Water Wise Watch - September 2023
05.09.23
Happy 120 years of existence, Rand Water
Since its establishment in 1903, Rand Water has been a beacon of reliability, supplying potable water of superior quality to 12 million people in Gauteng, the economic heartland of South Africa. Through unwavering dedication and commitment, Rand Water has never failed in meeting the growing demands of Gauteng and its thriving economy, making it one of the world's largest and most essential water utilities. Cheers to 120 years of excellence in providing life-sustaining water to our community!
World Rivers Day
The central theme of World Rivers Day in 2023 is "The Rights of Rivers." On 24 September 2023, individuals are encouraged to actively participate in river cleaning. The primary goal is to eliminate plastic waste from our rivers, ensuring that these bodies of water provide clean and accessible water to the various plant and animal species that rely on them for survival.
The Rand Water Water Wise team has been coordinating river cleanup efforts with a variety of municipalities. These initiatives work together to achieve the common goal of preserving the health and integrity of our rivers.
Let us work together under the banner of "The Rights of Rivers" to clean up, stop illegal dumping, and protect our rivers. By taking these actions, we pledge to safeguard the rights of our rivers and contribute to a cleaner, healthier environment for all.
Sources
https://worldriversday.com/#:~:text=ON%20THE%204th%20SUNDAY%20OF,of%20rivers%20around%20the%20world.
The Rand Water - Water Wise team paid a visit to Sappi in Pretoria to host an exhibition focused on promoting water conservation tips and raising awareness about environmental concerns. During the event, the team delivered a presentation focusing on South Africa's water situation. Attendees also participated in an interactive game illustrating the utilisation of grey water within households. Additionally, a memory game highlighting wetlands was conducted, and a demonstration of water-saving aerators for taps and showers was showcased to exhibit various methods of water conservation.
Let's be Water Wise and always conserve water.
Creating a Xeriscape garden
A Xeriscape garden, often referred to as Water-Wise gardening, aims to minimize and even eliminate the necessity of watering your garden. This style of gardening offers numerous advantages to homeowners and demands reduced maintenance.
Key components of a xeriscape garden include:
- Succulents
- Mulch
- Permeable paving with pebbles and decorative rock
- Native plants instead of exotics
- Reduced lawn area
- Implementation of a greywater system to divert household water for irrigation, decreasing reliance on municipal water sources
Using an automated irrigation system
The use of appropriate irrigation components and a well-designed system is critical in achieving consistent water distribution during irrigation and conserving water. An automated irrigation system is essential for managing water distribution across different areas, maintaining precise control over the volume of water applied, and establishing well-timed watering schedules for your garden. Knowing when and how much to water is critical in the irrigation process. With the integration of automated irrigation systems, the chore of garden watering is simplified, reducing the need for day-to-day manual watering efforts.
Important aspects of using automated irrigation system:
- Reduced labour.
- Timely irrigation — plants being watered when needed.
- Management of higher flow rates.
- Accurate cut-off of water compared to manual checking.
- Reduced runoff of water and nutrients.
- Can be operated using smart phone and its Wireless.
- All irrigation data is stored in the cloud, which means that you can check irrigation logs and sensor data afterwards.
- Less maintenance.
- Consistently provide plants and greens with the right amount of water while avoiding water loss through evaporation.
1 September: National Arbor Day 02 – 06 September: National Parks Week 5 September: International Coastal Cleanup Day 22 September: World Rhino Day 24 September: World Rivers Day 27 September: World Tourism Day |
Irish-climate-targets-extremely challenging after modest 2022-fall environmental watchdog "Ireland faces an extremely difficult challenge in meeting legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, after they fell by just 1.9% year-on-year in 2022, the country's environmental watchdog said on Friday....." |
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"The last, relatively pristine section of Western Cape coastline between the Olifants River and the Northern Cape border is threatened by two new mining-related applications. The applications to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) are for prospecting rights on the farm Karoetjies Kop 150, which extends six kilometres inland and 15km along the coast north of the Soutriver..." |
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"A factsheet on the harms of gas brings together global scientific evidence and expert local research to show why investing in gas as an energy source in South Africa is unnecessary, economically risky and comes with a number of public health and climate change threats.." |
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"Sports project in the Greater Kruger area aims to build resilience in local communities and bolster nature conservation efforts. Four young men who live close to the Kruger National Park’s Orpen gate have an opportunity of a lifetime after being invited to travel to Johannesburg to participate in the trials for one of South Africa’s biggest and best-known soccer club – the Orlando Pirates..." |
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