The publicity surrounding Water Week in South Africa and the focus on issues like access to water and the hazards of drinking dirty and polluted water is a positive event on our calendar.
Water is life and the search for a workable model of sustainable living that can be maintained indefinitely must revolve around the question of access to clean water and the uninterrupted access to this resource in the future.
At Sicambeni village we dug a small dam at Mama Pats place last year in time for the rains. This was done to prevent the loss of water due to runoff down the hill and also to alleviate the soil erosion.
The success of this dam in providing ample water for irrigating the garden at Mama Pats has focused attention on the need for proper water management in the rest of the community.
On the new land recently released by the community for further expansion by Amapondo Projects the question of how to store this precious resource and not allow the rains to simply flow into the river and out to sea is being debated.
Possibilities include another small dam or two, a channelling system whereby rain water can be redirected onto the crops as well as neighbouring land with their own small gardens as well as the location of these projects with an eye on future expansion.
We don’t have final plans as yet, the debate and discussion within the community is in itself a crucial part of the Amapondo Projects and the direction they are taking.
The current crop of volunteers are also involved in brainstorming and looking at possible solutions to making the new land self sufficient and not dependent on water from taps in the community.
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