What’s your poison? Valpré? Aquartz? Nestle Pure Life?

As panic mode has now been activated, Capetonians have set their sights on whatever source of water they can get – whether it be rain, tap or bottled.

If you are one of the 137 000+ people who have joined the WATER SHEDDING WESTERN CAPE Facebook group, you might be well aware of the extremes people are going to save every single drop.

And when I say every single drop, I mean every single drop.

As per the City’s suggestion, people are stockpiling water. Since it’s ILLEGAL to stockpile municipal water, their source is either a natural public spring, rain water or trolleys of those 5 litre bottles of water you can find at any major retailer.

Focusing on the latter, here’s what we know.

According to the Shoprite Group’s Deputy General Manager of Food Buying, Jaco Brand, “bottled water has increased by 160% in the last six weeks,” reports Cape Talk.

And for those of you who are concerned that prices will be going up, Brand explained that “Shoprite will definitely not be increasing the price of water there is no way that we will think of profit at a time like this”.

Good man.

To quell another fear, Brand confirmed Shoprite will not be limiting the amount of bottles customers can buy at a time because they understand the need.

However, the question now extends to those bottling the water: will they have enough to continue the supply?

HuffPost went to find the answers. First, from Nestlé Pure Life:

[T[he company draws its water from a dolomite aquifer and is currently prioritising sustaining it.

“This is a natural aquifer and water levels replenish naturally. Water levels are monitored daily to ensure that we do not exceed our extraction limits.”

Then, local brand Henties, who are known for their range of fruit juices:

Founder and CEO Hentie de Wet said that with city’s taps soon to run dry, they are well equipped and would not be running out of water to bottle.

Hentie said that the company has now taken to sourcing its water from a mountain in a farm in Worcester, which added to their expenses, but is working in their favour – as they will be able to bottle and sell water regardless of the dire situation in the city.

“The demand for our bottled water has now peaked high, and we are fortunate that we are in a position to supply water for customers,” De Wet said.

Last, but not least, is Peninsula Beverages (PenBev), which bottles the two well-known brands Valpré and Bonaqua under license from the Coca-Cola company:

PenBev’s communication manager Priscilla Urquhart told HuffPost that while they are aware of the looming crisis, they have identified alternative water sources outside Western Cape to ensure that their production continues.

“We have also prospected for borehole capacity on-site at our plant in Parow and have established a high-quality groundwater supply that has been tested and passed according to international standards, should it be required,” Urquhart said.

Urquhart said that the company was using less water in its operations, too.

“Production-line lubrication jet sprays have been modified to only spray lube, and not water, while the conveyor belt is running. Production has been extended, so that water can be saved with fewer cleaning cycles. High-pressure hose units – that use far less water than a normal pressure hose – have been fitted with water regulator valves that allow one to easily switch off water flow when not needed.”

And then you get Anheuser-Busch InBev (formerly South African breweries, or SAB), who will be “distributing 12 million bottles of water across Cape Town” when and if the water shutdown happens.

In case you want to go one step further and not buy water from brands who source locally, here’s an incomplete graph [put together by Barbara Dupuy‎ on the WATERSHEDDING group] that indicates bottled water and its source, information brands have had to indicate since July 28, 2007:

It appears that the top line, which says Aquelle spring water comes from Franschhoek, is incorrect, with their website stating that their water comes from KZN.

As humans do, we will have to learn to adapt, survive and keep on keeping on until that fateful day / week / month, when the rain gods decide to grace us with the good stuff and raise our dams to a reasonable level.

And then it will be on to the next disaster, like creeping shorelines or dirty air.

[source:huffpost&capetalk]