now for water...

It was hard to not buy bottled water in South Africa.  Rumor has it that in one city where my sister in law lives and close to the platinum mines the water had way too much radioactive uranium in it.  Up until she moved from Bloemfontein, my mother in law boiled the tap water everyday.  Some days it was more necessary than others.  So,...bottled water has taken a good hold on folks there.  I noticed that people who can afford it are filtering their municipal city water which was new to me.  There is a store in Welkom, in the heart of the gold reef, that sells filtered water right from a tap, as you wait.  Happy, healthy bartenders.  Step right up and get your very own glass of clean water right from the spigot.  Cool.  You could bring your own bottle, bottles, large or small and tank up.  Friendly folks too.  To me it was cheap relative to buying the stuff shipped from Fiji or pretend Maine, but it's all relative.  This is for all your water needs, not just a guzzle when you feel like it.  And, I have a car.  

Cautious and curious African Buffalo

We hired a guide to take us to see some Bushman/ San rock paintings when we were in the Drakens mountains.  There are pictures of some of the paintings in a previous post, Drakensberg History.  Steve of Steve King tours took us.  Fascinating man who lived and breathed the world of the San people.  He was Zulu and had an intense admiration for the San, just as his ancestors had.  He was very knowledgeable about the water politics of South Africa.  I will write more about that mess another time.  He lived in a township approximately 6 miles from the small town of Winterton.  In the township each household is allocated a certain amount of water, in this case quite a lot, according to Steve.  This is in the mountains and there is a lot of water.  Well, quite a lot if the pump works.  If not, as it wasn't when we talked to Steve, he had to borrow a car and haul 6 barrels off to the town to fill them then haul them back.  One week's worth.

Happy me

 It all seems simple to complain about water bottle pollution, water politics and fraudulent corporations' claims.  It feels real when I talk to Steve.  I really want to make an impact on this issue.  I hope writing about it helps. 

Thanks to my friend Cary who sent me this link to a gem of a video. think outside the bottle.
 http://www.upworthy.com/this-is-by-far-the-grossest-national-park-ive-ever-seen?c=ufb1
and then I found this...
http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-bottled-water/