2018 is here and marks the third year Capetonians have had to live with the reality of the worst drought the province has had in a century. While we were warned sporadically since it hit, local government and citizens left it up to Mother Nature to follow its course and bless us with the all rain needed to fill our dams and relieve us from this water crisis we are faced with.
“local government and citizens left it up to Mother Nature to follow its course and bless us with the all rain needed”
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and so the city is faced with the prospect of Day Zero ─ the day the taps will run dry and be switched off in most of the city. Being a city resident, it’s daunting seeing a date flashed daily on LED road signs along our main national roads. Be that as it may, unless we have unbroken torrential rain for months on end, water scarcity will be our new normal.
“60% of the population here in Cape Town are not saving water”
According to city estimates, as much as 60% of the population here in Cape Town are not saving water. The flipside of that would be avoiding Day Zero altogether if everyone kept their usage in check. As we all know by now the daily usage has been brought down from 87 litres per person to 50 litres. There are, however, the profligate among us who would rather shell out extra cash than curb their wasteful water usage. But with an imminent disaster on our hands, it’s time for all of us to do our part.
Getting Ready For Day Zero
If you’ve ever watched National Geographic’s Doomsday Preppers you may fancy yourself a seasoned survivalist. Vicarious and lived experience couldn’t be more far removed from each other, unfortunately.
To sketch the grim picture of what we’re faced with: the army will be deployed at each of the 200 Points of Distribution the city has set out for water collection, where heads of households will collect 25L of water per person. Academic experts and the premier have even voiced fears of widespread disease outbreak because of a lack of adequate sanitation. In the meantime, ordinary citizens are clamouring for 5L bottles at supermarkets, giving us all a first-hand look at our dystopic future.
On the bright side, though, we can be well-prepared to tackle this water crisis head on.
If you haven’t started saving water at home, here is a list of possible water saving tips you could start implementing right away:
1. Turn off the shower when washing your hair or shaving
2. Install water saving shower heads that have low flow aerators
3. Turn off the tap when washing your hands or brushing your teeth
4. Stop using your dishwasher and limit your washing machine use
5. When washing dishes don’t rinse with running water
6. If you have a pool get a cover to prevent evaporation (This helps big time, because in the end you might need to re-use that pool water later. So look after it and keep it clean)
7. Fix leaking toilets or taps immediately
8. Use hand sanitiser to clean your hands
9. Install buckets to catch rain water from the gutters and use one when you shower
10. If you entertain friends/guests install a urinal outside, if possible, to avoid the mellowing.
11. Defrost food in the fridge or naturally instead of under running water
12. Monitor how many litres of water you are using each day by reading your water meter – Cape Town water users map
Extra tip: As you need to do less washing, use a mix of fabric softener and water to spray your clothing to keep it smelling fresh. You might want to invest in some jeans as you can kill the germs by putting your jeans in the freezer for the night. If you’re short on jeans, stock up with a pick from our selection of men, women and kids jeans.
Day Zero Is Coming
Since we don’t know how long day zero will last, the three most important issues you will be faced with in your home is your hygiene, your toilets, and eating arrangements.
Hygiene
A portable shower you can fill with water is your best bet where personal hygiene is concerned. Here are a few camping or portable showers you could potentially buy listed on Price Check. The only down side to this shower is that you going to have to get used to cold showers unless you can heat the water before hand. If you don’t have a portable shower then you can always just use a bucket and a cloth to wash and rinse yourself. Additionally, try to prolong time between hair washes by investing in dry shampoo.
Toilets
After a few days mellowing, the yellow in your toilet is likely going to create quite the stench, but instead of flushing try an alternative in something like Wee Pong to kill bacteria and the malodour they cause.
In the case of number twos, though, you will have to make use of whatever grey water you have available to flush it down.
Eating
This is bit of a stickier issue. Given the risk of disease outbreak, and the current listeriosis outbreak our nation is dealing with, it is essentially that fresh produce is thoroughly and properly washed.
On that same note, investing in disposable cutlery and crockery will be a huge plus, too. If you intend using paper plates, however, be sure to drop off used ones at a recycling point so that you don’t add to the problem of increased refuse that the city will likely have to deal with during the water crisis.
Should regularly purchasing paper plates, and plastic knives and forks be too much for your pocket, though, then use a spray bottle loaded with some detergent and disinfectant to spray cutlery and crockery and sponge off the solution with a damp sponge.
And there you have it. As grim as it may be, if we all band together we will get through this, and hopefully develop compassion for our less affluent fellow citizens who queue daily for water that we have taken for granted running out of our taps.
Read more on DayZero’s water crisis and how to prepare by WWF’s here
