[OPINION] Cape Town, a city drowning in incompetence | Daily Maverick

I use about 10L a day by myself without flushing any toilets or washing clothes
 
My company drilled a huge well into the middle of the public walkway area last week (walk way between 2 buildings)

Took 3 days to complete, not sure what that means.
With any luck I can take showers at work.

In my opinion this day 0 is looking to be a matter of time.
 
Solarion said:
A better example maybe? I didn't know that. Dogs huh? :crylaugh:

Edit: Although I can see the rich residents of Marina vloeking because someone is draining their water.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SY0HkmUVLI0/maxresdefault.jpg
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Another bad example IMO. Most of Cape Town's wetlands have water that is completely undrinkable: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/...ordhoek-vlei-city-of-cape-town-warns-20180123

Residents and visitors to Cape Town must avoid contact with the Wildevoelvlei in the Noordhoek Valley because of elevated toxin levels due to algae, the City of Cape Town's environmental health department said on Monday.

"The public is urged to avoid all contact with the water at the vlei and in the outlet channel leading to the sea, and discharging on a section of Noordhoek Beach," said the City’s acting mayoral committee member for Area South, Councillor Suzette Little.

"Dog-walkers should ensure that their pets remain on a leash and prevent them from drinking the water."

The warning comes as recent monitoring and laboratory tests confirmed the presence of blue-green algal toxins known as "Cyanophyceae".

The city explained that the algal population at the wetland, situated south of central Cape Town, increased dramatically during the warm summer months.
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I don't see how more publicity would have helped. More enforcement perhaps, and not waiting until it is too late to take action. They pussyfooted around the previous summer, effectively did nothing during winter, then started off this summer with some tough talk, but mostly engaged in more pussyfooting around.
 
access said:
there have been predictions of a water problems in the western cape for a good couple of years now, its been in the news on tv, radio, papers, talk shows and even carte blanche.

this low rainfall is just that bit that was needed to push us over the edge, as was mentioned in these pieces too. the rainfall lowering due to world climate events was well mentioned many times.

also, it is near impossible(unless forced) for the water usage to remain the same in the area with the increase in population/development, if you believe the water consumption stayed pretty much the same, you will believe anything.
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In a council meeting on the 26th of October 2016, Councillor Erika Botha-Rossouw asked Mayor De Lille if the city was possibly heading for a water crisis, what the extent would be and what the contingency plans were.

De Lille’s answer was that the Councillor must be from another planet as Cape Town did not have a water crisis.

Any thinking observer could see that there was a crisis in the making but De Lille and her followers sat on their collective arse and never looked beyond the month end salary.
 
daveza said:
Somebody who knows how to create awareness -


https://www.helenmoffett.com/blog/2018/1/19/watergeddon-an-open-letter-to-the-mayor-of-cape-town
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While I agree with some of this, I honestly don't know what planet she's on when she rants about "... a particularly arrogant and entitled middle class". In my experience, it is mainly Cape Town's middle class suburbia that are bending over backwards to save water. The dense green dots denoting usage under the limit in the water consumption map attests to this. It is also, by the way, these horrible middle class people who cough up the majority of residential rates and taxes so maybe they have at least some justification for expecting water to continue coming out of their taps. It's not like it's the most fundamental service a city supplies, after all.
 
noxibox said:
I don't see how more publicity would have helped. More enforcement perhaps, and not waiting until it is too late to take action. They pussyfooted around the previous summer, effectively did nothing during winter, then started off this summer with some tough talk, but mostly engaged in more pussyfooting around.
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This is what I find particularly frustrating about this campaign. People, in general, don't like compromising on living standards.

To fight that constantly with publicity, etc. is not an effective strategy, you need to increase your output. There is just no way around it.

The City is essentially praying for rain at this point because the lack of concrete long term strategies, and they "won't be ready by winter" anyway.

I mean are they expecting this one winter to solve all the problems. If not, then what? Water collection points for the next year? Two years?

Common guys, your strategy can't be "get to winter". FML

Gordon_R said:
Another bad example IMO. Most of Cape Town's wetlands have water that is completely undrinkable: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/...ordhoek-vlei-city-of-cape-town-warns-20180123
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Apparently that particular bacteria, although very dangerous, can be filtered along with the toxins it produces.

garp said:
While I agree with some of this, I honestly don't know what planet she's on when she rants about "... a particularly arrogant and entitled middle class". In my experience, it is mainly Cape Town's middle class suburbia that are bending over backwards to save water. The dense green dots denoting usage under the limit in the water consumption map attests to this. It is also, by the way, these horrible middle class people who cough up the majority of residential rates and taxes so maybe they have at least some justification for expecting water to continue coming out of their taps. It's not like it's the most fundamental service a city supplies, after all.
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Yep
 
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garp said:
While I agree with some of this, I honestly don't know what planet she's on when she rants about "... a particularly arrogant and entitled middle class". In my experience, it is mainly Cape Town's middle class suburbia that are bending over backwards to save water. The dense green dots denoting usage under the limit in the water consumption map attests to this. It is also, by the way, these horrible middle class people who cough up the majority of residential rates and taxes so maybe they have at least some justification for expecting water to continue coming out of their taps. It's not like it's the most fundamental service a city supplies, after all.
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She's wrong about this too -

the penny has dropped that no human agent on earth can fly up to the clouds and wring precipitation from them.
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They do that all the time in China.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding
 
Slootvreter said:
Did they claim it was our fault?
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Its like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_punishment

Collective punishment is a form of retaliation whereby a suspected perpetrator's family members, friends, acquaintances, sect, neighbors or entire ethnic group is targeted. The punished group may often have no direct association with the other individuals or groups, or direct control over their actions.
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BTW, I had no idea what this term meant, had to google it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, it attempts to destabilize the target and delegitimize the target's belief.

Instances may range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The term owes its origin to the 1938 Patrick Hamilton play Gas Light and its 1940 and 1944 film adaptations. The term has been used in clinical and research literature, as well as in political commentary.
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Slootvreter said:
Yeah, but using water sparingly is probably a good idea.

Again, did the City ever blame us for this predicament?
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They've said over and over again that the problem is we're not saving enough.

If we're not explicitly blamed it is heavily implied.
 
porchrat said:
They've said over and over again that the problem is we're not saving enough.

If we're not explicitly blamed it is heavily implied.
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So that they are blaming us for this predicament is someone's opinion/interpretation.
 
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