Water wise winners impress Rotarians

While the worst drought in over 70 years continues to bite unrelentingly, school children have come to the fore to teach adults a thing or two about water saving.  The Dundee Rotary Club’s Water Saving competition, held in conjunction with the Courier, attracted much interest from schools and adults.  Bev Garner, Rotary President, said the Club was happy with the response and pleased that so many school children had taken an interest in the competition.

Winners: In the Grade 7 category, Kwanda Zuma of Biggarsberg Primary was the overall winner with Luyanda Masala, also of Biggarsberg, earning a highly recommended prize. ML Sultan took the honours in the Grade 10 category with Avara Jagath taking first prize and Lethokuhle Phakathi second prize. The judges were Rotarians Peter Kuyler and Gerald Willis-Smith. Rotary thanks those who sponsored prizes: Dr Malan, C Torlage and Mahindra.

This is an abridged version of Kwanda Zuma’s winning entry:

Save water throughout your home:
Ensure all taps are fully closed. Ensure your plumbing system is regularly checked for leaks and engage a plumber when necessary. Note that taps that drip, leaking toilets and even leaking pipes can waste a huge amount of water, so it is well worth your while to make use of plumbing services to give your home a good once-over, replacing and fixing leaks and drips where needed.
Keep an eye on your water meter to spot any high levels of consumption. Collect rain water. Report broken pipes, open hydrants and excessive waste.

Save water in your garden
Water the garden before 9am or after 4pm. Watering at night or early in the morning gives water more time to soak in without added evaporation from the day’s heat. Avoid watering during windy periods and only water your garden when necessary. Water you garden with a watering can rather than a hosepipe. A hosepipe uses 1000 litres of water an hour. Plant small trees under big trees. If you have a swimming pool, cover it. This helps to prevent evaporation. Watering your plants during the day means that most of it will evaporate, wasting water. Another great option is using grey water like the water from sinks, showers, dishwashers and washing machines are the most common household example.
Watering the garden less frequently, but deeper (for longer) encourages a deeper root system, which results in stronger plants. This practice can make water-wise plants out of most established plants. If you have an overflow pipe that drips into the garden, place a bucket beneath the drips and use the saved water to water pot plants.

Save water in your kitchen
Rinse glasses, cutlery and vegetables in a basin of water, rather than under a running tap and re-use the water for pot plants or in the garden. Keep a bottle of drinking water in the fridge so that you don’t run lukewarm water down the drain when waiting for it to cool. Run tap water into a bottle when waiting for it to heat up. Thaw frozen food in the fridge, sunlight or microwave rather than placing them under running water.

Save water in your bathroom
Turn off the tap while you are brushing your teeth, shaving, washing your hands and so on. Use a mug of water to rinse you toothbrush. Plug the sink when shaving rather than rinsing your razor under running water. Take a shorter shower rather than a bath, or, if taking a bath re-use the bath water in your garden. Turn the tap off when you shower too. Get wet, then turn off the water while you soap up. Flushing the toilet unnecessarily is also a waste of water as if can use up to 12 litres per flush. Place a plastic bottle of water in the tank to displace some of the water used for each flush. Weigh the bottle down with sand, if necessary. You don’t want any sand loose in your toilet tank. Wash full laundry or dish loads.

Save water at school
Schools use a tremendous amount of water every day and require water for their restrooms, drinking water faucets and outdoors, playing fields and lawns. To reduce water use in the school, consider replacing old equipment with energy-saving devices. Repair water leaks and leaking toilets. To reduce outdoor water use, maximize natural vegetative cover and limit the amount of lawn area provided. Consider planting more trees, shrubs, ground covers and less grass. Only water the lawn when necessary. If you water your lawn only do it once a week, if rainfall isn’t enough. Avoid watering on windy and hot days. Water the lawn in the morning or late in the evening to maximize the amount of water which reaches the plants’ roots otherwise most of the water will evaporate. Collect rainfall for irrigation in a screened container to prevent mosquito larvae growth.
Let the rain do the rest.