By Heidi Trautmann

In the course of one year you are ordered to concentrate and celebrate special days considered worth of worldwide observance. These last weeks in March alone I have been asked to concentrate on 17 world days, starting with International Women’s Day, special days for rivers, consumer rights, house sparrow days, poetry, victims of slavery, water, and yesterday on March 27, it was the World Theatre Day.

Yesterday, I also read about a newcomer, that is the International Energy Hour , why only one hour? Oh yes, you cannot switch off lights for one whole day, or can you? But look up Wikipedia where there is a list established on all these World Days, Years, Decades, now Hours and even Minutes:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_observance

But to make the effort to think about Water Saving on one day of the year, that is at least something, better than nothing. This was the case on March 22 in the buffer zone at the Lokmaci crossing in Nicosia where the mayors of the two city halves met and spoke, Mrs Eleni Mavrou and Mr Cemal Bulutoglulari , the American Ambassador Mr Frank C. Urbanic, the UN Special Adviser on Cyprus, Mr. Aleander Downer,  Special Representatives Kudret Özersay and Georgios Iacovou, the Technical Committee of the Water Authorities to celebrate the day and open an exhibition for water saving equipment. But read what Rolando Gomez says about it on my website: http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=3818334255

It is a praiseworthy undertaking to develop and bring onto the market devices to reduce the tap water flow but why are people not told to save water in first place by not washing the dishes under running water often twice, first with plenty of soap and then to rinse it, which most of the local housewives do; to collect the tap water in containers in sinks; not to hose down the terrace floors or the cars with fresh water but to use water which was used to wash the floors of the house, or to use it to water plants. Swimming pools could be covered up to reduce evaporating by the sun; I could think of many things which could easily be realised in each household, for example avoiding leaking taps or toilet flush.

But I don’t want to forget to mention the very charming performance during the opening ceremony for the technical exhibition by a Nicosian theatre group – Demmie da Costa, Marios Ioannou and Paulina Srzednicka – demonstrating how water suffers and dies under the overwhelming influence of waste in nature, and as one true word was expressed in the opening speeches: Environment does not respect politics! And I would like to add: It is not done to buy your wife and mom a bunch of flowers if you disrespect her the rest of the year.