I changed my shower head

Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Yesterday I did myself proud when I bought a low-flow shower head. I must admit. It wasn’t easy having so little water to shower with this morning. I felt like I was in the middle of a drought and it was raining but the rain just wouldn’t pour. It just drizzled. Nonetheless, I had to look at the bigger picture. That low-flow shower head was going to make an impact – small as it may be – on our water resources.

Water has been classified as a non-renewable resource and this obviously means that there’s only so much of it that will be available to us. It cannot be dug up, or regenerated so it is in fact at a huge risk of depleting. It’s probably at this point where I should question whether the earth is still 70 percent water.

The way the planet works is that there is only a fixed amount of water on the planet. This water evaporates out of the oceans into the clouds which produce rain falling on the land. The water then runs into the rivers and dams where it is used for agriculture, industrial and domestic use. The waste is cleaned or partially cleaned and makes its way to the sea, where the cycle begins again. If the rain keeps on falling in the catchment areas then we won’t run out.

Climate change and global warming may mean that water is not renewable for many countries if they become hotter and their rain stops falling. Here in South Africa many areas have not only experienced serious drought, but there are people who continue to lack access to adequate drinking water.

And yet the Sandton moms, accustomed to living a posh and luxurious life, cannot change their way of life for the sake of clean drinking water for those without. Is that really worth it? To paint a grim picture, we could lose whatever water supply we have left if people don’t make a few sacrifices and adjustments here and there.

Water woes

It’s no news that water scarcity in South Africa has been identified as a reality. According the Business Report, the Eastern Cape and central and southern parts of the Western Cape are beginning to show signs of what AgriSA calls “the worst drought in 130 years”. Emergency measures have had to be taken, which include trucking in water to some areas in those regions.

In other parts of the world celebrities are scaling Africa’s highest peaks for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations. Reuters reported that the main aim of the Summit on the Summit expedition to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro was to raise public awareness about the global clean water crisis, which affects more than 1 billion people around the world, including hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people of concern to the UN refugee agency. Many of those people live right here in Africa.

Clearly, the water situation is not something to be made light of. At the Western Cape Water Indaba in 2009, it was noted that the province needs to start moving rapidly to adapt to the impact of climate change, particularly if we create a future for coming generations.

Water scarcity is mainly a result of the fact that water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century. By 2025, 1 800 million people will be living in countries and regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions.

How many people out there are actually making a difference? How many people are taking a conscious decision to change that shower head or bath less and shower more? Surely it’s within reason to expect people to lessen their water wastage? Yes, water wastage, not water usage. That is what it becomes when you choose to take a bath every single day when there is a perfectly good shower available. Isn’t it?