Drought is still here so use water wisely
The rain that has been falling over the past few days must not fool us to think that the worst is over.
Themba Khoza of Mbombela writes:
The rain that has been falling over the past few days must not fool us to think that the worst is over.
It did bring minor relief to certain areas, but the drought is generally still with us.
South Africa is a water-scarce country and ranks among the 30 driest countries in the world.
This makes the current situation worse. The effects of climate change are also doing us no favours.
According to the South African Weather Bureau, the dry weather will probably persist through the remainder of this year and into March 2016, a period during which the country normally gets most of its rain.
This really shows that we are still going to experience the drought and the heatwave will continue to evaporate the little that is available in our dams and rivers.
The drought we are currently experiencing is a wake-up call to all in the country to take water conservation seriously, not only during this drought but going forward for the benefit of current and future generations.
As citizens we use more water than the world average.
We are also losing more of it through leaks in the systems and our households, as well as through our irresponsible behaviour.
Climate change is indeed upon us and we are also experiencing the effects of El Niño.
This phenomenon causes increased heat and exacerbates the drought we are experiencing.
This really calls upon all South Africans to hold hands and work together in water conservation and management.
Let us all stop our irresponsible water usage and use the available natural resource wisely and to the benefit of all.
A special request also goes out to those who are not yet paying for services to use water wisely and stop this attitude of opening taps to run for the whole day, watering gardens and washing cars, as they don’t feel the pinch of paying.
