Gardens suffer, but it’s business as usual for industry

AS A CONCERNED citizen, I’d like to make an appeal regarding our water restrictions.

I feel residents are being treated unfairly. Why should water restrictions affect residents so heavily when factories, industries, mines and construction sites use it freely?

These are using more water than any residents could use collectively, yet the residents are most affected.

In the greater picture, our weather systems have been negatively affected because of over-development and not enough thought to the greening of the city.

Trees and shrubs are dying and residents can do nothing about it, as watering gardens is put on hold.

This worsens the heat and consequently the lack of rain.

Yet we are giving water to construction and development, which is effectively getting rid of more trees and adding more concrete – thus creating a further environmental problem and warming effect.

Many of these construction sites are not, in fact, serving the people.

In many cases, we should be looking to upgrade existing sites, rather than getting rid of open space and trees for new ridiculous shopping centres and malls.

We should be upgrading townships – providing running water and sanitation to settlements such as Diepsloot.

Instead, shopping centres and estates are being developed without proper regulations in place.

A further serious issue along these lines is fracking. This should be stopped immediately.

If we are going to save the one resource that literally means life or death (water), then we need to stop fracking.

Not only does this use copious amounts of water injected into the earth, but at the same time, the gases which are released cause immense damage to our environment and contaminate the ground and the water for kilometres.

My points in summation:

Let’s put an end to unnecessary construction and over-development.

Let’s rather upgrade the informal settlements that don’t even have running water or sanitation.

Let’s re-appropriate the usage of water – residents should be allowed to water gardens and allow our city to green.

Let’s put an end to fracking. Gregory Nottingham Joburg