South Africa is facing the worst drought we\u2019ve seen in over 40 years. In fact, things are so
\nproblematic, in the Western Cape, residents are being asked to think twice before flushing the toilet.
\nTo put an even darker perspective to our situation, according to Live Science, you can survive about
\nthree weeks without food, but only about three days without water.<\/p>\n
However, the drought has breathed fresh air into our Ubuntu spirit, and across South Africa, people
\nare joining forces to preserve water. We\u2019ve done some digging and found a couple of water saving
\nprojects and initiatives to take note of.<\/p>\n
A group of Stellenbosch Postgrad students created a project called, Know Your Water. Their aim is to
\ncollect samples and do as much research as possible to gain a better understanding of underground
\nwater and how we use it. They will then build a model to predict rainfall usages and, ultimately,
\noptimise the way we use our sustainable groundwater resources.<\/p>\n
Currently, these students are requesting the aid of their fellow South Africans by either donating
\nmoney to the project or by collecting groundwater samples and post it to them so they can continue
\nthis project.<\/p>\n
According to research, two-thirds of all our fresh water are used by agricultural producers, and the
\nwater demand is believed to rise by 50% by 2030. This means that water scarcity is a likely future
\nscenario for billions of people. But, Nestl\u00e9 is not sitting by idly. They are focussing on two main water
\nsustainability projects: Eco-school and decreasing their own water usage.<\/p>\n
Eco-school is a project that works closely with communities and schools in rural and low-income
\nareas across SA to assist and support them on how to use water for gardening and healthy living
\nwisely.<\/p>\n
Nestl\u00e9 has also reported, in 2012, that they have halved their water usage at their Mossel Bay
\nfactory. They plan to continue this drive to conserve water, and, ultimately, make the factory a zero-
\nwater intake factory.<\/p>\n
Sunlight also joined the fight against water waste by installing 250 push taps in Tembisa. According
\nto them, 37% of our clean drinking water is lost through leaking, dripping taps and ageing
\ninfrastructure. The taps they installed replaced the leaking taps, hence, saving water and reducing
\nwater utility bills. In addition, Sunlight also initiated a door-to- door campaign that educates
\nresidence on water conservation.<\/p>\n
For Love of Water (FLOW) is a non-profit organisation that challenges companies, individuals and
\nCEOs to commit to a water-resilient future. They make use of different media channels to spread
\nwater awareness; they provide all South African citizens with the opportunity to join the fight on
\nwater waste and conservation; and they bring people together through campaigns, workshops and
\nconferences.<\/p>\n
For more on how you can do your part to save water, ten water wise tips<\/a>.<\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n Water saving projects South Africa is facing the worst drought we\u2019ve seen in over 40 years. In fact, things are so problematic, in the Western Cape, residents are being asked to think twice before flushing the toilet. To put an even darker perspective to our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/92"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebe.co.za\/thebetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}