Marine salvage expert Nick Sloane said he was looking for investment to guide huge chunks of ice across the ocean and melt them down into millions of litres of drinking water.
South Africa has declared a national disaster after two of its driest years on record in 2015 and 2016.
Authorities have warned that taps could run dry next year if rains do not come to the rescue of Cape Town’s four million residents.
Mr Sloane, who led the re-floating of the Costa Concordia cruise liner in 2014, said his team could wrap passing icebergs in fabric skirts to protect them and reduce evaporation.
"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," he said.
Large tankers would guide the blocks into the Benguela Current that flows along the west coast of southern Africa, before a milling machine would cut into the ice.
A single iceberg "could produce about 150 million litres per day for about a year," around 30% of Cape Town’s needs, Mr Sloane said.
The director of the marine salvage firm Resolve Marine said he was planning to hold a conference later this month to try and sell the $130m (£95m) project to officials and investors.

Wichita Falls’ corner of North Texas was enduring one of the worst droughts in its history at the time, leaving the reservoirs that supply water to the city barely treading above 20 percent full.
Now, as almost 50 percent of Texas deals with a drought still threatening to spread, water experts are recommending cities implement more comprehensive, permanent water restrictions — like the ones Wichita Falls used three years ago — to avoid the growing pains that emergency drought restrictions can bring.
Ayres was forced to close his businesses two times a week during the drought’s peak and city officials were threatening all car washes in the city with being completely shut down for the duration of the disaster.
Wichita Falls entered a period of record drought in 2010, and other parts of the state were soon in similar straits — 2011 was the driest year in Texas history.
“Everybody thinks they’re using what they need, but folks don’t actually know what they need and aren’t using what is appropriate,” said Jennifer Walker, senior program manager for water programs at the National Wildlife Federation.
Wichita Falls currently allows residents to water their lawns on as many days as they like, but only from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. Russell Schreiber, Wichita Falls’ director of public works, said restrictions like those recommended in the study would cause water rates to balloon as the utility worked to offset reduced usage of the water being sold.
Aucoin said he recommends similar restrictions for the surrounding communities in North Texas.
“If we can get used to being efficient and conservative with our water use, it will help in the future because our water will go further," she said.
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Participants from three small North Pacific island countries: Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau, joined development partners last week (23-27 April 2018) to share experiences from the 2015-2016 severe El Niño drought and explore ways to work with communities to secure food and water resources ahead of the next drought.
In his opening remarks, the Team Leader, Climate Change, Energy, and Circular Economy, Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific, Mr Adrian Nicolae, emphasized the EU’s support for the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific.
“The EU encourages the North Pacific countries to invest in long term solutions that promote climate and disaster resilient development through the opportunities presented by the RENI project and other interventions” he said.
Officer-in-charge of the SPC Micronesia Office, Ms Maire Dwyer, noted that communities are at the heart of the RENI project as evidenced by its people-centred approach.
“This is one of the first times that SPC’s Regional Rights Resources Team and Social Development Programme have combined their skills and expertise to mainstream a rights-based approach into a climate and disaster resilience project,” she said.
The RENI project also addresses the needs of outer island communities and a panel session on “Outer island migration – a socio-economic or climate change issue – or both?” was one of the highlights of the meeting.
“Outer island people are very resilient and they have been practising a traditional and sustainable lifestyle for thousands of years,” the Secretary of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Emergency Management, FSM, Mr Andrew Yatilman said.
It was observed that outward migration, especially to the United States mainland, increased during times of economic hardships in 1992 and 1997.
Background: The European Union (EU) – North Pacific – Readiness for El Niño (RENI) project is about communities working to secure food and water resources ahead of drought.
More information about the project is available online.

The lack of rainfall during the fall and winter months led to the explosive growth of extreme to exceptional drought conditions across the Southwest and southern High Plains, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
Meanwhile, winter wheat – which is not droughted-out – is headed out.
On a short trip to the country, I observed a good stand of wheat near Miles in Runnels County headed out.
In areas where it rained the wheat will likely make at least an average crop, but there are droughty fields ten miles away,” Holubec said.
He said like most of his neighbors: “we keep watching the skies and listening to the weather folks with hopes their predictions of that next rain will come soon!” Most of McCulloch County’s wheat is grown on the western edge of the county around Melvin, about 60 miles southeast of San Angelo.
“Those fall-developed roots are keeping plants alive as they await seasonal rainfall, even under extended drought conditions,” he said.
According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, 56 percent of winter wheat is headed and 74 percent of oats across the Lone Star State.
Irrigation where available, continued on wheat fields in the Northern High Plains.
A late freeze by April’s end damaged wheat in the Panhandle, Southern Plains and Rolling Plains.
Winter wheat in Far West Texas during the severe cold in February, 2011 delivered a 100 percent loss of some stands of germinated wheat, according to the weekly crop and weather report issued by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

FARMINGTON — Local government officials are growing increasingly concerned about drought conditions in San Juan County and are proposing some restrictions.
Farmington may enter stage one of its drought management plan, and San Juan County could restrict fireworks use.
The Farmington City Council and the San Juan County Commission will discuss the restrictions during their meetings on Tuesday.
The state Office of the Engineer sent a letter April 19 to ditch officials regarding the drought.
When the city of Farmington released its Water Tip Wednesday — a weekly conservation tip the city releases online and through social media — the Animas River was flowing at 14.1 cubic feet per second, less than 2 percent of normal.
(Photo: Hannah Grover/The Daily Times) Farmington Public Works director David Sypher said those two indicators prompted the city to consider entering stage one of the drought management plan, which calls for voluntary conservation to reduce water use by 10 percent.
San Juan County Fire Chief Craig Daugherty said conditions do not look like they will improve.
The drought also has caused the county to consider restricting fireworks to prevent fires.
That meeting will focus on the drought management plan.
Jeanene Valdes, a member of River Reach Foundation, said she and other officials of the nonprofit organization that stages the RiverFest celebration each Memorial Day weekend are concerned about the low level of the rivers.

The children can’t believe their luck: storms and showers have turned their dirt football pitch into a lake.
Youngsters scamper and splash through the murky water, chasing one another, leaping and laughing.
The seasonal rains also bring cholera and malaria, destroy rickety hand-made homes and paralyse the aid operation that is the refugees’ lifeline.
On it and still dry lies Yussuf’s blind, 80-year-old mother.
“Dadaab is located on a plain where the rainwater does not drain easily, there are no drainage systems and no nearby river,” explained Caleb Odhiambo of charity Save the Children, which works in the camps.
Cholera is the greatest danger, especially for children who play in — and anyone who drinks — the contaminated waters.
– Flood or drought – “When the area is flooded, people are exposed to several diseases,” said 25-year-old Dadaab resident Mokhtar Dahari.
A driver working for a non-governmental organisation in Dadaab confirmed that some parts of the camps are “flooded and inaccessible.
Humanitarian activities are slowed down.” For now, Dahari has been spared: the floodwaters stopped a few meters (yards) from his hut.
The rains, Dahari said, are enough to make him long for drought.

Parts of Oklahoma saw rain for the first time in more than 200 days Drought conditions saw very little improvement after the weekend rains Severe drought conditions continue, unfortunately Drought – it can make fire conditions worse, landscaping more difficult and agricultural lifestyles more complicated.
Through much of the winter months, the drought was getting worse across Oklahoma.
Mid-February, widespread drought conditions were present across the state but just a month later, eastern portions of Oklahoma were in the clear.
Just last week, fires were raging in western Oklahoma, burning nearly 350,000 acres (which is about 545 square miles).
In those areas around the fire, that is where the worst drought conditions are in the state.
Nearly 20% of Oklahoma has been in the worst category (Exceptional Drought) since April 10 with parts of Western Oklahoma without measurable rainfall for more than 200 days.
The most up-to-date Drought Monitor came out Thursday morning showing very little improvement across all of Oklahoma.
The Exceptional Drought is still about 20% with about 47% of Oklahoma in one of the drought categories.
The rain received on Wednesday will show up on next week’s monitor, hopefully, that will help out the conditions across the state.
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The Yampa River is projected to flow at 64 percent of its long-term average flow this year, according to the Colorado River District.
Still, water managers are concerned about the impacts a long-term drought could have on Moffat County and its rivers.
This water is stored in Lake Powell, and some is released into Lake Mead.
Due to the drought in southern parts of Colorado, the Yampa/White/Green River Basin is anticipated to make up a larger portion of the water sent downstream this year.
Compound that with population growth and a growing demand for Colorado River Basin water on both Colorado’s Front Range and in Lower Basin communities, the river is being "pulled at both ends," said Andy Mueller, general manager of the Colorado River District, during last week’s State of the River event.
If there is not enough water in Lake Powell, a compact curtailment would be instituted, meaning water users in Colorado would face curtailments, which are limits to their use.
Mueller said if Colorado faces a drought period today as it did between 1999 and 2005, there is not enough water in Powell to deliver downstream, which means Colorado is at risk of suffering a compact curtailment.
Within Colorado, Western Slope agriculture is the largest consumptive use of water in the Colorado River Basin, according to the Colorado River District.
"We believe our economy — the agriculture that we just talked about — is what is likely to suffer if we end up in a curtailment, so Colorado River District, along with the Colorado Water Conservation Board and others in the state are looking very closely at how we prevent a curtailment from ever occurring," Mueller said.
Water managers in both the Colorado’s Upper and Lower River Basins are working on Drought Contingency Plans to manage water in a way that would avoid a compact curtailment.

Virginia ranged from abnormally dry to the severe drought criteria.
Since then, conditions have improved greatly due to multiple waves of precipitation that worked across the state.
A good 7 to 9 inches of rain fell across parts of the region since the beginning of March.
As a result, most of southwest Virginia is no longer in a drought with the exception of Southside.
The latest drought monitor has Halifax and Charlotte counties in the abnormally dry criteria.
We have a couple more waves of precipitation heading our way as we round out the month of April.
While improvement have been made across the Upper Midwest, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, others haven’t been as fortunate.
Drought has tightened its grip from Utah and Arizona to the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.
The latest Drought Monitor has them ranging from severe drought to the exceptional drought criteria.
Little rain is on the way but it won’t be enough to get them out of such a severe rainfall deficit.

Ongoing drought and wildfires have cattle ranchers in Oklahoma scrambling for hay.
The state is one of several southwestern states recently devastated by wildfires.
A combination of drought and fires have left ranchers in Northwestern Oklahoma without hay and pasture; making finding grass or wheat to feed their cattle nearly impossible.
Northwestern Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Panhandle, which account for nearly 20% of the state, are rated in exceptional drought, the most severe category.
Most recently, the 34 Complex Fire and Rhea Fire wiped out any resources for ranchers to feed their cattle, leaving many of them dependent on donations from surrounding states.
However, because other states such as Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Utah and New Mexico are also in exceptional drought, there’s not a lot of extra to go around.
Oklahoma State University Agricultural Economist Derrell Peel said recent rains have been a Godsend and will need to continue to keep ranchers from having to sell off their herds.