Hear ye, hear ye Capetonians. We have a drought. We cannot waste water. Do not flush the loo!
Could we please all make more noise about our current dire drought situation, and let’s see us do something positive to save our precious remaining water.
I’m willing to wager that conversation at most dinner tables around Cape Town surrounds WATER, the lack of it, and who’s to blame.
It would then continue on to the volume of the aquifer, who can or can’t use it, home water tanks, boreholes, well points and buckets and the method of how to shower with the minimum water in said bucket. It’s the top subject matter as we sip our wine and tap water.
Then we rush off to the loo, and flush it - wasting I don’t know how many litres of our precious water totally unnecessarily. Please do not flush.
We bang on blaming the government, the council, the “guy upstairs’’ and global warming for the drought. Truth is, we rely on rain and we haven’t had it.
Eventually we will be relying on a water truck - to support our needs if we don’t curb our enthusiasm for flushing! There is no alternative to rain, bar desalination plants, to convey water to the citizens of Cape Town.
Please, Powers That Be, just implement these urgently. Don’t delay any longer, Day Zero is looming.
Capetonians, don’t just carry on negatively moaning, criticising and pointing fingers. Do something positive. Implement the No Flush Rule.
Please let’s get large signs up in all public toilet facilities, and indeed in our homes, too, which say: DON’T FLUSH IF IT’S YELLOW - LET IT MELLOW; IF IT’S BROWN, FLUSH IT DOWN - but with grey water, please.
I observe public toilets at restaurants, shopping centres and movie houses all being used with the same flippant attitude as before the drought. We cannot allow ourselves this luxury anymore.
Please also advise our bathroom attendants and staff as they do tend to graciously follow up after our visit, with a good flush for the next person after you have consciously not used the water in the cistern after some light relief.
To point out the direness of this situation, the local radio stations, newspapers and online sites in Cape Town should please ramp up their messages to the public.
Perhaps a visible Countdown to Day Zero on the highways would help to create awareness as to the severity of our situation.
I’m sure all these measures have been implemented in some way, but we need a much bigger push. Our drought may be due to changing weather conditions, and may or may not be the result of an administrative flaw, but right now we are in this together.
Don’t point fingers. Remember the bigger picture Capetonians and visitors. Every Drop Counts. Don’t be shy. Just DON’T flush after urination, at least save this water - no one will complain - that is until it rains and pours and fills our dams again.