How many of us take brushing our teeth, or washing our hair, or simply sitting in the shade of a tree for granted? From our positions of privilege, going about our daily lives and consuming water – directly or indirectly – without reflecting on where that water comes from, how much of it we actually have, and thinking about those who don’t have access to this basic human right can be quite easy.

The cold hard truth is that we are experiencing a very serious water crisis. In January this year the City of Cape Town implemented Level 2 water restrictions in response to lower-than-normal dam levels. The whole of South Africa is in the grip of its worst drought in decades, and the South African Weather Service announced that 2015 was the driest year on record.

This is a crisis with global reach. The World Economic Forum rates the world’s water crises as "one of the three greatest risks of harm to people and economies in the next decade", alongside climate change and mass migration.

Join us for National Water Week

From 17 to 23 March, the Two Oceans Aquarium will be celebrating National Water Week. This year, the theme is human rights.

Both online and on-site here at the Aquarium, we will be exploring what “access to water is a basic human right” really means. Keep an eye on our blog as well as our Facebook and Twitter profiles for lots of information and fun activities during Water Week. 

Be sure to visit us (with all the public holidays in March you’re spoilt for time!) for a chance to engage closely with this global crisis that is affecting us all.

Our Environmental Education Centre will be developing a programme especially for National Water Week. Please email us directly at education@aquarium.co.za for more information.