World Water Day is an initiative started by the United Nations (UN). It was first celebrated in 1992 to draw attention to the importance of water.As day zero loomed for Cape Town the city learnt first-hand how vital water is. Unfortunately, the drought has also led to increased demand and over-reliance on groundwater resources.
The theme for World Water Day 2022 is ‘Groundwater: making the invisible visible’. The aim this year is to draw attention to groundwater, which provides almost half of all drinking water worldwide. It also provides irrigation, supplies industry, sustains ecosystems and is an important factor in climate change adaption.
Nature Connect and the City of Cape Town will address the importance of groundwater resources and conserving this important water source, but another way in which we can all save water is to recycle our waste so that pollution will not clog our waterways.
This year, World Water Day falls on Tuesday, 22 March and GrandWest staff will honour the initiative by removing waste from the Elsies River Canal. From 09h30, they will be joined by representatives from Nature Connect and the City of Cape Town, as well as students from Valhalla Secondary School and Bellville High School.
During the course of the day, these volunteers will clear litter and invasive species from the section of the river that flows past GrandWest. Pollutants enter the river system upstream and build up, clogging the river as it reaches the sea, and wind carries discarded waste on land into waterways.
Mervyn Naidoo, General Manager for GrandWest said: “If Cape Town’s extended drought has taught us anything, it is that we can never again take water for granted. While we have no control over rainfall, we can ensure that our rivers are protected from waste and by removing pollutants and water-guzzling invasive plants. By helping the Elsies River to flow free from waste we will be handing back control to nature.”
