We turn open our taps and life-giving liquid pours out; we turn on our showers or run a nice long bath or pour ourselves a nice cool glass of water without a second thought, but what happens when the water dries up?
Residents of various towns and villages in South Africa have had reason to answer that question over the past few months, and it is not good. South Africa, normally a water-stressed country, has been in the grip of a devastating drought since last year, and its citizens, agriculture and businesses are suffering.
A little girl desperately sticks her fingers into a tap that has run dry; a tiny boy with a tear-streaked face sits forlornly in the dusty street next to a large empty plastic water container; a farmer commits suicide after watching his livestock die day after day; shops, restaurants and garages sport signs saying “No toilet” and businesses close due to lack of water.
Elderly women line the streets from as early as 3am; some of them even spend the whole night waiting in queues, in the hope of getting just a few litres of clean, potable water, desperation written all over their faces. Old men, toddlers and women mill about the streets in the scorching sun, desperate for a delivery by water tankers, often returning home again without getting any.
One a 56-year-old man suffered a mild heart attack caused by the heat and dehydration and collapsed and died while waiting in the long queue at the Faith Mission Church in the Matwabeng area for municipal water tankers to arrive.
Everywhere one looks all one sees is long queues of people, rows of empty containers and emaciated cattle roaming around. People are being forced to get water from nearby wells normally used by cattle, and many of them have gone for days without bathing. Raw sewage floods over from households and spills into the dusty streets alongside the people standing in line, and many children and adults alike are suffering from diarrhoea.
Water is a precious commodity, one which most of us take for granted every day, but which we need to look after and save whenever and however we can. Without drinking water we will die within a matter of days, and without clean water for sanitation we will get sick, so think about this the next time you let the water run down the drain for no reason.
Buy watercooler and water cooler accessories from Living-Water. Get bottled water coolers and mains fed water coolers in London.
