Water Challenge

• KL had a brief, scheduled water supply hiatus a few days ago (Apr 24-27, 2019) due to water infra works. 1
• Since stoppage at the source lasted only a day, residences with water tanks may not have experienced any interruption to their water supply.
• Yet, many would have stored up water in anticipation of taps running dry. 2
• If you have stocked up on water, and don't need it consequently, don't pour it away. Instead try to live with that water reserve and see how long it will last, and how you would cope without running water.

Water Challenge

• Last year (2018), Cape Town nearly ran out of water. Disaster was averted when residents heeded government calls and limited water usage to just 50 litres per person per day in a stirring holdout (until rain arrived in the nick of time after three years of drought). 3
• How much is 50 litres? A box of mineral water (1.5 litre x 12 bottles) is about 20 litres, so 50 litres is slightly more than 2 boxes.
• How much does the average MY resident use a day? Around 210 litres. 4
• In SG, usage is reported to be approximately 150 litres per person per day. Journalist Audrey Tan travelled to Cape Town and returned to take up a challenge to make do with just 20 litres for a day, the amount some Cape Town residents were down to. 5
• In her video essay, she looks happy and eager to take on the challenge in the opening video, but by the end of the challenge, in the closing video, she looks decidedly pensive. According to her, the hardest part of the challenge was in the kitchen (cooking, cleaning). 6
• For the kitchen, if you attempt to live off stored water (see preamble), for the short term, one possibility is to use disposable (and biodegradable) chop/satay sticks or hands to eat (though if water is short, hand washing itself might be a challenge) and food grade paper (the type used to wrap nasi lemak) to cover plates. To avoid having to wash greasy pots, pans and utensils, try the old college hack - everything cooked in one go in a rice cooker.
• As you can see, the water challenge could be an interesting exercise and it would definitely make you value water more.