Cape Town is the first major city in the world that very soon has the potential to run out of water. In this regard, Cape Town leads the way. The city has certainly bumped its head a number of times as it tries to come to terms with what is a very serious eventuality. At a political level there will always be bickering, infighting, accusations and mud-slinging. Eventually, however, everyone has to work together to try to solve the problem. Capetonians have gone mad in finding creative solutions to both saving water and using that which we have very carefully, squeezing out every drop to avoid the potential of the monster that’s Day Zero. Capetonians have shown themselves to be tenacious and enthusiastic in trying to use water sparingly. They have also kept their sense of humour.
For us the progression has been gradual. There was a time where we knew we had to stop watering our garden. Earlier in 2017, we used buckets of water to wash the car. We stopped using a hose pipe altogether. We never ran the tap when brushing our teeth. We used running water to wash our hands and faces. We showered regularly – last year in summer, most days we showered twice a day. On particularly hot and humid days (like the ones we have had recently) we would shower three times a day. Morning, noon and bedtime. Then as 2017 progressed, we quickly realised we weren’t getting as much rain as we should. We started ‘sailor showers’. Running the tap until the water was hot, then hopping under, wetting ourselves, then turning the tap off. A leisurely soaping followed. When we were all soaped up, we turned the tap on and rinsed off. We would still shower a couple of times a day in summer. The situation deteriorated. We put a bucket in the shower and started catching the cold water as it warmed up. We showered as quickly as possible.
Now there’s NO more showering every day. I use rain water from the tank and take a bucket of that into the shower with me. I can get away with using about 5 litres for a proper wash. I go outside to wash my hair. It gets washed with the tank water. I have on order a 5 litre garden pressure sprayer with which I can ‘shower’ using 2 litres of water. I ordered it on Take-a-lot last night. I ordered three. One for our tenant in the cottage out back, one for Echo cottage and one for us. When I went to the website now to grab the picture, it’s out of stock…
Early in 2017, we started using tank water for some of the toilet flushes. We followed the ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down rule,’ flushing the toilet properly when it was required.
No more of that. Now we flush a few times a day but it is only using recycled or rain harvested water. Our toilet tap is turned off. The worst part is letting the yellow contents of the loo ‘mellow’. It’s just not a great smell. To slightly improve matters, after a wee, I don’t put toilet paper in the loo – it goes into a covered bin. This is the new normal.
Brushing teeth is done using water in a glass….half a glass at the most. Washing face, I use the tank water that sits in the bathroom for hand washing, clothes washing and toilet flushing when required. The washing machine uses 40 litres of water for a wash. I do one load every other week. For the rest I hand wash in tank water, using good old Omo.
Dishwashing we catch the cold water in a bucket and use about 2 or 3 more litres of hot water for the day. Yes it goes cold, but it’s still water and it does the job. A lot of people are using paper plates so dishes don’t need to be washed. We use drinking water for cooking and tea and coffee. If Day Zero comes, that’s the water we will be buying in.
At the moment we are using about 40 litres of water per person per day, according to our water metre. Kudos to our tenant who is absolutely playing the saving water game.
That’s how it’s done. When your city starts running out of water, you’ll know how to cope! If you are outside of the city and want to come and visit, please do. We need tourism to thrive. When Cape Town thrives, we all thrive. When Cape Town suffers, the whole country will suffer. When you visit the city, use water like a local.
My advice to all Capetonians, do everything you can to get a water tank or two. We plan on buying more. We won’t necessarily get them filled with water in the next couple of months, but they will be full for summer 2018/2019 and for summer 2019/2020. We will feel the effects of this drought for years to come.
For this year, the rain will come and things will improve. In the meantime, we can do this Cape Town! We are all in this together and with our joint endeavours, we can push Day Zero back. We can be an example to future drought stricken cities.
Today has been pretty quiet, hence the long blog! One thing I did do is some hand washing. Earlier this week, a lady on Facebook advertised some baby girl clothes for sale, so I jumped on the First in Line bandwagon and bought them. Today,the first few went through a bucket of Omo. They look so very cute hanging on the line…
We have come to the end of January 2018.
#554 of my thousand thanks is that we have had a full 4 months with no crime at our house! I’m grateful!
Remember that I’m using the Bible verses from my diary for my blog this year. How’s this one for being so appropriate in these dry days:
Luke 12:28
If God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly are for you.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
PS. I’ve put the bulk of this blog on News24. Look out for it.