Local celebs pour out their water-saving plans

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Cape Town - Everybody needs to play their part in saving water.

A few local celebrities shared their views on the crisis as well as what they have been doing to save water. Heart FM breakfast show DJ Aden Thomas said he is trying to cut down on water consumption. Of the daily water allocation of 87 litres per day for each person, he uses between 30 and 40 litres a day. “I have a rain harvesting system - a bit of an informal one, with a couple of downpipes that run into containers. Those containers I use for various purposes, general cleaning of whatever needs to be cleaned outside the house. Also, I use that water to fill toilets. Every time I take a shower it runs into a bath. I have a shower over the bath and that water gets harvested constantly. When it comes to filling toilet cisterns I am completely off the grid." His car has not been washed in more than five months. “It just makes no sense to have a clean car using water when that water is in very short supply.

“I will fill a glass in the bathroom, brush my teeth with it, what’s left in the glass I will rinse my face with. If it is not essential to open the tap then the tap just doesn’t get opened, it’s as simple as that. It is possible for every person to interrogate and keep on doing more. Use as little as you possibly can.”

Funny man, the person behind the hilarious Vannie Kaap memes believes that the water crisis was “clearly handled poorly”.

“However, for now, unless the blame game is a type of rain dance, we need to put it aside and rather exert pure energy in implementing solutions.”

Some of his water-saving methods include flushing toilets and washing cars with used bath water, catching water from the shower to use elsewhere, collecting water from Newlands springs for home use. He is investing in using borehole water for gardening.

He admits that he has also started buying bottled water.

“A bietjie sturvy (a bit stuck-up) of me, I know, but the ones I drink actually taste lekker.”

Singer Jimmy Nevis said the water crisis affects everybody “directly”.

“It’s affecting us in our homes, our families and our lifestyles and therefore we need to act responsibly. We all have our part to play in ensuring that we get through this difficult time. I also think that we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and as a nation we need to step up and take care of that."

His water saving methods include taking shorter showers - no longer than two minutes as well as placing a brick in each of his toilet cisterns.

Water-saving plans should have been implemented earlier, said singer Can Skylark.

“As a country we should have put contingency measures in place long before the urgency for saving water was upon us, because we have experienced small-scale drought scares before.

“I feel like we have taken the abundance of water for granted and now with it being limited we should do more to show more appreciation to the things we feel we’re entitled or privileged to.”

Her water-saving strategies include under two minute showers and recycling bath water. “I even measure our laundry water. I’ve purchased a new economical washing machine that recycles the used water.”

Weekend Argus