A reader submitted a comment yesterday that whilst walking past a St Francis Bay property yesterday afternoon he noticed that a front lawn was being watered using pop up sprinklers so to check whether it was municipal water or not, he turned the water off.
“I turned the water off at the municipal water meter and lone (sic) behold the sprinklers stopped. Perhaps this is the only way to deal with non-resident abusive water consumers. I will leave it up to you to decide if I turned the water back on or not ????”
Considering the crisis we find ourselves in, some say our situation is more critical that Cape Town,, those who continue to ignore the call to save every drop need to be tarred & feathered, hanged, drawn & quartered or at the very least named and shamed and SFT is more than happy to oblige in naming them. Well, maybe not hanged.
Reading the article published in JBay news it is indeed a wakeup call. The economy of Kouga is largely reliant on agriculture to a far larger extent than tourism and to read how this entire industry is facing a catastrophe should the dams run dry.
Watering one’s lawn may not seem a big deal in the greater scheme for what difference could a few hundred litres make. Well to those who cannot afford bottled water it will make a huge difference when the crunch comes.
Cape Town is now on 50 litres per person per day so maybe it is time that we in St Francis set an example to the entire NMB water district and restrict ourselves to 50 litres per person per day. Sure it is not an easy task but before you touch that tap, take a second or two to think how you can save every drop.
A week or so we asked for ideas on how to save water but had only one comment
- Use a cup to brush your teeth and rinse.
2. Use a tub in the shower to collect the water. Shower yourself wet, switch off, lather up, shower off, stop. You can use this water to keep your car windows clean or on your veggie patch. Better still do a bucket bath and just use a sponge…
3. Electric razors or use a coffee mug to shave. You can water your plans with it when done.
4. Use your dishwasher only when full or if by hand wash up once a day to optimise water usage
5. Connect up your grey water to flow into your garden or buckets.
6. Put a brick or stone in your toilet cistern.
7. Pee outside…. Well, men anyway.
Please read Kouga health crisis looms ahead of Day Zero
Having read your article suggesting you Name & Shame water abusers I am very disappointed in SFT. I am not disagreeing with the gentleman who turned off someone’s garden sprinkler, after all maybe the owners were out of town and did not realise they were still operating – this was the case recently with someone on our road, once he was made aware his sprinkler system was active he promptly had it switched off. However for SFT to plan a Name & Shame campaign is just shocking. There are many many kind and well intentioned people in this town, but sadly also a small handful of so called do-gooders who would delight in this kind of a witch hunt – surely as a community we are better than that. A quiet polite word/SMS with an offender or maybe from SFPOA would surely be a more civilsed option.
I do agree it should be a very last resort for those who simply do not feel it applies to them because they can afford to pay the penalties charged. And there are some! Although once tarred & feathered and drawn & quartered though they will probably get the message (LOL)
I must agree with you. Some people delight in stalking and spying on neighbours for the so-called common good of the town. We’re all fully aware of the crisis we’re in and of what’s to come. Constant appeals and reminders to co operate and be mindful of our desperate situation should suffice. By now everyone has been pretty well informed.
There are certainly better ways of approaching an individual who appears to be disregarding the situation or who may be that ignorant or misinformed.
Please could someone in the know how explain to me why we are not using our own underground water (which according to older residents,is plentiful)and that we rely on NMB for our water?And yes i know that one would have to purify it for drinking purposes.
St Francis has had to augment local aquifer water with Churchill water since 1975.