HEALTH AND SANITATION
35
<< Continued from page 33
Yes, it is a mess and it is going to get worse
before it gets better. The poor, the aged, the
infirmed, and the young children are most at
risk as 50ℓ per day is hardly much to survive
on. If you are sick or cannot get to one of the
water points, then what? Well, in this country’s
climate, three to seven days is all your body
needs to shut down and off without any water.
Water and airborne diseases become a reality
and the urbanised cities and its surrounds will
smell worse than a dead rat.
So? Is this drought man-made or a natural
disaster?
Andrew Camphausen
Yes, this is a natural disaster, as it can be
reasonably deduced that if no rainfall occurs
for a prolonged period, the earth will start to
dry up. But can it be attributed to a natural
disaster only? Andy has been in the building/
plumbing industry for over 20 years.
In the course of his six years in
the Free State, he was nominated
and served as vice-chair of IOPSA
Free State. During his 12 years
with the company, he served as a
regional manager and now holds the
position of national technical support
manager at LIXIL Africa. Andy is
very passionate about our country
and believes it is our responsibility
to ensure that the next generation
of plumbers is adequately trained.
He takes pride in working for a local
manufacturer and believes that
customer centricity is the
key to success.
Cape Town is a shining example of how
humankind can mess things up. The ‘Day
Zero’ buzzword is on every person’s lips,
but what are we doing about it? We can
blame the residents of poor communities
as they leave their taps running day and
night. We can blame everyone, but is it all a
user problem? Should we not have spoken
to the municipalities to put a preventative
maintenance plan together? Should we not
have asked where we can assist those who
are running the provinces? There is most certainly going to be
carnage at the water points, and people
run the real risk of getting very, very sick.
Numerous ‘rats and mice’ are appearing
from all walks of life with inventions that
are being imported now. Are some of
these contraptions not an eventual health
hazard that could add to the disaster that
we already face?
Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality has
designed an app for this very reason. But is
this not a little too late? Now there is an app
for preventative maintenance and no water
apparatus to maintain as there is no water.
It is going to take some time before the
desalination plants come online — what do
people (users) do in the meantime? This subject is vast and can be debated till
the cows come home, but these are some
points to ponder as professionals in the
plumbing fraternity. What are you doing to
assist with the drought? Or are you going
to wait to smell the coffee? Just remember
that water is needed to fuel that coffee, so
don’t wait too long. PA
We need to bear in mind that the Eastern
Cape up to Port Elizabeth is fast becoming
a drought-stricken area, too. I recently
heard that the town of Oudtshoorn is all but
desolate. No one knows where the ostriches
have gone. And what has happened to
Beaufort West?
Another person has stated that the hub of the
South African economy will run out of water
by 2025. Not long away?
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
February 2018 Volume 23 I Number 12