stewart to explore the mountains and produce a report, sharing the costs with
his neighbours in Mowbray, Rondebosch and Claremont. Stewart discovered a likely site in

the valley of the Wemmershoek River, and little Woodstock promptly took options on the
land. He also found a site on the Berg River near Franschhoek which Cape Town fancied,

while Rondebosch and Claremont favoured the potential of the valley of the Steenbras River.
But there it appeared the matter would rest, as none of the authorities had the financial

muscle to undertake any such scheme.

However John Parker, an energetic City Councillor, was not to be fobbed off. A crisis was

imminent, he asserted, and it was imperative that the little municipalities should combine and
act in unison; there was no other solution! But the local politicians resisted: they were very

comfortable in their mayoral chains and had no wish to lose their status by becoming

engulfed in one large and powerful organisation. But Parker, a well-known architect, was
above such petty notions. He continued to press for action, and in 1905 a Draft Bill to create a

Southern Suburbs Joint Water Scheme was published in the Colonial Parliament. But the
legislators were too preoccupied in creating the Union of South Africa to have time for such

low-level business, and the bill did not appear on the order paper.

Meanwhile water shortages were rife and Cape Town was subjected to water restrictions

which grew tougher each year until the supply had to be shut off for some fifteen hours each
day.