Water Wise Watch - June 2024
06.06.24
World Environment Day 2024 - We Are #GenerationRestoration
World Environment Day is an international day of environmental awareness and action that is celebrated on the 5th of June each year. It is the United Nations' flagship day for promoting worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Each year, the program provides a theme, and the theme for 2024 is “Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience”. This theme highlights the need for accelerating land restoration, enabling drought resistance and limiting the desertification progress. The theme highlights critical environmental challenges affecting communities and ecosystems worldwide consequently due to climate change.
Recent studies have found that up to 40% of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population (approximately 3.4 billion people). The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29% since 2000 – without urgent action, droughts may affect over three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050.
What are the benefits of land restoration?
- Increased food production, especially in an ever-growing population. Food remains a critical resource that not all humans have access to. Better land practices can sustain key ecosystems critical as our food sources, improving food security.
- Ecosystem sustenance, particularly the resources that ecosystems offer us as humans. Accelerating land restoration enables key cycles in our planet to function holistically, offering humans key resources, such as water.
- Mitigating climate change by improving land-based processes such as afforestation that play a critical role in sequestrating harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs) that exacerbate global warming and subsequent climate change.
To join the We Are #GenerationRestoration movement this World Environment Day, each individual can pledge a hand towards accelerating land restoration by committing to some of the following:
- Use sustainable foods and reduce food waste; kitchen waste from food preparation can be repurposed into the garden as compost, critical for soil amelioration.
- Buy local to support local farmers to reduce GHGs gas emissions from transportation.
- Recycle waste to reduce the need to dump waste at landfills that contribute to GHGs emissions.
UN Convention to Combat Desertification
UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
UN Sustainable Goals
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Winter Gardening, What To Do?
A common misconception exists that our lawns should be evergreen throughout the year, leading to overwatering, particularly during the dry season - but is this safe for the grass?
To create an effective #waterwise watering schedule during the colder seasons, you first need to understand a few things regarding your lawn. This includes:
- The climate; does it get dry in autumn? Does it get frost in winter?
- The amount of sunlight the lawn receives?
- What type of grass is your lawn – warm season grasses (e.g. LM lawn, buffalo lawn and cynodon) or cool season grasses (e.g. All Seasons Evergreen, Starke Ayres Evergreen Mix and Lawnpro Green Domein)?
Remember, your lawn requires water to supply the right amount of moisture and wash nutrients into the soil. Brown grass does not equate to dead grass, in the cold season, it simply means the grass has reached dormancy – overwatering the grass will not make it any greener and simply wastes water. Reduce the watering of your lawn considerable or better still stop watering your lawn in winter.
Overwatering of your lawn can be harmful to the overall health of the grass, as it displaces air from the pores in the soil, which can result in root rot and the persistence of fungal diseases. Further, overwatering warm season grass in colder climates can make the blades more susceptible to frost damage as the blades remain moist overnight, in colder air temperatures.
Although the cold season has eventually arrived, this should not deter you from getting stuck into your garden. Here we explore key things that you can get done during winter in your garden to ensure that, when the growing season starts, your plants are in full bloom.
Get stuck into weed control – as plant growing slows down and eventually becomes dormant, this presents a perfect opportunity to effectively control the opportunistic weeds in your garden. Digging out weeds including the roots in winter, where the weed plants are not producing seeds and subsequently reaching maturity due to dormancy, ensures that the weeds stay out of your garden for longer in the summer months.
Mulching your garden – the fallen leaves all over your landscape are a great resource not to be swept away; repurpose these into your garden. The fallen leaves are a great mulch source that can be used to protect the plants from cold ambient temperatures whilst retaining soil moisture and further inhibiting the growth of weeds.
Veggie patch-up – winter’s the time to tend to your existing fruit trees to replace those that have died during the last growing season. It is also a great time for planting brassicas (i.e. kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower), ensuring that these crops grow best, in time for summer harvests. For more ideas on what to plant over winter, please click here.
Take time to prune – this is a good time to prune for structure on your deciduous trees, the form of the tree can be seen easily and a plethora of other problems can be picked up early. Hydrangea pruning can be done at the top close to the bud to encourage more flowers in the next season as they flower on the new shoots. The old wood can be pruned out and the shrubs pruned back to those healthy fat flower buds for a good display next year.
Insulate your pipes – when temperatures drop (i.e. below freezing), pipes that are not protected are subject to freezing causing messy, and often expensive issues. To reduce the likelihood of freezing, wrap water supply lines with insulation tubes made of polyethylene or suitable materials. For an extra layer of protection, apply heat-tape prior to wrapping pipes with insulation. This will not only protect your pipes during the cold season but help retain heat in pipes that carry your hot water alike, reducing your energy bill.
Check for leaks, after the thaw (for really cold areas only) – the drastic temperature changes between night and day during the winter cause pipes to expand and contract. As a result, when the thaw does come (during the day), pipes are likely to break above and below ground causing massive water loss and high utility costs. After the first thaw and thereafter, carefully inspect water lines and ensure no leaks have occurred, a practice that can help you save on your water bill.
Collect shower water – as we wait for our showers to get hot during the winter season, a lot of good quality water is unnecessary flushed down the drain. You can collect this water by placing a collection bucket/basin below the shower head, to use for other household activities like flushing toilets or for the laundry.
Source:
Water Signal
Water Wise
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01: World Reef Day 03: World Food Safety Day 05: World Environment Day 08: World Oceans Day 15: Global Wind Day 16: Youth Day 17: World Day to Combat Desertification & Drought 21: World Giraffe Day 22: World Rainforest Day |
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| Greater Evaton Water Safe for Consumption, Says Rand Water “Rand Water has assured residents that the contamination which affected the quality of drinking water in the Greater Evaton area has been resolved and tap water is now safe for consumption. The water contamination affected the quality of drinking water ... in Emfuleni Local Municipality.…” |
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| SA Strengthens Its Response To Climate Change “South Africa is enhancing its efforts to address climate change by introducing the Climate Change Response Fund aimed at fostering collaboration between government and the private sector to effectively tackle environmental challenges.… for our part, South Africa has established a Climate Change Response Fund that will bring together all spheres of government and the private sector” |
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