Cape Town was the first major city in the world to face ‘Day Zero’ when all the taps would be turned off. Since then the water situation has improved, as we were in a period of La Niña induced heavy rains.
However as we enter a cycle of El Niño lower rains are projected and Cape Town faces another period of reduced rains
Another challenge is load shedding when the electricity is cut for up to eight hours a day. This is putting an enormous load on the sewage system, as the pumps cant work, leading to breakdowns and flooding. The situation is made worse by people dumping rubbish into the sewage system which blocks it
The City held a “water and sanitation innovation indaba” calling for civil society to share ideas and innovations that could help solve some of these problems.
Green Anglicans was invited to present to a panel of water experts their ideas around faith based education .
There are 722 verses in the bible that talk about water, Christians are baptised by water, Muslims wash their hands for their five daily prayers. All religions hold water to be sacred. This is a great motivation for people to be better stewards, saving and harvesting water.
Educational materials can be geared for the faith community, with scriptures , sermon ideas and prayers
The panel was very interested in the proposed idea. Let us watch this space to see if the City takes it up!!
