Today is Blog Action Day and we decided to join the global conversation around water.

So, just for the occasion, Stacey and I popped over to the Faure Water Treatment Plant in Somerset West, on the upper fringes of the Cape Metropolitan Area. To say the least, I was surprised by how technical the water treatment process actually is! This may be a very ignorant view, but when I pour a glass of water, I just think, “ah good!”. I don’t think about the pipes, valves, tunnels and process that the water has taken to get to my tap. I kind of had the idea that the water treatment process involved the water flowing from the dam to my tap, and be honest, I know many of you are with me there.

But now, having taken this walk around the Faure Water Treatment Plant, I am surprised and enlightened (and I hope that you are too) after you watch this short video Stacey and I put together so that we could share the experience with you. (Mr. Flower laughed when we told him we had to squeeze the whole process into a one to two minute video, but such is the fast and furious world of the blogosphere.)

So, leaving for a minute the seldom-asked questions of how our water gets from catchment to our tap, did you know that SA is recognised by world standards boards for our water quality and that our tap water is amongst the most fresh and delicious in the world?

And to top that, the City of Cape Town has amongst the best in the country, according to the Blue Drop Report, which rates municipalities on how clean their drinking water is. It’s quite an achievement when I think about some of the seemingly developed countries I have visited where you can’t drink the water from the taps. We are amongst one of the very few countries in Africa where it is safe to drink water - that is something to be proud of.

The challenge confronting government is how to deal with SA’s growing demand for water in years to come. South Africa is already a water-stressed country and as our population expands, it is going to be hard to meeting the growing demand. People like Mr. Flower and his colleagues are earnestly working to guarantee our water future and they deserve many awards for their long-term commitment to our sustainability as a nation. We can all afford to be more conscious that water is a scare resource, that we are so privileged as South Africans to have the steady supply that we do and to do our best to keep South Africa’s water good, fresh and clean.

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