06 Feb Surviving the Water Crisis: Discover The Essential Products That Can Prevent Day Zero

Avoiding Day Zero in Cape Town*

Getting on board with the water crisis is no longer an option. It’s a must. Nobody wants to arrive at the prospective Day Zero and wish they had done more to avoid queuing for water. While there is still water coming out of our taps it is completely possible (and at this point essential) to live off the required 50 litres of allocated water per person per day. And believe it or not, you can do so quite comfortably.

In fact, while it might not facilitate a blissfully ignorant existence, it brings with it a powerful lesson in using resources wisely and just what we, as a collective, can get through when bringing a heightened sense of intentional living to our day-to-day actions.

Let’s do this thing and prevent Day Zero from becoming a dire reality. These are the essential products that will make the task that much easier.

TAP INTO THE TRUTH

DIY tip: Disconnect the S-bend pipe from your sinks and place a bucket below it. You’ll be shocked at how much water gathers from a simple task like brushing your teeth. That’s because the average tap flow rate is 15 litres of water per minute (essentially 1/3^rd your daily allowance).

1. Ecoflow Adjustable Aerator

This one fitting allows you to change the flow rate to 2, 4 or 6 litres per minute saving you about 90% of water usage in that area.

2. Eco Swiss Aerator

The tap aerator that will save you up to 95% of the water you’d ordinarily use from a tap. The eco-spray technology gives a powerful water flow with a low volume rate, so you’re still able to wash your hands or clean dishes, while using far less water.

REALITY SINKS IN

Even with a container in the sink and water flow rate reducers, there are some tasks that don’t even require you to open those taps. Be a smart cookie with these products.

1. Nu Eco Hand Sanitiser

This eco hand sanitiser doesn’t need water and keeps your hands germ-free without any nasty toxins.

2. Amco Houseworks Odour Eliminating Rub Away Bar

Cutting onions or garlic? The stainless-steel bar neutralizes odour transferring molecules for a quick waterless hand cleanse.

NEW LOO LOGIC 

Got your hippie outhouse all rigged up? Not there yet, hey? These guys can help with water-wise flushing (which you should be using your shower grey water for to fill the cistern by now, if you have the kind of loo that allows for that).

1. Better Earth Toilet Tamer

Yellow, mellow and all that jazz, but phew – it can become a smelly business. Freshen up the natural way.

2. Dry Planet Flush Away

Fill some space in your cistern with this expanding baggie that won’t degrade the inside of the cistern and displaces about 1 l of water. 

SHOWER POWER

Say your goodbyes to long, drawn-out showers. I hate to say it, but I think even the ‘shower with a buddy’ fun times are over for a while (unless you can both fit into your water collecting bucket that is). The 50L daily water allotment allows for a 90 sec –2-minute shower depending on your taps and how well you do the switch-off-while-you-soap-up dance. Here’s how you do short showers successfully.

1. Boa Water Pebble

This nifty invention provides a good visual colour indication of what stage of your shower you’re in. The three stages: green, orange and red amount to a 4-minute shower, but depending on your shower head you can hop out at orange.

2. Ecoflow Showerhead Flow Rate Reducer

Shorter, sweeter showers are yours with this unique showerhead that makes use of 3 varying pressure flow-rates 2lt / 4lt / 6lt per minute

3. Pure Beginnings Wet Wipes Bulk Pack

Unless if you’ve done a seriously sweaty workout, you can probably get reasonably clean with a wet-wipe down. These aloe-infused wet wipes are biodegradable so they can go straight into your Bokashi or composter afterwards.

DRINK UP

Thirsty much? Us too. Bottled water may be the way of the Day Zero future (which makes plastic avoiders shudder), but if we stick to our allocations, we can still drink tap water once it’s been filtered.

1. Waterwise 4000 Countertop Distiller

If you take your distilled water seriously, the travel-friendly water distiller will decontaminate your drinking water and can do so from anywhere.

2. Stefani Flex Water Filter 6L

Will filtered water do? This countertop filtration system is lightweight, travel-friendly and BPA free.

3. Kuro-Bo Activated Charcoal

Prefer your own container? Then an activated charcoal stick – which lasts you 3 months, will certainly do the trick.

RAINWATER TANK ‘STANK’

Anyone else’s rainwater collection tank becoming a little smelly? If you’re not collecting any yet – get on that asap – and then prevent the odour with these clever inventions.

1. Water Conservation Systems Gutter Mesh

Keep the leaves and debris out of your rainwater to limit organic matter rotting in there with this clever and easy to install gutter mesh that only lets the water flow into your tank.

2. Earth Probiotic Drain Septic Tank Treatment

Your rainwater tank might not be septic, but these probiotics can certainly do their thing keeping the odours at bay and could assist in reducing a mozzie breeding ground.

DREAM MACHINES

One load of laundry every odd week is where it’s at on the bulk cleaning people. Don’t let that greywater go to waste. You can water the flower beds with it or collect it for toilet flushing.

1. Slightly Greenish Water Warrior

You can redirect your laundry load grey water with this nifty attachment so the garden doesn’t entirely wither away during the drought. It basically allows you to connect your hose to the outlet pipe. If you live in the Western or Eastern Cape you’ll need this PVC pipe reducing ring too.

A huge factor you’ll quickly realise is how integral fresh flowing water is to a sanitary existence. It cleans us, our dirty dishes, dirty laundry and flushes away waste of all kind. Now that things have become necessarily stagnant, make sure you’re also keeping things as hygienic as possible, by pouring some grey water down the sinks every now and then and using the water in your rainwater drums on the plants. And don’t forget your pets – keeping water bowls out the sun will help their daily allowance not to evaporate.

Lastly, let’s get some Clearwater Revival going. Hit play and turn up the volume. Perhaps if we all belt it out together the rain gods will hear our plea and send some showers our way. Either way, let’s band together in our any-and-all action around preventing Day  Zero.

*This article was written and published in February 2018 when Cape Town City had just implemented their Level 6 B Water Restrictions