Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2015-11-12
As the water crisis deepens across the country, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg has warned that communities will have to play a more active role in finding solutions to conserve water.
With the current heatwave expected to last at least until the end of the week and depleting water in reservoirs, level two water restrictions have been implemented by municipalities in Joburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
Level two water restrictions forbids residents from filling their pools, washing cars, pavements or patios with hosepipes and watering gardens between 6am and 6pm.
Earthlife Africa’s Dominique Doyle says government should have reacted earlier to urge South Africans to conserve water.
“I don’t think we should be only looking at these water saving tips now. We should have been doing it for a very long time because if truth be told, South Africa and the Department of Water Affairs have known about this drought for quite some time, so we shouldn’t be in the situation that we are right now.”
Doyle says because the current drought is linked to climate change, the message from the Department of Water has always been South Africa will always have enough water if people don’t waste it.
“Even it does rain, this situation is not going to end because we are in a structural drought that’s only going to get worse as the years come on. Because as climate change starts to take effect, we are going to have longer drier periods and then when it does rain we are going to have these intense rainfall events that all the water is basically going to get washed away.”
Doyle says while households use a very little amount of water, municipalities, businesses, and industries should also shoulder some responsibility to conserve the precious resource.
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