Urgent Evoke

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SOUTH AFRICA IS IN CRISIS FOR WATER SHORTAGES

Once again, we have been crying about about water shortages in South Africa. Economically, water is classified as an essential need-meaning-that it is something that we can live without. I still remember the story of a Frog which was tryind to access water. It took the Frog long days, hours and a lot of sacrifice to get water. As soon as the frog get water, it drunk as if it never drunk before. The Frog died in water after drinking too much water. This story tells us that we need to limit ourselves to water that we drink every day.

In few days, Port Elizabeth was having high rate of water shortage. It has been described as a dry area environment. An estimate of 1,7 Billion is expected to be spent by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality on water supply and sanitation. A number of field workers have been employed to survey this shortages.

A new plan of action to combat water shortages have been implemented by the government. Even though the South African government seems to have a poor strategic approach regarding service delivery. It took him thousands of days to take an action. In most Surbab areas, they will be pipes or boreh***s that can be used if there is no water in room pipes. Tanks can be used to save water that can be used by residents given that no one can have free access to the tanks. This is to ensure that water is clean and purified.

As ordinary citizens,we have a right to access clean water which does not cause diseases. In most rural areas, they drink unpurified water which results in stomach diseases e.g.diahore, TB etc.In my area at Zululand District Municipality which consist of four rural desert areas such as OLundi,Nongoma,Vryheid and Paulpietersburg have the same problems of water shortages. An internation company has invested about 27.2Billion to close and combat such shortages.

I believe that our government need to take this situation very seriously. We use water in our daily lives for food,drinking,cooking,cleaning,washing ourselves etc. Water plays a big role to our health, therefore we need water to survive and enjoy our daily lives. It has been encouraged that water in dams,tanks and other storages need to be purified before used. This is to avoid high rate of diseases. A number of projects has been funded by our government to fight against water shortages. Land water alone, they cann't fight against this high demand. A strong support from the government is needed to fight against water shortages. Because it also affect production of Farmers, firms and other millions of industries.

Views: 170

Comment by frank tarantino on March 27, 2010 at 5:50pm
namaste
Comment by Bongumusa on March 27, 2010 at 6:13pm
Water Tanks,Dams and under-ground drain water seems to be an all around solutions. But we have also a shortage of Engineers,Surveyors who can research and find where water can be drained. But some of the Engineers have given us hope that we have water, the problem we don't have enough resources to drain water. In South Africa, there is a number of Rivers, Big and small, but they are not used for water usage bu societies,they are rather used by animals. Because of a Large number of animals,our water are dirty and need a Long process of purification. One of the Engineers has recently suggest that animals must be kept far away from communities, and they must not share water with people. As I have said, a number of projects has been introduced and huge investments have been made to two Big Municipalities which are classified as most dry areas.
Comment by Bongumusa on March 27, 2010 at 6:52pm
I want to tell you that we are moving over water. There is a lot of water under-ground. You can ask people who are working in mines, they can tell you the same. Under ground water is a big problem to miners, but we are not aware of such water. Thank you again. Water dams is a two way process solution, it can be used for water supply or electricity efficiency. It depends on the intention when it is built. In South Africa, most farmers use dams as their source of water supply for irrigation,even that water that we use in towns is from Dams, and it is purified for human use.
Comment by Shakwei Mbindyo on March 27, 2010 at 7:07pm
+1KS. Thanks Bongumusa for sharing. Access to clean drinking water is a challenge in many African communities. I have poste a video of one simple solution that is being used in many communities in Kenya (and Africa).
Comment by Michele Baron on March 27, 2010 at 7:08pm
Sounds like the animals and the humans are in very tight quarters-- but if the animals are moved far from a source of water, how will they survive?
Perhaps sequestering the main water supply, keeping both human and animal users away, could provide a starting point for maintaining a clean water supply.
Filtration systems from rivers or whatever sources of water there are could fill the now-separate water reservoirs (not creating new dams--that is an ecological/environmental question--just replenishing existing bodies of water) with cleaner water, requiring less filtration before potability levels are achieved.
Filtration/bog-filtration systems could be build on the periphery of herd grazing-lands, and capture, percolate/filter, and recycle (at least for irrigation-- greywateraction.org/greywater-recycling ; or also www.mcgillcompost.com/PDFs/EPA%20compost-bioremediation.pdf could be useful referents while seeking a feasible solution) "wastewater" so that it is not "lost." Most importantly, keep wastewater systems separate from freshwater in- and out- flows. Moving the animals can be a secondary option, if still deemed necessary.
Dams are hugely expensive, and other remedies might be more affordable and effective--I hope your community/region can solve its water security challenges.
Thank you for the post.
Comment by Nick Heyming on March 27, 2010 at 9:04pm
Thanks for the local insight Mr. Freeman. I agree with what Michele is saying, greywater can be a huge source of water for many applications, even potentially agriculture (though that takes a more advanced system than most can design on their first try).

Check out my post on SEARNET, a Southern and Eastern Africa rainwater harvesting organiz.... I think they may have some of the answers for your crisis.
Comment by John D. Boyden on March 28, 2010 at 3:59pm
Fabulous discussion here! +1 knowledge share Some great suggestions posted. Typical of governments they are trying to do the big things. And they do need doing, if they are the right big things! SA needs to develop infrastructure. The people -in small groups- need to look at what they can do too. Sharing some of the finds we are discovering in EVOKE with local areas could be the first step to solving immediate problems. +1 Knowledge share

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