How do you cope without water?

A

Ancalagon

Honorary Master
Joined
Feb 23, 2010
Messages
18,207
Reaction score
3,678
So, my water has been out since Tuesday night. It is now Thursday. This is definitely not the only water interruption I have had this year although I think it is probably the worst.

I realized I do not cope well without water. Whenever I am without water or power for more than a few hours, my stress levels rise dramatically. I prefer having water but no power, to having power but no water. But either is bad.

I must say, it is one more thing that makes me happy that I have decided to emigrate next year. First world countries do have water interruptions, true, but not nearly as often or for as long. Their infrastructure is not crumbling like ours. They maintain it well.

What do you guys think? Do you cope well without water?
 
I cope a lot less when we have no power. Water I can work around. Shower at the gym, buy 5l water bottles for necessities, etc.
Getting a UPS setup soon though, then the power outages will not bother me either.
 
Last edited:
I don't have a gym membership and even if I did, the gym would also have no water.

This latest outage is huge - Bryanston, Lonehill, Fourways, Douglasdale and Midrand have no water.
 
That's the Bryanston Reservoirs outage, isn't it? Horrors.

I also cope better without power than without water, so we've made a few workarounds.

3 x 25 l canisters kept permanently filled (and water rotated periodically). 2 are for cooking and washing, the third for flushing the loo.

We also keep our beady eyes on the City of Joburg and Joburg Water Twitter accounts, as that usually gives us a bit of a heads-up.
 
I can cope just fine, just need like 5l per day for coffee and whatnot, can go without a bath for at least a week.

Not having power on the other hand is extremely annoying and disruptive.
 
I have a 5000 litre jojo tank set up as a buffer between the mains and the house.
I don't even know there's no water until the street whatsapp group lights up... and then I'm ok for 5-8 days.
 
I keep 2 x 5l containers in storage and an extra few liters for drinking, but it is never enough. And I don't really have the space to store 25l or 50l, that I would probably need.

They say that we should be getting water any time now, but I must be honest, I don't trust them at all. They also said we'd be getting water yesterday.
 
Ancalagon said:
I keep 2 x 5l containers in storage and an extra few liters for drinking, but it is never enough. And I don't really have the space to store 25l or 50l, that I would probably need.

They say that we should be getting water any time now, but I must be honest, I don't trust them at all. They also said we'd be getting water yesterday.
Click to expand...
Bryanston/Fourways area?

Could be a bit longer, they have three failed pressure reduction valves they are replacing
 
Deadmanza said:
I cope a lot less when we have no power. Water I can work around. Shower at the gym, buy 5l water bottles for necessities, etc.
Getting a UPS setup soon though, then the power outages will not bother me either.
Click to expand...

^ This.

Also helps if you have a JoJo. In that case you can still flush the toilet via bucket system, take a cold shower, and potentially drink the water (after you boil it). Technically you can survive just fine and you dont need to leave the house.
 
Yeah, well they said they will be replacing those three failed valves over the next 7 days, at night.

Not that I trust them at all but they did say that water was now flowing and service should be restored soon. Soon as in today.
 
Sinbad said:
I have a 5000 litre jojo tank set up as a buffer between the mains and the house.
I don't even know there's no water until the street whatsapp group lights up... and then I'm ok for 5-8 days.
Click to expand...
That's the way to do it :cool:
 
On the bright side, living in Africa does help keep you tough. Where else in the world do people routinely have JoJo tanks backing up their water supply and generators / UPSes backing up their power? Lights go off in San Francisco and it might as well be a zombie apocalypse. Down here meanwhile a zombie apocalypse is just a normal day at the office.
 
Tomtomtom said:
On the bright side, living in Africa does help keep you tough. Where else in the world do people routinely have JoJo tanks backing up their water supply and generators / UPSes backing up their power? Lights go off in San Francisco and it might as well be a zombie apocalypse. Down here meanwhile a zombie apocalypse is just a normal day at the office.
Click to expand...

Exactly this. Singapore had a power failure the other day... for 30 minutes... at 1am.... it is pathetic (these people can be such pussies).

"OMG NO POWER, ITS SO HOT, HOW I CANT SLEEP", "THE streets are so dark, drive safe everyone", "Will my food spoil in the fridge in 30 min?", "#GreatSGBlackout", "How do you cope without power?", "Singapore is so backwards, how can have power outage" and so on and so forth........ agggg
 
Take a 30 min drive to my parents and stay the night there...
 
poffle said:
Exactly this. Singapore had a power failure the other day... for 30 minutes... at 1am.... it is pathetic (these people can be such pussies).

"OMG NO POWER, ITS SO HOT, HOW I CANT SLEEP", "THE streets are so dark, drive safe everyone", "Will my food spoil in the fridge in 30 min?", "#GreatSGBlackout", "How do you cope without power?", "Singapore is so backwards, how can have power outage" and so on and so forth........ agggg
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but if major parts of London had no water for more than a day, let me tell you it would be a major issue. It would be in the papers every day, some official would give updates every day, they would work through the day and night until it was fixed, and then they'd see what they could do to make sure it never happens again.

Because, having no water for that long is a major issue. Schools have had to close now because of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X