One of the stresses about Cape Town I had was coming here during a water crisis. Day Zero, the policy in which water usage will be extremely limited, was scary to think about. I must say though, I have lucked out a bit thanks to two things. Capetonians have become very concerned about the water crisis and have limited their water consumption as best they can. The second thing is, it has been raining a good bit. The dam levels are rising and Day Zero has been pushed back and seems to be getting pushed further and further back. This is good news but Cape Town is not out of the woods yet.
When I first got here, they told me "if it's yellow let it mellow and if it's brown flush it down." I'll leave it at that with regards to toilet usage. I have been pretty good at taking 2 minute showers but just know that when I'm back home, I'm gonna make up for lost time and take a 5 hour shower. Just kidding! I often don't drink water but other liquids to stay hydrated and typically only bring water on hikes or long trips. I have done my best to limit my water usage and I'm curious to see how it will be when I'm back home.
Living in Cape Town has made me greater appreciate the value of water and we waste so much of it back in Charlotte. We need water to live and yet we overuse it by taking insanely long showers, dumping out water instead of saving it for another day, and so much other ways we waste it. I hope that when I am back in Charlotte, I will be more considerate in my water usage. Back home I will always flush and my showers will take longer than 2 minutes but it won't be excessive. Appreciate the value of water as water is what gives us life and you shouldn't have to come to Cape Town to appreciate its importance.
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