Scorcher of a heat wave affects SA

SUZANNE BELLING

We asked members of the local Jewish community how they have been affected.

Mark Loeb, owner of a sprinkler installation and maintenance company, says he has been inundated with calls to have sprinklers installed or serviced, because using hosepipes in the specified hours – between 18:00 and 06:00 – requires more water as the water is not distributed evenly.

“One of my customers contacted the American Meteorological Society, which said: ‘We are in year one of a five-year drought cycle.’”

The last major drought, according to Loeb, was in 2008 and the same is happening now. “We need a lot of replenishment.”

Loeb says that in the wetlands of South Africa, “there is a lot of acid drainage, which has adversely affected the quality of the water.”

Over the past six years the weather patterns in Johannesburg have reflected days of afternoon thunder showers – “non-stop, for weeks and even months. This affected my business, which I shrunk from two vehicles to one and from 14 to five workers. The industry shrunk 80 per cent over the last five years, but now it is picking up.

“This is the second heatwave in spring and people have to water at night and stand in the dark.”

He said several water towers in the high-lying areas were running on empty.

Israel could help South Africa with desalination, but there had been no official response from our government.

Jude Petrank, who owns an air-conditioning installation and servicing company, says: “There has been a real spike in the volume of calls, requests for all kinds of air-conditioners and for maintenance.”

While the heatwave was good for business, Petrank bemoaned the lack of rain, which lessened the humidity in the air.

“We’ve been trying to watch the situation and do our bit, but it is a drop in the ocean.”

He said that “air-conditioning distributors and suppliers are moving volumes of stock which may be depleted. You can’t disappoint people, but there are not enough hours in the day. I start at 07:00 and work till 21:00 at night. It is a Catch-22 situation.”

Joy Rubin, of Glenhazel, who waters her garden with a hosepipe before 06:00 and after 18:00, shares a hosepipe with her neighbours to save water.

“I have half a bath, brush my teeth with the tap off, let the dishes pile up and only wash my clothes when I have a full load.”

Rubin was very taken with Israel’s Ambassador to South Africa Arthur Lenk’s article in The Star newspaper, offering Israel’s help with South Africa’s drought problems.

“Israel is an arid country and has solved the problem through desalination and various other means. I wish South Africa would take up the ambassador’s offer,” she said.

Arnold Suttner quipped that it was supposed to rain during and after Succot but it had not happened this year. “I don’t know why we don’t follow Israel’s example.”

He said he used a hygrometer and a barometer to check humidity and air pressure, which could indicate rain when humidity was up and the pressure fell.

He was hoping there would be an increase in the moisture in the air.

Monty Sassen, of Rouxville, who is responsible on behalf of the body corporate for the gardens of the block of flats in which he lives, said the gardener had been told not to do any daytime watering and had been instructed to return after 18:00 to use the hosepipe (he stays on the premises).

Sassen said he was making inquiries about the water restrictions with regard to possibly topping up the swimming pool after hours as well. He added that other staff members in the block had been informed of the restrictions, as some areas on the property were allocated to specific flats, which were the responsibility of the relevant owners, some of whom had sprinkler systems.

The heatwave “hasn’t really affected us”, he said, “because if we open the front and back doors, we get a wonderful breeze, which breaks the heat”.