Cape Town's water crisis, explained

Cape Town is facing the prospect of becoming the world's first major metropolis to run out of water. With just over four months left until #DayZero, or the day taps are turned off, we take a look at the reasons behind the shortage.

A dried up section of the Theewaterskloof dam near Cape Town, South Africa, January 20, 2018.
Reuters

A dried up section of the Theewaterskloof dam near Cape Town, South Africa, January 20, 2018.

The city of Cape Town could become the first major metropolis in the world to run out of water.

July 9, 2018, is #DayZero, the day when all taps in the city will be turned off. Only hospitals and emergency services will be guaranteed water supplies.

People will have to queue up at some 200 water collection points run by the municipal government to receive their daily ration of 25 litres of water per person.

Let’s put that into perspective:

Flushing a toilet uses about 6 litres of water

A five-minute shower takes up about 50 litres

Laundry, dishes, hand washing, cooking, all take up about 25 litres a day. And let’s not forget, we need water to drink.

Western Cape province is about the same size as England or the US state of Louisiana. 

And Cape Town is one of the 30 municipalities in the province, its capital and home to more than 4 million people.

It is a business and tourism hub in South Africa, home to Table Mountain and ranked as one of the world's most liveable cities.

Reuters

People queue to collect water from a spring in the Newlands suburb as fears over the city's water crisis grow in Cape Town, South Africa, January 25, 2018.

So how did things get so bad?

Experts blame three factors for the current water crisis: drought, population growth and politics.

1-Drought

Cape Town has been hit by its worst drought in a hundred years. 

The city relies on six dams for its fresh water supply and in January 2018, they were only a quarter full.

2 - Population growth

The city's population has grown by some 80 percent since 1995, from about 2.4 million to 4.3 million in 2018.

In the same period, dam storage increased by just 15 percent.

Cape Town uses about 200 litres (50 gallons) of water per person per day. 

That’s about 700 to 800 million litres per day, 7 days a week.

On February 1, residents were asked to cut their water use to 50 litres ( ~ 10 gallons) per person per day, reducing residential use to 215 million litres, with the rest going to hospitals, emergency services and farms.

And now the city is facing  #DayZero – July 9 – the day  when taps will be turned off, and residents will have to line up for  25 litres per person per day (~ 5 gallons), just over 100,000 litres per day for the entire city.

Reuters

Pools of muddy water are seen at a dried up Theewaterskloof dam near Cape Town, South Africa, January 20, 2018.

3 - Politics

South Africa has nine provinces and the country’s governing African National Congress (ANC) party won eight in the 2014 general elections. Western Cape was not one of them, and the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has been battling the central government over the water issue since the shortages first hit.

Experts blame both both sides for the political failure over the water issue. Some analysts believe Cape Town has been turned into a pawn in the political power play by the ANC, which is hoping to win back control of Western Cape province in the country’s next general election in 2019. 

Reuters

Dam water levels which supply the city are currently dangerously low and the city faces "Day Zero", the point at which taps will be shut down across the city.

So what are the other options the city has?

Since 2017, the city has been mapping aquifers – underground water sources.

The ones surveyed so far — Cape Flats, Table Mountain, Atlantis — might give the city about 150 million litres per day, 

The city’s also building nine desalination plants, two reclamation plants, a recycling water plant, two desalination ships and a desalination barge.

The desalination facilities (which take salt out of sea water and make it drinkable) are expected to top out at 300 million litres of water per day , once they’re up and running.

As a last resort, treated sewage water and recycled water from the reclamation and recycling plants could be pumped into the grid.

The 25 litre per day system could be in place for three months.

And many are already bracing for #DayZero.

Facebook groups, WhatsApp notices and even blogs have sprung up, sharing water-saving tips, products and information on how to get by with water rationing.

From using pool and grey water for everything but drinking and cooking - to bathing with a two-litre bucket, many residents are learning how to get by on very little water.

Bottled water companies are competing to stock Cape Town's supermarket shelves, and charities, civic organisations and even some individuals are volunteering to donate some of their water to residents in greater need.

What’s next?

Until it rains, or another source of water is found… live on hope and prayers.

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