axis
Fair Use Notice
  Axis Mission
 About us
  Letters/Articles to Editor
Article Submissions
RSS Feed


Cape Town water supply near 'point of no return' as reservoirs run dry Printer friendly page Print This
By Jonathon Gatehouse | CBC News
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Friday, Jan 19, 2018

The Theewaterskloof Dam, a key water supply for Cape Town, has been largely dry for months, as seen in this April 2017 photo. The city announced new water restrictions Thursday, saying it is likely it will have to turn off most taps on April 21. (Halden Krog/Associated Press)

Cape Town's four million residents are in danger of running out water.

An ongoing drought, the culmination of three years of below-average rainfall, have put the municipal water supply under severe strain. Reservoirs have dropped below 30 per cent capacity.

A limit of 87 litres per day introduced in December has been ignored by more than 60 per cent of the population. Today mayor Patricia de Lille declared the city is nearing the "point of no return."

"We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them," she told reporters.

Starting Feb. 1, the coastal city's inhabitants will be put on a strict ration: 50 litres of water per day per person. There is a complete ban on watering lawns and gardens, filling pools or washing cars, and people are being told to shower rather than bathe, and keep it quick — under two minutes.

The mayor holds a hammer: If reservoir levels drop below 13.5 per cent capacity, she is vowing to turn off the taps altogether. That will force people to come to one of 200 municipal sites to collect a maximum daily ration of 25 litres.

At the current rate of water usage, "Zero Day," as it is being called, will arrive April 21. Cape Town would earn the dubious distinction of becoming the first major world city to run dry.

Residential customers remain the biggest problem. The city has been begging them to change their habits for months, to little avail.

Water management devices have already been installed at the homes of more than 30,000 of the biggest offenders. And now the city has released a satellite map that allows everyone to identify who is — or isn't — complying in their neighbourhood.

Cape Town denies that it's trying to "name and shame," but the available information includes every property's individual water usage and street address.

And such hardball water management tactics might be the way of the future.

A 2015 California study, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, found that the traditional "knowledge deficit" approach taken by municipalities is in fact the least effective, with households that received water saving tips actually ending up using more of it.

That same year, a UN report predicted that the world could face a 40 per cent shortfall in fresh water as soon as 2030, due to the effects of climate change, population growth and agricultural and industrial activities.

Among the cities already at risk: Tokyo, Cairo, Miami and rainy London.

Cape Town may simply be the early warning.


Source URL



Printer friendly page Print This
If you appreciated this article, please consider making a donation to Axis of Logic. We do not use commercial advertising or corporate funding. We depend solely upon you, the reader, to continue providing quality news and opinion on world affairs.Donate here




Featured
AxisofLogic.com© 2003-2015
Fair Use Notice  |   Axis Mission  |  About us  |   Letters/Articles to Editor  | Article Submissions |   Subscribe to Ezine   | RSS Feed  |