For Cape Town April 12th is “Day Zero” – The Day They Run Out of Water
It’s been a bruising week for the city of Cape Town, as dam levels took another tumble following more unforgiving weather and increased water usage. Which, inevitably, has dragged day zero forward by more than a week.
Temperatures soared in the Mother City last week, and water consumption averaged 608 million litres per day. It caps another seven-day spell for the municipality where the conservation target of 500 million litres per day hasn’t been met.
When will day zero hit Cape Town?
It was initially projected for Sunday 21 April 2018. But, as confirmed by the COCT website, that date has come forward nine days, to Thursday 12 April 2018. As of the date of this article (22/01/2018), Cape Town has 80 days before the taps are shut off.
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/day-zero-moves-forward-cape-town/
I was there a few years ago. It’s a really beautiful city, in places. And not so good in others. I have never seen a place with such abject wealth (multi-million dollar villas overlooking the sea) so close to abject poverty (really ugly sprawling slums).
Crime is quite high. Several of my Eastern European colleagues were robbed on multiple occasions while walking between their hotel and the conference venue. TV ads are replete with security related products…
The water storage will really test their political and societal structure. If they cut off the slums first…
With global warming increasing in intensity, there are several cities around the world that will need to get water by desalination, but that takes a lot of energy. Cape Town is just such a city. It’s a good thing they have lots of sunlight in the sprawling desert to the North for solar power.
I first heard about Cape Town’s “Day Zero” on one of the network’s Sunday programming. I forget the network, but the reporter asked, “Is this related to Climate Change?”
To which the South African scientist said, “Of Course it is. When it is hotter more water evaporates.”
It was like he was talking to a child.
I have friends (2 scientists actually) in Stellenbosch, Western Cape (about a 45 minute drive east of Cape Town). The entire area is beautiful and the culture and the scene made an incredible impression on me. They have tons of problems, as LE mentioned, but I take a line similar to what Chappelle said in his latest special. The fact that apartheid ended without a total bloodbath says a great deal about the humanity of South Africa and its people.
This water situation is very real and very sad.
(Those “sprawling slums” are townships. Many of those residents are actually from neighbouring countries (Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana). As bad as it is in South Africa at least they have some social services and some jobs, mostly farming and service industry. Imagine what life is like else where in the region.)
They will either have to move drinking water, or move people.
With moving people, you only need to do it once.