“We’ve been doing this for years!”
As we celebrate and cheer ourselves on for reducing our water to comply with restrictions [ a good thing – the reducing, not the cheering] many of our eyes are being opened to the reality that for so many people across the country, this has been their reality for always.
Until we know we don’t know.
Should we have known? Perhaps.
Certainly for those of us who have insulated our lives so much that all of our spaces are predominantly white and the only black/coloured/indian/asian people we see are those who are in a service relationship to us [grocery packers, car guards, gardeners, house cleaners], this in a country where white people make up 9ish percent of the population, it actually takes some doing and a certain amount of intentionality [whether personally intended or inherited and never questioned]
Certainly for those of us who have never stepped foot in a township or had an open and honest conversation with a friend or colleague who lives there [i remember hearing a friend tell me he was raised in a house where 30 people shared three rooms and i’m not talking about a three bedroom house either – mind-blowing when you come from a lived experience where each person in your house had their own personal toilet pretty much]
i could go on. We probably should have known, or heard, or been listening [people throwing faeces at a statue might have been a great opportunity for that]… BUT…
We can NEVER say we didn’t know, now.
So if it mysteriously starts raining next week and continues non-stop for three weeks and all the dams somehow return to full capacity and the lives of the privileged and the moneyed return to somewhat normal, the question will be, how far will we each go to fight for everyone’s normal to look a lot more like ours, and what will we be prepared to give up or surrender for that to be so?
This water crisis that Cape Town is going through is definitely a crossroads of sorts – i mean we could definitely go full-blown Kevin Costner Waterworld:
Or better yet, we could see this as yet another grace-filled opportunity to step towards… the poor, the marginalised, the formerly and presently oppressed and those who don’t live like us. To see this an as opportunity to listen and to really hear and try to begin to understand how other people live all of the time and to start seeking solutions together to improve the standard of living for all.
[For my sister-in-law Shana’s tips on how to wash/shave/hair/teeth with 5l of water, click here]
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I think with the current consumerism, we are indeed in a crisis. However I would like to point out a few major consumers of water.
1. If you eat meat. No, (I am not a veganist), but a meat eater. But it uses up a lot of water. Huge amounts in fact. Half or more of all water in the western cape is used by animal agriculture (meat, dairy). The abbatoirs, egg batteries for chickens all use up water.
I know meat is a huge part of South African culture, but it is using up the most water. We need to cut back. One hamburger = a few months of showering savings. During this crisis we need to cut back. Even if we do it today, we will be much better off next year if it does not rain.
IF WE DO NOT CUT BACK, THE WATER SHORTAGE WILL DO IT AUTOMATICALLY FOR US!
2. If you a wine drinker – it takes something like 800 litres of water to water the grapes.
3. Apple exports and other exports. This is really exporting our water.
So I think this should be highlighted especially now. But if you do, you will get shot down on so many pages like water shedding western cape (the admin is a pig farmer).
Water savings are not just a few buckets here and there, or juggling water in the house. It is about our water footprint in the local context. Some would argue that computers and clothes all need water to make, which is true, but that is overseas where there is water, and it goes back to the water cycle. Here in Cape Town, it is scarce, so people need to be getting water more than cows which are going to be killed anyways.
A touchy topic, but its all true. When the water returns, by all means eat meat. But if you don’t cut back now, the water will cut you back.
Thanks for the post – quite an eye opener.
[…] [i shared something similar earlier taking the same conversations into account, to read more, click … […]