The Drop-the-Block water saving campaign in the Northern Cape has reached the 103 000 mark and is expected to save at least 200 000 litres of water per toilet flush.

 

Mitigating drought effects

The Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane has announced that government has spent more than R1.8 billion in drought intervention measures by drilling or refurbishing of more than 7 400 boreholes countrywide and the provision of water tankers.

Despite these efforts, Mokonyane has said that “government will need additional funding to further mitigate the effects of drought”.

 

Drop-the-Block campaign

According to Jerry Moletsane, Project Manager of the Drop-the-Block programme in the Northern Cape, “The Drop-the-Block campaign initiative will further mitigate the effects of drought by saving up to 200 000 litres of water.”

The Drop-the-Block is an eco-friendly innovation of placing a block in a toilet tank/cistern to save water. It is designed to reduce potable water consumption by one up to two litres per flush.

All volunteers have been trained on how to ‘drop the block’ and to never force the block into a toilet cistern as this may affect the normal toilet flushing operation, said Moletsane.

On average, toilet flushing uses up to 31% of the overall household consumption, therefore making toilet flushing one of the highest consumers of water in the house.