Madam – Your article in the Newcastle Advertiser issue dated October 14, front page ‘Newcastle feels the arid pinch’ refers.
I can’t say I am shocked at all. We have been heading for a disaster for quite a while now, yet there are still people out there who believe their actions do not mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
There are many weekends when we drive around and see how some residents blatantly ignore the fact that we are heading for a crisis, and spend happy hours watering their gardens or filling up their pools.
Some businesses too have their sprinklers on for most of the mornings. What is the cost now, to have such lovely green grass? When your taps run dry and you cannot cook, or bath, or even flush your toilets, how will your lovely green grass help you?
I want to appeal to my fellow residents: Wake up! Stop wasting precious water. When the time comes, do you think everyone who is suffering without water will say, ‘Oh how lovely your grass and garden looks’?
NO! They will blame you for being part of the problem!
Look at what is happening in our sister towns. Recently, our very generous community donated water to Vryheid, where some residents don’t have water for days. But did we actually learn from this? Are we actually doing anything to make sure we don’t end up in the same situation? No.
And it’s so sad to me, to see where we are headed and know our community can unite to save water, but just choose to turn a blind eye. How can you be so selfish? Is this the legacy we want to leave for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren? That we just didn’t care enough?
I’m so disappointed with some of my fellow Newcastillians. If anything, I hope this letter encourages you to take a hard look at yourselves and make some changes. Otherwise, there won’t be much of a future to leave to our children.
A. V.
