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    Grocott's Mail
    You are at:Home»ARTS & LIFE»Message about the water
    ARTS & LIFE

    Message about the water

    Staff ReporterBy Staff ReporterOctober 11, 2019No Comments2 Mins Read
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    Jeannie Wallace McKeown wrote and shared this poem when water cuts intended to save water instead resulted in burst pipes throughout Makhanda’s old infrastructure and thousands of litres were wasted through the resulting leaks.

    From now on
    the water will be turned off
    on Sundays and Wednesdays
    from 6 to 6, and maybe at night too,
    because the people
    working for the municipality
    don’t know how to explain
    the loss of water
    when there are 10 to 13 megalitres
    being produced each day
    by the treatment works.
    They think it must be being used
    by unthinking persons here in the town.
    They think more restrictions
    will solve the problem of the
    missing megalitres.
    But the maths doesn’t add up.
    The on off on off on off of the valves
    fills the ageing pipes with air
    and they blow, break, burst;
    water cascades down the streets.
    No plumbers to fix it. The plumbers
    have left, and the engineers,
    and the only ones left are the ones
    who cannot think
    how to start fixing a problem
    so they turn it off instead,
    ignore the ringing ringing ringing
    of phones, residents calling
    To say that the water
    has escaped again,
    broken its bonds,
    and is running freely
    through the streets of town,
    while all the taps are dry.

    • By Jeannie Wallace McKeown   
    Previous ArticleDesign a new coin – and make history
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    Staff Reporter
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