THEMBA KHOZA | Preserve water, prioritise safety this festive season

It’s December and the festive season is upon us. Schools are closed and children are now at home. Factories and companies are closing and other workers are on leave to enjoy the holidays.

The weather is hot and the country has been experiencing heat waves of late, which might tempt people to dip intowater courses for a cool down. It is therefore important to be responsible and always put safety first to prevent unnecessary disasters and have an enjoyable festive season.

Drownings are major causes of fatalities in water courses, so it is critical that people are extracautious around them. Necessary swimming skills are required to enjoy them and swimming pools. Children must always be supervised by an adult person with the necessary swimming skills to prevent any drownings.

Don’t drink and jump into water as alcohol and water do not mix. Always be responsible and be safe. Those who go to the beaches must also be careful and heed the warnings of the lifeguards to have a wonderful beach experience.

Parents and adults, especially those staying close to or around water courses have an added responsibility to keep a hawk’s eye and monitor their children as they can be tempted to jump into the water.

Parents need to also know the whereabouts of their children and always ensure adult supervision around water courses. We must also ensure that the water courses are clean, safe and healthy before we jump in to prevent contracting and spreading waterborne diseases which might also lead to deaths, shattering thej olly mood of the festive season.

Clean, safe and healthy watercourses call for our intervention to prevent pollution. This basically means we need to play our role and protect watercourses from being used as dumping sites for all kinds of waste which lead to environmental degradation and make the watercourses a serious threat to human health.

Climate change is upon us and the weather changes in the blink of an eye. We might be experiencing a heat wave and the next moment we have thunder -storms associated with heavy flooding, so it is important to prioritise one’s safety at all times.

Climate change is associated with the thunderstorms and flash floods we are currently experiencing, leading to flooded watercourses and roads. It is therefore important to avoid them. When flooding comes your way, always run to higher ground and prioritise life as we only live once.

We must also monitor and heed weather warnings to be safe, especially as the weather changes drastically within seconds. Climate change also means very hot temperatures leading to high evaporation and loss of water. As SA is a water scarce and dry country, it is important that we all exercise water conservation and use the available water in a sparing and wise manner to ensure water security for our generation and future generations.

Let us always treasure every drop as water has no substitute. Water is life and our watercourses provide us with precious water and also serve as recreation areas, therefore it is important that we behave responsibly to have a wonderful festive season. So, let us respect, conserve and then enjoy our watercourses.

■ Khoza is a communicator in the department of water and sanitation