MIDWINTER IN THE CAPE. On a typical working
day, over the top of my PC display, through the window
I’d see the trees across the road being lashed by
wind and rain. This year, I’m seeing a sky that’s blue
and only the flimsiest leafy twigs are – at best – giving
me a feeble excuse for a wave. Not good news.
Particularly on the back of the City of Cape Town’s
decision to finally cave in and do what it should have
done ages ago: implement water restrictions that really,
really hurt. Even if, for some, the freshly mandated
hundred litres a day per body is sheer luxury. And
even if rules without enforcement are futile.
Back in December 2015, our wide-ranging report
from the water war frontlines proclaimed: “Drought is
the new normal”. The future of water supply in South
Africa, we said, is a twisted tale of corporate, social
and governmental responsibility and drinking your
own wee.
Welcome to the future.
If this scary future isn’t bad enough, consider the
sneaking suspicion that our water poverty may not
be driven entirely by urbanisation, El Niño, creaking
infrastructure, poor planning and half-hour hot
showers. There’s an awkward question we plan to
aggressively address in the near future: can it be possible
that even water can be captured? As in, you
know, captured?
The bad news is, the prospects are grim. Four years
ago, the Institute of Race Relations reported that twothirds
of this country’s people live in cities; according
to Gartner, by 2050 that trend will be reflected globally.
Throwing money at the problem will help for a time;
a change in attitude towards water will help. But the
pressure on resources will only intensify.
On the bright side, in the meantime, it’s not like
nobody’s trying. Unless I hang out with a bunch of
do-gooders, it seems to me that everyone I know is
dutifully doing the right thing. Grey water, buckets
in showers and letting it mellow because it’s yellow
are the norm. Gardens are dying or dead. Clothes
are being aired and pressed for that just-washed look.
(Investment tip: now’s the time to buy perfume
shares.)
I’ve been around a while, and this is the worst I can
recall it being.
To be honest, unless you come up with some smart
thinking, there’s not a lot you can do when the rains
just don’t come. The best you can do is put off the day
when the taps run dry.
The good news: resourceful folk are indeed hard at
it. Two of this month’s letters explore potential solutions;
and entries to Do It Your Own Way continue to
include hints for saving and re-using water. In their
own way commendable, but as the saying goes, you
can’t save yourself out of debt.
It’s often been said that the next war will be fought
over water. That may be true, though not necessarily
in war as fought between rival national powers. More
likely – certainly in the initial skirmishes – that war
will be fought from within. There are signs that those
first few skirmishes may already have left casualties
and permanent scars. It’s up to us survivors to commence
battle, so we maintain irreproachable stewardship
over this precious resource.
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