This week we celebrate National Water Week. The campaign is aimed at educating the public about their responsibility in water conservation initiatives and raising awareness around the need to protect and conserve the country’s water resources.
Water is life – most of us will only survive three days without water and is very disconcerting if you consider that most of our rivers and streams are polluted with litter, sewage, agricultural runoff and seepage. South Africa has been a water constrained county since 2002, and we are fast running out of fresh water sources. Unless we all really start to change our attitude and actions we don’t have a sustainable future.
More than 50% of SA’s water comes from just one province, KZN. Umgeni water is experiencing similar issues as we in Ugu have been exposed to with infrastructure. We need to urgently fix what is broken, and develop or implement new systems and technologies for the future.
Our own Mzimkhulu, the only water source for most of Ugu is also under threat. As soon as the river enters our district, pollution and sewage get into the river as it flows past multiple small towns. These areas are without municipal services, therefore their waste is accumulated in piles outside their settlements which also makes its way into our river. The many farms on the river also contribute to the pollution through their agricultural runoff.
We as a collective need to get together and become active in ridding our drinking water of pollutants. There have been many successful projects started by ordinary citizens across the world that have managed to repair and restore their water sources back to an almost pristine condition in a short time. It involves a lot of co-operation, co-ordination, many willing hands and inexpensive solutions.
We, as The Green Net NPC, have conceptualised the River Rangers Project designed exactly for this purpose. As with all our projects we aim to empower and uplift our communities where ever possible. To find out more please contact us. We cannot stand idly by while we slowly run out of water. The time to act is now.
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