Clean Drinking Water – Together We Can ALL Make A Difference!

We all know how essential water is to our lives – from drinking clean water to being able to wash our hands, our clothes and flushing our toilets. Capetonians are really feeling the pinch now with severe water restrictions and day zero looming over them.

Yes Cape Town is struggling at the moment but there are many people all over the world that do not have any access to clean drinking water at all, never mind having the luxury of having a flushing toilet! Not having clean drinking water has devastating consequences from illness to death.

With World Water Day approaching on the 22 March 2018 it is the perfect time for us to all look at the global water situation.

So let’s have a look at what having clean drinking water means, how we can save water every day and what we can all do to make a real difference not only to the global water situation but also to those people that are in crucial need of clean drinking water right now. We can all make a very real difference.

“Disclosure – this is a sponsored post”

Without clean drinking water people cannot thrive and the facts are that we cannot take clean drinking water for granted. Clean drinking water means so much more than just quenching your thirst.

The Importance And Power Of Clean Drinking Water

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has estimated that 663 million people worldwide do not have access to improved water sources. 319 million of these people are situated in sub-Saharan Africa.

Contaminated drinking water results in illness, disease and sometimes in death. The third leading cause of death in children under five years old is diarrhea, which is very often caused by drinking contaminated water.

When people have access to clean drinking water this  leads to:

• better health
• education
• better school and work attendance
• improved productivity at school and at work
• economic opportunity
• less malnutrition and stunted growth
• countries achieving their full potential

P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme (CSDW)

Procter and Gamble (P&G) have been helping families all over the world by providing them with a solution to clean drinking water through their P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme (CSDW).

The P&G Purifier of Water was developed by P&G laundry scientists when they were separating dirt from used laundry water. The P&G Purifier of Water packets are simple to use – using one four gram sachet, a bucket, a cloth and a spoon can purify 10 litres of dirty water in just 30 minutes. This will be enough drinking water for one for a family of five.

P&G works with more than 150 partners to distribute P&G Purifier of Water sachets to people that lack clean water in over 90 countries. To date CSDW has saved thousands of lives by providing over 13 billion litres of clean drinking water, with over 6 billion litres of water being provided in Africa.

CSDW is working with Gift Of The Givers in South Africa to distribute the sachets to people that need them.

This year P&G have partnered with Massmart for a second year to ensure that even more people in need in South Africa get provided with clean drinking water.

From 14 February until 10 April 2018 if you buy any P&G product from a Massmart store – Game, Makro, Lion, Cambridge, Rhino and Jumbo – to donate one day’s worth of clean drinking water to those in need!

Last year their partnership provided 2.4 million litres of water – so let’s work together to make this year even bigger! From now until 10 April  you can make a difference by buying P&G products at a Massmart store.

Simple Ways To Save Water In Your Home

The days of turning on your tap without a care in the world are long gone for many people around the world and if you are in an area that currently does not have a water scarcity problem keep in mind that you can still make a difference by saving water. With climate change and current usage trends we can only expect shortages to become more critical in the future unless we all work together to make changes to our lifestyles and water usage.

Here are a few ways that you can save water in your home.

• Check all your taps and pipes for leaks.
• Wait until you have a good amount of dishes to wash before you wash your dishes rather than washing things one at a time as they become dirty.
• Don’t fill your sink with water to wash your dishes, rather use a plastic tub so that you can use the water elsewhere (watering plants or flushing the toilet) instead of letting it all go down the drain.
• When you want to run hot water catch all the cold water in a container before it goes hot – you can use this water for washing dishes, clothing or flushing the toilet.
• Have showers instead of baths, or even wash with a cloth at the basin.
• When you have a shower don’t run the water all the time, turn it off while you are soaping yourself up and turn it on again to rinse the soap off.
• Flush the toilet as little as possible and when you do need to flush use grey water.
• Only do laundry when you have a full load. Use the right washing powder to ensure that your laundry gets properly clean to avoid having to wash it again. Keep your machine clean and serviced to avoid leaking and using too much water.
• Use two in one products for example for your hair instead of shampoo and conditioner.
• Make sure to always turn the tap off when it is not in use when you are brushing your teeth or shaving.

There are loads of water saving hacks, like using this easy to make water bottle tap, that you can implement in your home.

The Bigger Picture When It Comes To Saving Water

Now while all these tips and tricks to save water in your home and excellent and you should do your best to limit your personal usage in your home, the bigger picture is that there is a huge amount of water used commercially to produce all the products we use in our day to day lives at home.

P&G has made saving water during the production process a priority and during the last two decades their manufacturing and engineering teams have found ways to reduce and recycle water at their plants. They have managed to reduce their freshwater usage by more than 27% per unit of production, exceeding their goal of 20% by 2020.

They have also eliminated harmful ingredients such as phosphates, triclosan, triclocarbon and microbeads* from their products to prevent them from finding their way into water sources.

*to be completed mid 2018

So what are some of the things that we consume or use on a daily basis that use large amounts of water to produce?

• 1 kg of beef – 15 400 litres of water (99% related to animal feed)
• 1 x 150g apple – 125 litres of water
• 200ml apple juice – 230 litres of water
• 1 pint of beer – 168 litres of water
• 125ml glass of wine – 120 litres of water
• 100g chocolate -1700 litres of water (depending on the origin of the cocoa and the method of production)
• 1kg coffee beans – 18 900 litres of water
• 125ml cup of coffee – 130 litres of water

Ahead Of World Water Day Bloggers #Giveup Challenge

I have been challenged to give up one for this week of World Water Day to help to raise awareness for people in underprivileged communities that don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water.

I had a long think about it, taking into consideration all the luxury things that I consume on a daily basis that use huge amounts of water. Things that I take for granted. Yes it is true that I live in an area that has water restrictions, but this has not been a major disruption. I have a quick shower instead of bathing and we save water where we can following the tips shared above.  We still have running water to our home and we have easy access to clean drinking water.

For this 7 day challenge I have decided to give up all luxury drinks and the only thing that I will drink is water  – the one thing that so many people are needing all over the world – clean drinking water.

Every day I will be saving huge amounts of water and making a difference while raising awareness at the same time. I will share my journey with you as I go along.

My number one vise is my coffee and oh I will miss that. Then I have a daily green smoothie and a few cups of green tea. On the weekends I indulge in some Coke. But for this week I will just drink water.

At the end of this challenge P&G and Gift Of The Givers will match the litres of water I have saved and donate clean drinking water to a community in need.

Buy your P&G products from a Massmart store from now until 10 April 2018 – share your purchases on social media and use the Hashtag #Powerofclean to let everyone know you are making a difference!

You can also help by donating, holding a fundraiser, purchasing P&G’s Purifier of Water packets or purchasing a demo kit to experience the power of clean. See more information at CSDW.