Please - the situation is dire.
I have posted this on my Facebook page - to help spread the word far and wide.
Water is urgently needed upcountry e.g. Senekal has been without water since the 12th December 2015.
Water Shortage South Africa are appealing to holiday makers who are returning upcountry to take a large bottle (or two) of water to drop off on their way home (https://sites.google.com/site/watershortagesouthafrica/home). Now, appeals are going out for contributions of water - in those clean bottles which you would normally send to recycling.
They must be marked "DW = Drinking water (Human consumption)
TW = Tank water (Sanitary use and livestock drinking water)"
TW = Tank water (Sanitary use and livestock drinking water)"
Disaster Management SA is prepared to collect and transport the water, so can't we all in Swellendam not do our bit to help? All we need is a drop off point, and for everyone to give as large a bottle of water as possible. Any suggestions where that could be located?
Please - check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/924585607595490/ for more info on how South Africans are trying to do their bit to help their fellow man, woman and child
Please - click on the two links I have provided above. And, all those who have a South African blog - please - help spread the word.
#LetsWaterSA!
Oh my. I hope & pray that this gets better before it gets worse!
ReplyDeleteRain, Dallas - all this country needs is some rain. Lots of the glorious wet stuff... :) Please add us to your prayers.
DeleteIn Southern California lots of towns have no water. The state has to truck it in every day and people come fill up jugs and cans. Their wells dried up.
ReplyDeleteHarry - I don't think they have enough water trucks in this country to meet the demand in those towns with no water, so if every citizen does their small bit to help, at least people, and their animals / livestock have a fighting chance...
DeleteIt's a very bad situation. I feel sorry for the wild animals up there, I wonder how they will make out.
DeleteHarry - They are starving because the lack of rain is not allowing th grasses to grow. They are dying of thirst because the non-existent grasses are not providing them with a small modicum of moisture.
DeleteI know of farmers who have been so overwhelmed watching their animals dying of hunger and thirst, that they have taken their own lives in the last two weeks. They owe money to the banks - for their livestock (which are dying), for their crops (which aren't growing) - even on their farmhouses. They are feeling so helpless, so despondent, so saddened that taking their lives is the only way they see out of this mess. Staying alive just means that they live to see everything they have worked for over the years taken by the banks - everything being whatever livestock are left, their land, and their safe havens - their homes.
I'm sorry to say we're in a bit of a crisis ourselves here in RSE, our tap water has turned to mud. Last night there was a traffic jam, yes a traffic jam in my street and a queue of people with bottles waiting to buy drinking water at R1 a litre. We all smell a bit whiffy due to the heat and not having enough water for such luxuries as clean showers, but we're all in this together so a squirt of Mum does the trick.
ReplyDeletePQSA - Happened to us the week before Christmas. It appears the main pipe from Overberg sprang a leak, which took them a week to fix. But, I'm glad to say it's all clean now. Are you getting your water from Overberg? Perhaps the brown water in the system is only reaching RSE now...?
DeleteIt happens to us every time they switch off the mains water to fix a pipe. When it comes back on mud flows into the pipes and I have to go around the house and empty each tap in turn. This time it happened a few times, so every time I turned on the tap I got mud. I've heard we get our water from our own rivers and a new water treatment plant is in the works. We do have plenty of water, it's just not very clean and not really drinkable. I'm just worried about what it's doing to my geyser and the toilet mechanisms. I've heard there's a guy who can flush out my geyser, but I don't want to waste all that water. When it gets cooler, I'll just empty the whole geyser into the bath and carry it out in buckets to the garden, until I've got a hose big enough to run it straight from the outlet to the garden. I've noticed that the people buying water from the filtration guy over the road are the kind of people who can least afford it.
DeletePQSA - You could also switch off the power to your geyser, close the water supply to it, then take the (hose) tap fitting that is attached to your washing machine inlet supply, connect your garden hose to that screw on tap, and water your garden thoroughly with all the water in your geyser until it is empty, and then flush it out. (The average geyser holds roughly 150 - 200 lts.)
DeleteSuper, thanks Dani, much appreciated. Can't imagine what's in there considering how often this has happened.
DeleteYou're welcome lol Just remember to refill your geyser before you flip the mains switch on again otherwise you can burn out your geyser.
DeleteWow, right after writing this, it started to rain, soft and soaking and just 100% lovely. It carried on all night and we got almost 40mm, tanks are full again, yippee. I went to Caledon and they only got 10mm. Hope you got some in your area Dani and your tanks are full to overflowing. We also got an apology note about the muddy water coming out of the taps, the reservoir sunk too low apparently. I thought that was really cute.
DeletePQSA - We got 37mm of wonderful moisture from the heavens - half filled our 3 X 5 000lt tanks. Just need some of this to move up north to the OFS and NC :(
DeleteIt is very scary. We have water drop off points in Knysna. Albertinia Meubel Vervoer collects the water and very kindly delivers it upcountry to the towns in need. A lot of holiday makers are also taking water with them as they make their way home.
ReplyDeleteOur water reservoir at the shop, and at home are starting to worry me.
Rosemary - yeah, our rain water tanks are running low too... I'm trying to convince RMan that we should invest in a ruddy great reservoir, but they are expensive - too expensive for us I fear.
DeleteThe water situation is very scary, and anyone who doesn't have a (large) rainwater tank is acting like an ostrich as far as I'm concerned. Even our son, who lives in a flat in Cape Town, has a 1000lt tank filled with tap water "just in case". He's not bothered with the sight of it in his flat - he'd rather be water secure :) His last chore is to get himself a small pump - at least he'll then be able to circulate the water when he flushes the loo and have a good wash if the water runs out. Clever lad.
oh Dani - reading about people needing water always makes my guts and heart wrench because we have access to so much of it that we don't even think about it. and then i read about people needing water and feel so horribly bad.
ReplyDeletei promise we will raindance naked every single time we get in the hottub today. it is a beautiful, clear blue day and we have already been in several times. we'll raindance under the beautiful sun - naked in the snow - and then we will do it under the moon tonight. and we will pray for rain for South Africa.
i'm not even trying to be funny, i feel so badly for the people who need water. i promise that we will pray!
sending much love to you and yours - and kudos to your clever lad! your friend,
kymber
Ah, my friend - thank you so much.
DeleteI'm just worried - won't you and jambaloney get "pruney" skin with all this hot tub soaking...? ;)
Bless you.