May 29, 2018

Water crisis in South Africa

How little water can one person use per day? Cape Town, South Africa is currently in the middle of a 3-year drought which has forced the government to enforce water restrictions. The citizens of Cape Town are limited to 13 gallons of water per day for all of their water uses. Every flush of the toilet and every second in the shower counts towards their daily water allowance. Even boiling water for pasta is factored into the 13-gallon limit.

South Africa might seem a world away, but parts of the US could face harsh water restrictions if we don’t manage our water supply. There are already cities, such as Denver, who have already started to implement water usage restrictions. In Denver, people are limited on when and how long they are allowed to water their lawn. As more people move to areas with a limited water supply, less water is available for each person.

For some, dramatically limiting their water usage might be difficult, but for me, it has been relatively easy. About six months ago my fiancé and I purchased a motorhome, rented out our house, and have been traveling the country ever since. Since the motorhome is designed to allow us to live “off the grid” there are several water saving features built into it.

KumquatOne such example is the shower; not only does the show have knobs to adjust the hot and cold water, there is a button on the shower head to turn the water flow on/off. This allows us to set the perfect temperature once and just turn the water on when we need it. Since there is no need to be running water while lathering shampoo in our hair, we can turn the water off while lathering and back on to rinse.

While our water savings has been out of design and necessity, consider how much water you use throughout the day. While a long, hot, shower can work miracles on aching muscles, do you need to take that extra minute in the shower? Are your faucets and toilets designed to use as little water as possible? Some water companies offer incentives to reduce the cost of low flow faucets and other products. Do you think you could cut down your water usage to only 13 gallons a day if necessary?

If you would like to follow us as we travel the country with our flock of parrots, you can find our blog on cruisingcaique.com or follow us on Instagram @CruisingCaique.

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