If you were looking forward to careening down a massive waterslide some time around the middle of December think again, the country’s major water crisis seeing the Slide the City events flushed down the toilet.

Here’s the announcement from their home page:

“Although every effort was made to ensure there would be no water wastage we take water conservation extremely seriously. We are all well aware of the severity of the drought and we wouldn’t want anyone to think otherwise,” says Minette Ferreira, general manager of Huisgenoot, YOU and Drum [the organisers].

The events, scheduled for various cities in South Africa, would have drawn on non-drinkable water that would then have been recycled after use and distributed where most needed in the host cities.

Experts have highlighted the benefits of the event. “I would rather ask whether they are employing local people and contributing to the economy,” said Simon Bundy of SDP Ecological and Environmental Services, an organisation operating in the environmental sector since 1999. The tourism industry, for example, would have benefited in the cities where Slide the City would have been hosted.

The volumes of water that would have been used would be miniscule, Bundy adds. “I don’t think it would make much of a difference if you use it for something else.”

Despite organisers spreading information like that above the backlash on social media has been significant. There was even an online petition calling for the event to be scrapped, something they could no longer ignore:

However, as proudly South African brands Huisgenoot, YOU and Drum believe all South Africans should be focused on conserving water and Slide the City might detract from this message.

“We know many people will be disappointed at the postponement given our ticket sales but we believe this decision is the right way to go as we all do our bit for water conservation in South Africa,” Ferreira said.

Looks like we’ll have to head to the beach instead. As for you guys in Jozi, sorry for you…

[source:slidethecity]