Jose Scalabrino, Bothasig
I am essentially an existentialist by nature and by creed.
This means I support only constructive policies and am opposed totally to all and any destructive policies enacted by government at any level of authority.
Now one of the most destructive tendencies too often tolerated and unchecked by government is that of all forms of incredible wastage.
It’s so bad it is now costing human lives and jobs and putting us on the road to our own self-destruction.
So what we now have is an empowered monopoly of the highly privileged few – holding this country to ransom via the non-delivery of essential life-sustaining services.
Water is essential to all life, so how can we as a nation defend ourselves against such gross neglect?
We must make the very best of what we have by recycling all we need for our own day-to-day use, and then, through a community-based co-operative agreement with an enabling recycling local industry, it must be made profitable for us to recycle all our surplus which we continuously generate.
The local authority should exempt us from refuse-collection charges, seeing that we will not be generating any such expense, and take back their wheelie bins we no longer need.
If power cannot serve us then we have to serve ourselves and be constructive to counter their stranglehold on us.
As for saving our essential drinking water, we simply reuse all our “grey” or “waste” water from all home sources to fill as many buckets we may need to, to flush our toilets, water our gardens and even wash windows and cars with.
The result in my case is a 100kl water saving for more than nine months or a 61 percent saving on my previous water consumption.
I am 73 and my wife is 72, so what is wrong with all these South African folk younger than us?
Enough of empty promises – let us do it ourselves and make it pay. However, assistance is required in such an endeavour with everyone doing all in their power to support such initiatives throughout the country to create new jobs and to increase household income as well as for so many in need.
Do this through a countrywide, multimedia campaign to incentivise such home-based solutions across all communities in our beloved South Africa.
All local and/ or regional authorities need to heavily invest in effluent waste water recycling so it can be used, instead of potable water, for the watering of all community and municipal sports fields, public parks and gardens, street greening, irrigation and so on.
The government need to hire as many water-transportation tankers as are urgently needed to supply so many rural towns and villages through South Africa in dire need of drinking water.
