Can you stay healthy and save water?


We need water to be healthy. If you live in the city, it’s easy to take water for granted until the dams start running low. To support people in areas where drought is being experienced, be careful with water even if you don’t live there. After all, South Africa is one of the 30 driest countries in the world. To help you, we’ve put together some tips on taking care of yourself when there’s not a lot of water to go around.

Budget your drinking water first

Adults need to drink about two litres of water a day. You need water to keep your body temperature steady, digest food and keep your blood pumping. You can check if you and your family are hydrated by lifting the skin on your hand. It should go down immediately. If the skin keeps the triangle shape, drink more water. To make sure you have enough drinking water, make sure you are buying bottled water from a sustainable source and not from a company that is just filtering and/or oxygenating tap water. This should be done only if the drinking water in your taps are compromised.

Cleaning hands

An important part of keeping healthy is washing your hands with soap. Clean your hands after going to the bathroom, coughing or sneezing, and after playing with pets and before handling food. Let a little water run into the basin and add a plug. While washing with water is best, you can use wet wipes or hand sanitisers when the water runs low.

The delicate matter of flushing

Many diseases occur when human waste gets into food or water. When we have plenty of water, we manage this by flushing the toilet and washing hands. In general, you can save water by adding a brick (or two) to the cistern. If you don’t have bricks lying around, you can add an empty 2L cool drink bottle. You can also use toilet neutralisers to increase the time between flushes. You can find them in most retailers. Alternatively your grey water from your washing machine can also be saved in buckets and used to flush.

Beat the heat

In South Africa, drought and heat tend to go hand in hand. Even in winter. You can become seriously ill if your body’s temperature is too high. Children and older people are especially sensitive to heat, so make sure they stay hydrated. You can cool down without using water. Wear natural fibres (like cotton) and wear a hat to protect your head against the heat of the sun.

Keep hope

Keeping your water use down may feel like you’re not living your best life. But keep hope. Keep in touch with your friends and family to keep your spirits up. If we all save water, we can make it through the drought.

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