Daily Dispatch
Hidden value in water crisis
IN THE past 48 hours, Buffalo City has been plunged into an extremely grave crisis. An engineering failure at the supply dam for the city’s various reservoirs is believed to have caused innumerable taps to run completely dry.
Full relief is unlikely for three to six days.
Meanwhile, thousands of people are scrambling to get water. Hospitals have had to delay surgeries. School principals have had to send pupils home. Businesses have had to go on short time or shut entirely.
The loss of revenue is likely to be enormous, and without functional sanitation, a health hazard is posed.
But the seriousness of this service delivery implosion goes far beyond the financial blow or a possible spread of disease. Or, indeed, the inconvenience to those not accustomed to life without easy access to water.
The bottom line is that this service-delivery failure is potentially life-threatening. While there is some conjecture over exactly how long an adult can survive without water, the estimated average is 100 hours outdoors. If the weather is cool, it may be a little longer. In heat or direct sunlight, the time is less.
This is because 60% of the body is made up of water. Every living cell needs water to keep functioning.
When one does not or cannot replenish one’s body with water, the consequences are dire. When the body’s volume of liquid drops, so too does one’s blood volume. And when too little blood circulates, one’s blood pressure can drop to a fatal level.
The bottom line is that dehydration is a medical emergency which, if not reversed, will lead to death.
One cannot try to negotiate one’s way around a lack of water as one would do around a pothole.
Still unable to determine the exact cause of the crisis late yesterday, metro officials were frantically trying to create a bypass in order to refill the city’s depleted reservoirs.
It is crucial that they succeed and that all hands are on deck in the effort to restore the water supply to most of the 755 000-plus residents of Buffalo City.
That is, and must, remain the clear and overwhelming priority.
Even if this crisis has been years in the making – as is alleged – and even if warnings from experts have long been ignored – as has also been alleged – trying to apportion blame does not provide a solution. And it is solution that everyone needs – across all lines of class, race or political allegiance. And quickly.
Indeed, there is hidden value in this crisis. First, it presents an opportunity for a united effort in finding solutions. It also serves to enlighten those used to water on tap about the harsh reality of those not so fortunate. Lastly, it teaches us all about the vital importance of water and the need for everyone to actively conserve this precious life-giving resource.