Water Supply Crisis in Cape Town

[dlsafrica]

A year of drought (okay, very little rain - even though it has rained a bit on 5 days this year already) in Cape Town has lead to a situation where taps and toilets are forecast to run dry around the middle of April. Although this is a national government responsibility many here are pointing fingers at provincial government for political reasons. Anyway... if the crisis becomes real, I wonder what people are going to do. Are diapers suddenly going to become a viable option? At least I guess people who do go that route won't be judged.

[Bettypooh]

Well they should choose diapers as a solution, but of course they won't Cape Town isn't the only place facing a water crisis, just the place where it's most imminent. About 1/3 of the US will be going dry eventually, the only question is how soon that will happen We still haven't learned that we cannot change what nature intends on a long-term basis and that our efforts to do that in the short-term only make the eventual situation worse. If a place is naturally uninhabitable or can only support a limited population then we should accept that and act accordingly. It's not the answer people want to hear but is the only right answer. Nature always wins and all we can do is adapt to it

Bettypooh

[Darkfinn]

I've never understood why we use perfectly good potable water for flushing toilets. Talk about wasteful!

[rusty pins]

Switching to diapers due to no water?  Anyone remember outhouses?  Lots of people still use them!  Watch the Discovery show "Alaska The Last Frontier" sometime.  They all use outhouses, no toilets inside (even though they have sinks and running water for washing and showering).  It will be 30 below 0 in winter in Alaska and they will still take the trek to the outhouse when they have to poop!  Me, not my choice, but outhouses have been around for centuries.  Dig a big hole, build a small shack over it with a bench that has a hole cut in it to sit on, and there you go.  No need to waste water you don't have to take a crap, and no need to crap in your pants or diaper (which will still need the use of water to clean yourself with afterwards). 

[Dubious]

I can never understand why the places near the ocean runs out of water...

[AbabeBill]

I live near the ocean, for what I believe is obvious reasons, it’s no help. Beside that, where I live, we sit on top of a huge underground pure water aquifer. I’ve heard many times, how it’s one of the best. Problem is, it was once one of the best water. When I was young, everyone had a well, and everything was good. But, overdevelopment soon changed that. Water which sat down in that aquifer for thousands of years, pristine, was now being sucked out unchecked at a huge rate. When the levels started dropping, contaminates started entering quickly. Now, most people with Wells, can only use that water for lawn watering. Even that, is closely monitored, especially when rain is sparse. 

Oh, and switching to using more diapers, as a way of not using flush toilets, not very sound. Where do you think all those extra used diapers are going to go? I guess if they take them to a place, that’s out of sight, it works, right? 

[willnotwill]

I run the only toilet

In this part of town, you see

So, if you've got to go

You've got to go through me

 

It's a privilege to pee

Water's worth its weight

In gold these days

 

No more bathrooms

Like in olden days

You come here and pay a fee

For the privilege to pee

 

Twenty years we've had the drought

And our reservoirs have all dried up

I take my baths now in a coffee cup

I boil what's left of it for tea

And it's a privilege to pee

 

The politicians in their wisdom saw

That there should be a law

The politicians taxed the toilets

And made illegal

Public urination and defecation

 

So, come and give your coins to me

Write your name here in the record book

The authorities will want to look

If you've been regular with me

If you've paid the proper fee

For the privilege to pee

[Dubious]

Maybe they then should improve on the water filtration instead of wasting time on wars?

[Bettypooh]

The use of 'gray water' is illegal here which is silly because it's one of the best water-conservation ideas there is. Only air is more needed for humans to live than water yet it gets no respect because most people think they have plenty of it and it can't run out. Those like me who have done a little research will quickly learn the situation is much different Even here where water is normally abundant, a few years of drought brings water restrictions which is also silly because it's taking action to late to avoid the problem. We won't be around to see it, but in a few hundred years potable water will be scarce and many areas uninhabitable because of that. Our great plains will become a dust bowl, LA will shrink to tiny proportions compared to now, and many places using water from aquifers will find them desperately low and the water highly polluted with chemicals that are costly or impossible to deal with. And that is with no climate changes being factored in We are our  own worst enemy, a species of suicidal lemmings blind;y racing to our self-imposed destruction. Glad I won't be around for the end of this show because the ending won't be nice

Bettypooh

[LittleAmytheil]

On 1/25/2018 at 9:01 AM, rusty pins said:

Switching to diapers due to no water?  Anyone remember outhouses?  Lots of people still use them!  Watch the Discovery show "Alaska The Last Frontier" sometime.  They all use outhouses, no toilets inside (even though they have sinks and running water for washing and showering).  It will be 30 below 0 in winter in Alaska and they will still take the trek to the outhouse when they have to poop!  Me, not my choice, but outhouses have been around for centuries.  Dig a big hole, build a small shack over it with a bench that has a hole cut in it to sit on, and there you go.  No need to waste water you don't have to take a crap, and no need to crap in your pants or diaper (which will still need the use of water to clean yourself with afterwards). 

Interesting little factoid about New York:  It is illegal to build a new outhouse, but it is not illegal to maintain or renovate an existing one.  One of our friends in Onion Country (it's a thing) explained briefly the law to us, as she has a functional and well-maintained outhouse (complete with a moon on the door)