CONTINUE TO SAVE WATER

Plan for the worst, despite uncertainty surrounding the drought

WHO SHOULD we believe about the water situation? I must admit I have only been listening with half an ear for the past few weeks because, luckily, our industry seems to be picking up a bit and I have been busy. The rains we have had are finding those roof leaks again, so roofers are happier. But are we going to receive enough rain?

Mrs Mac asked me whether I realised we were down to our last 5-litre bottle of water. We stocked up in the first wave of the panic and have been using it for drinking and cooking. Do I start restocking? None of us has crystal balls so we are left considering the unintelligent utterances of politicians about “if it rains enough we will be okay” and “Day Zero has been pushed out to next year”. Does this mean they still expect Day Zero?

Now it seems we are in the hands of statisticians, but they can only analyse when they have more data at the end of this month. I think I picked up somewhere that our new acting mayor said something about projects being stalled and, of course, the National Department of Water Affairs is bankrupt.

So, what do we do? I noticed our local food store is starting to pile up cases of 5-litre bottles again and heard there was still a waiting list of up to six weeks if you want to buy a water storage tank.

I am going to advise people to continue planning for the worst. I don’t see us queuing to get 25 litres of daily water, but I do see restrictions continuing. It remains imperative that we continue to save water.