I wonder how many Kimberley residents know which items must – under no circumstances – be flushed down the toilet?
I ONCE heard the story of a couple that moved into a new neighbourhood.
The day after they moved in while eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbour hanging her washing out to dry. “That laundry is not very clean,” she said to her husband. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly,” she added.
Her husband turned, looked at the neighbour in the yard next door, but remained silent.
It became a regular occurrence; every time her neighbour hung her washing out to dry, the young woman criticised the dirty laundry.
One morning, however, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line. She said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”
The husband peered kindly over the brim of his coffee mug and said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”
I thought of this young couple last week when I saw “Premier promises to fix potholes” on posters on poles around the city.
My first instinct was to go to that same place I always go to when promises are made when election posters decorate street light poles: “Yeah, right …”
I mean, let’s face it, our city is NOT in a good condition – not at all. Pipes are bursting, sewage is bubbling, certain areas of our CBD smell like urine and litter is strewn everywhere. And it’s oh so easy to point an accusing finger at those who are dropping the ball when it comes to maintaining the city.
Let’s all agree that their track record has been shocking. This past week I visited the grave of someone that was very, very dear to me. Unfortunately her grave was at the Roodepan cemetery and the short trail from the main road to her grave not even 300 metres away is in a shocking condition. More than once I considered turning back and not visiting my cousin’s grave.
How difficult could it be to maintain the trails in a cemetery, I wondered.
However, when I read the article in last week’s newspaper, I realised that beside the NC’s Premier promising that all potholes in the Province will be eradicated, he also is aware of a much bigger problem – it’s not only our city that is damaged.
Dr Saul, speaking about job creation, said, “We cannot have one person digging while 14 people are standing around with spades. This attitude does not help anyone. If you sleep under the tree for the whole day, you are robbing the neighbourhood of service delivery.”
Here’s what I am saying, to call the R31 lake ‘Lake Zamani Saul’ could be far too convenient. Blaming our municipality for a litter-strewn city, could be similarly agreeable, because it opportunistically casts the blame far enough away from us to make us comfortable.
But think about it; how can an army of a few hundred municipal workers keep a city clean during working hours if thousands of residents are messing, and littering 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
On Monday I was behind a car in traffic watching a small boy around five years old pushing papers and wrappers through the open back window of the family car. Not even an hour later, I was next to a taxi at a traffic light and one of the passengers casually tossed a fast food container, paper cup, plastic eating utensils and paper napkins out of the minibus-taxi’s window.
Could it be that Kimberley is filthy because far too many residents and some visitors have not yet learned that the old destructive fantasy that “littering is another form of job creation” is a load of hogwash.
And as for the lake? Would fixing the pump station completely solve that problem? I am tempted to think maybe not.
Here’s why I say so: A few years ago, a friend of mine rented out a flat. Things went well for exactly four days, and then the sewage pipe was blocked … for the first time.
A week later, the sewage was overflowing again, and this turned out to be a regular occurrence. At least once a week the pipes had to be unclogged. One day I pulled up to my friend’s place and – please pardon the graphic detail – clearly visible in the overflowing sewage manhole was a used condom.
It became obvious why the sewage was flowing so freely.
I wonder how many Kimberley residents know which items must – under no circumstances – be flushed down the toilet?
Well, as a public service to our readers, here is a neat little list of just a few items that should never be flushed down the toilet and why …
Firstly baby wipes. And by the way, there is no such thing as a ‘flushable’ wet wipe. You see, wipes don’t break down as quickly as toilet paper, and within a short time can cause an impermeable sewerage plug. Other items that don’t break down are cotton balls, cotton pads, and earbuds.
No surprise that tampons, pads, and other menstrual items should never be flushed since they are designed to absorb water. Flushing them is asking for trouble. They only expand when you flush them. The same goes for baby diapers – it’s complete idiocy to flush them.
Here’s one you probably didn’t expect: Dental floss. Daily flushed floss will often transform into a net, grabbing and holding on to other waste.
Oh, fellow-baldies, we are good for the environment. Did you know that flushed hair gets caught in your pipes in a similar way that dental floss does. Hair also never degrades, which increases the chance of system obstruction.
For the record, I personally never washed my hair in the toilet bowl.
But do you want an even bigger surprise? Although you might not think paper towels and tissues differ much from toilet paper, they are just not made to decompose in the same manner, and contribute quite generously to sewage blockages.
And those are just a few unflushable items. Maybe someone should start a campaign (and urgently) to teach, instruct and regularly remind people that even though they’ll see all kinds of ‘knick-knack-paddy whacks’ disappear from sight when we flush, that doesn’t mean that everything is OK. Those ‘knick-knacks’ could be contributing to the overflowing sewer down the road.
So while we hope and pray that our municipality and government get their laundry clean, perhaps we can do our bit and get started on cleaning our own dirty windows.
