Driving water saving message home
MUNICIPAL buildings in Buffalo City Metro are being given a “pimp and facelift” as part of its save water awareness campaign.
The Trust Building in Oxford Street in East London was the first to receive the “pimping”.
It’s glass doors have been branded to a red backdrop withmessages encouraging BCM residents to use water sparingly.
BCM spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya said the facelifts were part of the municipality’s initiatives planned to raise user consciousness on current water shortages.
“We are calling on our residents to use water wisely and sparingly to avoid a possible water crisis.”
He said municipal buildings in East London, Mdantsane and King William’s Town were all set to receive the glaring pimp outs.
The spokesman said the graphic representation of danger in the colour red would “show residents what they ought to be doing”.
“The gauge on the posters indicates where our water levels are,” Ngwenya said.
The municipality will be implementing a series of campaign activities such as water meter replacement programmes and new meter installations in flat rate areas to address current water losses.
Ngwenya said the campaign was intended to educate BCM residents about the current water situation and open up communication platforms with communities.
“We are running a series of awareness campaigns to ensure that people are conscious of the fact that they must preserve water and report water leaks.”
In a media release sent out in July it was revealed that BCM council approved the implementation of water usage restrictions after the latest dam figures revealed that the Bridledrift dam, which is the main reservoir for East London and Mdantsane, was below 40%.
Ngwenya said the municipality was currently rolling out stage one of the restrictions.
“We don’t want to get to a situation like in Cape Town and other areas in the province where residents are already feeling the pinch of water scarcity in their pockets.
“This campaign is really about rallying the community together so that all respect water.” —