. Earth Science News .
WATER WORLD
Volunteers send water as S.African temperatures soar
By Kristen VAN SCHIE
Boksburg, South Africa (AFP) Jan 19, 2016


In a large shed to the east of Johannesburg men stacked tens of thousands of litres of water onto a flatbed truck as part of a neighbourhood volunteer campaign to save South Africa's dry towns.

The water comes in two-litre soft drink bottles, five-litre plastic drums and a 1,000-litre bowser -- all of it donated by city residents, as intense drought and continuous heat waves devastate South Africa's farms.

For Janine Boshoff, 35, the spur to action was a Facebook post by a cattle farmer who was distraught at the choice of either watching his starving herd die -- or shooting them.

"I thought if a farmer could feel that much for an animal, I would hope that humans could feel something for each other, too," she told AFP.

She began rallying neighbours in suburban Boksburg to fill their old bottles and bring them to her house.

Within days, her sister's employer had offered a company truck to transport the haul a few hours' drive to parched towns in the Free State, South Africa's agricultural heartland.

Boshoff's neighbour, Jolanda du Plessis, 46, and her housekeeper began walking the local streets handing out flyers.

At night, the two families shut down the electric fence between their homes and passed the day's collection over the wall to store at Boshoff's house -- in the hallway, on the patio, and in every available room.

For 14 years, the families had been neighbours without so much as a friendly wave between them.

Now they plotted the water delivery rescue mission together in Du Plessis' lounge, their phones ringing and pinging as messages of more donations flooded in.

- Record highs -

The regional drought, now in its second year, has been brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon and exacerbated by climate change, pushing temperatures higher in a string of blistering heat waves.

This week, the Washington-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is expected to declare 2015 the hottest year on record worldwide.

On one Tuesday last October, 18 weather stations across South Africa recorded new monthly highs, all above 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit).

And in early January, both Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria saw all-time record maximums of 38 and 42.5 degrees Celsius respectively.

Such figures highlight the huge challenge of capping global warming at below two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels -- the goal set at UN negotiations in Paris in December.

"The abnormally high temperatures and low rainfall during 2015 are a combination of a natural effect, which is the El Nino phenomenon, and the rising baseline caused by human-caused global climate change," explained Robert Scholes, systems ecology professor at the University of the Witwatersrand.

"At this stage, they approximately equally contribute to the observed high temperatures."

But while emergency community efforts can provide drinking and washing water to otherwise crippled small towns, they cannot replace the absent rains as fields turn to dust.

Nor are they a long-term solution to the country's hot, dry future.

- Long-term planning -

The South African Weather Service announced last week that last year was the driest year since records began in 1904.

"South Africa is a water scarce country, it always has been," said Dhesigen Naidoo, CEO of the Water Research Commission,

"We're quite astute at dealing with water scarcity and have managed for a long while to be able to reconcile our demands with our supply.

"But what's clear going into the future is that we're going to need a lot more water available to the system."

What's required, he said, is radical diversification of sources, including new dams and desalination plants, some of which are already under way -- but also better and more efficient use of the water.

"Twenty-five percent of water, clean drinking-quality water, is lost in our system every single day. If we are able to claim this back, that's more water available in the towns and cities immediately."

When the truck left for the farmlands on Saturday morning -- full to the brim with bottles -- the donations were still coming in.

It will help in the short term but last year's high temperatures, both locally and globally, point to more tough times ahead.

"We have made exactly the right kinds of starts that we need to secure our water future," said Naidoo, referring to infrastructure investment.

"The key question is, when this drought ends, will we sustain this?"

kvs/bgs/pvh

Facebook


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
WATER WORLD
Obama declares emergency over foul water in Michigan
Washington (AFP) Jan 16, 2016
US President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Michigan on Saturday, freeing up federal aid to help an area affected by contaminated water, the White House said. Authorities in the state have been dealing with a major health crisis over lead-contaminated water that arose from cost-cutting measures implemented in the city of Flint, home to some 100,000 people. Problems arose a ... read more


WATER WORLD
Nepal quake rebuilding to take years, new chief says

MH370 search finds new shipwreck, but no plane

Six years on, quake-devastated Haiti mourns its dead

Snow makes migrants' journey through Europe even harder

WATER WORLD
Recycling light

Polymer puts new medical solutions within reach

All-antiferromagnetic memory could get digital data storage in a spin

It's a 3-D printer, but not as we know it

WATER WORLD
Global warming strikes deep into oceans: study

Obama declares emergency over foul water in Michigan

Northwest Atlantic Ocean may get warmer, sooner

What snapping shrimp sound patterns may tell us about reef ecosystems

WATER WORLD
Study finds high melt rates on Antarctica's most stable ice shelf

Human-made climate change suppresses the next ice age

Ice sheets may be hiding vast reservoirs of powerful greenhouse gas

World's largest canyon could be hidden under Antarctic ice sheet

WATER WORLD
S.Africa to import maize after driest season in 100 years

Bird flu detected in US turkey flock

Breed-your-own insect 'revolution' for the kitchen

Poultry farming frozen for bird flu cleanup in French SW

WATER WORLD
Kobe marks 21 years since killer quake

Alex, now a tropical storm, inflicts minor damage in Azores

Study: Mild winter followed ancient eruption of Toba volcano

Evidence of large volcanic activity in the Caribbean uncovered

WATER WORLD
Several dead as Shebab storm African Union base in Somalia

China's imports from Africa plummet in 2015: officials

Niger holds 13 over failed December coup

Mali extends state of emergency until March 31

WATER WORLD
Study: 920,000 Pygmies living in forests of Central Africa

Chimp friendships are based on trust

Brain monitoring takes a leap out of the lab

Research suggests morality can survive without religion









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.