By Carol Lazar
While the rest of the country is blessed with rain, Cape Town, is suffering under a massive drought and each day the situation deteriorates.
Sweltering temperatures and gusting winds have added to the problem and gradually the levels of the water in the Cape damns is sinking and they are less than 50% full.
There is, as you might have guessed, a crisis situation.
Severe water restrictions have now been placed upon Capetonians and they are allowed to water their gardens just once a week for half an hour with a hand-held hose and for 20 minutes if they use a drip-system reticulation method.
Ways of saving water have been suggested by various newspapers and radio talk shows and, for the greater part, Capetonians are doing their thing.
The municipality, on the other hand, is not. Daily people call in to complain about leaking taps or broken pipes. Only yesterday, one man phoned in incensed because he'd reported a leaking water pipe on a new property development with water gushing into the air for a height of 3m and then running down the street.
He'd called several people including the owner of the property development and eventually, the municipality office responsible for fixing the pipe.
It eventually took the appropriate municipal department 12 hours to get the pipe fixed due to the fact that the complainant had phoned "after hours".
Capetonians were furious, as so they should have been. This scenario is repeated day after day.
Cape Town's water guru advising Capetonians about restrictions and how not to waste water, Saleem Mowzer, points out that the City Fathers have come up with many ways on how to save water such as using showers instead of baths.
For instance, a short five-minute shower uses just 160 litres whereas the average, small bath uses 601 litres.
He suggests that families, wherever possible, share baths and showers.
Other suggestions such as filling swimming pools with rainwater by leading pipes directly into pools from gutters have been put into place by many but the idea is stymied as there's been no rain.
Visiting Gautengers checking out the scene will notice bits of piping sticking out of guttering all over the city. The intention is there ...
Another interesting suggestion has been to provide 2 000 to 5 000-litre tankers filled with sea water to drive around filling pools with brine, at a cost, payable to the pool owner, obviously.
Bad idea, say the experts, as all the pipes would corrode.
Another suggestion has been to desalinate Cape Town's sea water - we've been looking at this for years, apparently.
And herein lies the problem: this drought is nothing new.
My parents put down a borehole in their Cape Town property more than 40 years ago because of water shortages. And talking bore holes, today, every third property owner seems to be digging down deep for a borehole. How long, I wonder, will it take to lower the city's water table.
This week, a new solution was heralded in with the addition of a herd of 20 water nazis (a term coined by irate Capetonians) who have been appointed by the city to join the other water nazis (there are already quite a few of them) who are sneaking around the city trying to find water thieves - those who water, sprinkle or use their hosepipes illegally.
Now, as Gautengers visiting Cape Town will find, most Capetonians are doing their thing. They shower infrequently, their gardens are dying and they drink beer instead of water.
But don't be surprised if you find the citizens of Cape Town grumbling in protest against a municipality that is becoming more totalitarian by the minute but does little to curb its own numerous (and complained about by the public) excesses.
[Email this story...] [Easy Print...]
|
|
 |
