My primary motivation for writing the draft
My primary motivation for writing the draft is to put into practice my newly acquired writing skills. The intended audience was my peers who could later look into the draft and develop responsive feedback which will be instrumental for consideration in the enhancement of my writing skills. I made various revisions to the draft among them being citations and grammar.
Challenges and learning experience
From the revision, I became aware of the flaws I was making with the MLA manuscript style and sought to improve on the same. Further, grammatical errors suppressed the quality of my writing which I also revised to make the work more appealing to the audience. The main challenge that I experienced when revising the draft was a difficulty in comprehending my grammatical mistakes. I solved this problem by conducting thorough research on the manner in which to use prepositions and articles appropriately and examining proper sentence construction in totality. As a result of writing this project, I have learned the importance of revision in writing. Revision is an integral part of effective writing as it facilitates the pointing out of errors and potential areas for improvement. Further, I came to know that writing is a learning process where there is a continual acquisition of new knowledge and facts across different sectors and aspects of life.
Name Surname
ENGL 111
Writing Project 1
Final Draft
Shortage of Water
The challenge of water shortage is becoming severe with time, especially in cities around the world. According to Bradford, Cape Town, a city inhabited by more than four million people, is likely to run dry. The situation is attributed to the inability of the South African government to provide an alternative source of water for the population following a protracted drought (Bradford 1). The wealthy people in Cape Town have the prerogative to choose their exorbitant water solution strategies as the less fortunate ones languish in shortage.
Utilization of underground water reservoirs seems a possible solution to the upcoming water calamity. However, the only the rich can afford to hire companies to drill private boreholes for them. The wealthy have invested in desalination of underground water to make safe enough for domestic consumption (Bradford 1). Some of them depend on bottled water which costs a fortune to acquire. The financially less fortunate people in Cape Town are cutting cost on food in order to finance the purchase of bottled water which is proving to be a tall order for them.
Water shortage affecting income gap
Water is a primary resource that should be accessible to everyone. However, the shortage of water in urban centers has dragged the issue of income gap characteristic of the 21st century, especially in the access of essential resources. Cape Town risks becoming an example of inequity considering that no other city in the industrialized world has experienced water shortage in the past (Bradford 3). Bradford found out that many people in Cape Town and its environs depend on water from communal taps, which are shared by more than two hundred people.
Water shortage has affected the economic progress of people in Cape Town. For instance, people in the carwash business report having difficulty discharging their duties because of water shortage. The neighborhood of Cape Town has for long remained poor and neglected, from the period of white minority rule in South Africa (Bradford 3). The minimum assistance given by the government to such areas is sparsely distributed communal water points which leak often. Water leakage can be considered one of the reasons for water shortage.
According to the article, water deficiency has resulted in a surge in spending as families are spending millions to lay down measured in preparation for the possible drought. For example, drilling a borehole costs around $6000 while a water economical washing machine costs $400 (Bradford 3). Bradford argues that most inhabitants of the city are taking their personal decisions to insulate themselves from drought because the government cannot be reliable in providing water.
Inequality and water shortages in Cape Town
South Africa is among the countries whose Gini coefficient is very high. It is estimated that ninety percent of the wealth in the country is owned by a tenth of the population, with the remaining population wallowing in poverty. The situation is similar in Cape Town, in which few people own luxurious offshore hotels while a few minute drives into the interior, the income of the people drops to as low as $2000 annually (Bradford 4). The basis of inequality in South Africa is racism since the whites occupy the wealthiest enclaves and the government services are prioritized to such areas.
Potential health implications and the role of the government
If the present water shortage persists, water-borne diseases are likely to spread in the densely populated regions of the town, a situation that can suppress the city's wealth. For instance, when the United States and Europe supplied clean water through private utilities, the poor had limited access to water. Consequently, there was an outbreak of cholera arising from poor sanitation in the 16th century (Bradford 4). From such experiences, Bradford argues that water should be a public utility accessible to all people irrespective of their economic status. Such a fundamental resource should be made publicly available and funded by the tax.
Cape Town is among the cities in the world whose residence is stratified with the rich occupying specific regions. The places of residence for the rich have all the public amenities including transport and water, as opposed to the residential areas for the poor. According to Bradford, there has been no solution for the water shortage because the measures established for the same are meant for the rich rather than all the population. Water economy has worsened, with the prices of water increases to more than $65 per 250 liters of water (Bradford 5). Such rates are unaffordable to most people in the region.
Conclusion
Concisely, water is increasingly becoming a rare resource, especially in urban centers. Although it is a fundamental requirement for life, few people afford clean and safe water, a situation that can lead to an outbreak of water-borne diseases. The society in South Africa has a huge income gap and hence only a few people can afford to shield themselves from possible drought. The rest of the population relies on the government effort because of an inability to afford preparation measures (Bradford 5). Therefore, the government should take appropriate steps to secure the access to water by all people because it is a fundamental resource whose shortage has serious health implications.
Work Cited
Bradford, Andrew. "As Cape Town's Water Runs Out, The Rich Drill Wells. The Poor Worry about Eating.". Chicago Tribune, vol 1, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-6. Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-south-africa-water-20180224-story.html.
