Where's the Water in Cape Town?

In recent years, the city of Cape Town has become known for one thing: the water crisis. In 2018, Cape Town’s reservoirs were depleting drastically in the midst of drought, and the city placed strict restrictions on the amount of water that citizens were allowed to consume. Aryn Baker writes in the midst of the crisis, “we are now limited to using 13 gallons of water per person per day. That is enough for a 90-second shower, a half-gallon of drinking water, a sinkful to hand-wash dishes or laundry, one cooed meal, two hand washings, two teeth brushings and one toilet flush” (Baker). This is what the average Cape Townian had to live on as the water crisis took hold. Not only was water consumption limited, but it was nearly impossible to find bottled water anywhere. The government “[urged] families to stock up with an emergency supply of drinking water… except… bottled water… [was] impossible to find” (Baker). This crisis came in the third year of severe drought, “which slashed the supply of surface water upon which the city [relied]” (Maxmen). Drought and a lack of planning contributed to a crisis that affected millions of people, especially poor and vulnerable people.

            The real question to ask now, two years later, is how did this happen, and how can we stop it from happening again? Piotr Wolski did a study through the University of Cape Town looking at the drivers of the water shortage. He came to a few conclusions. He says, “the water shortage was predominantly a result of drought or actually lower rainfall… Cape Town had no water resources that would be resilient to drought, particularly to a multi-year one” (Wolski). He predicts that the crisis could have been abated if water allocations were a little lower or implemented earlier (Wolski). Agriculture demands not being curtailed also played a part in the seriousness of the event (Wolski). Another source says that “the Cape Town crisis stems from a combination of poor planning, three years of drought and spectacularly bad crisis management” (Baker). Both these sources make it seem as though these conditions can be changed to improve the water availability in the future. However, not much has changed and there is still much work to be done. 

            The water crisis in Cape Town ended when emergency resources allowed officials to stave off “day zero,” or the day when there would be no water left, until the rainy season set in during June (Alexander). Then, after much strife, “the region saw average rainfall for the first time in four years” (Alexander). After rainfall persisted, officials could safely push day zero off indefinitely, and it seemed that Cape Town was in the clear. While this may be true, it is extremely difficult to ignore that this may happen again. It also brought to light intense economic disparity in the city. It is often pointed out that “for a large proportion of Cape Town’s poor citizens, whose only normal access to water is a communal tap, Day Zero remains a constant reality” (Alexander). Lack of water also remains a large concern for public health issues. This crisis curtailed “community outreach on public-health issues” because workers and volunteers are less willing to work if they have to wait in long lines every day to receive their water ration (Maxmen). Despite averting true catastrophe in running out of water, the water crisis in Cape Town is far from over.

            During my short time there, I saw first-hand the efforts that every day citizens make to avoid the crisis of 2018 happening again. Most water taps have a special attachment on them that make the stream more like a mist or they only stay on after pressing the top for 5 seconds before shutting off again in order to conserve water. The entire university, and city for that matter, is plastered with stickers and posters about how to better conserve water in your everyday life. One of my favorite slogans was “air and re-wear.” It was advocating for people to just air their clothes out rather than wasting the water washing them. For someone that has a particular disdain for doing laundry, I implemented this one often. Overall, average citizens in Cape Town do their best to conserve water where they can and do their part to avoid a crisis in the future. However, with rising global temperatures and changing weather patterns due to climate change, it is inevitable that the issue of water conservation will be one that comes up in the future, not only in Cape Town, but all over the world. 

Works Cited

Alexander, Christian. “A Year After 'Day Zero,' Cape Town's Drought Is Over, But Water Challenges Remain.” CityLab, 12 Apr. 2019, www.citylab.com/environment/2019/04/cape-town-water-conservation-south-africa-drought/587011/.

Baker, Aryn. “Cape Town: What It's Like to Live Through Water Crisis.” Time, Time, 2018, time.com/cape-town-south-africa-water-crisis/

Maxmen, Amy. "As Cape Town water crisis deepens, scientists prepare for 'Day Zero'." Nature, vol. 554, no. 7690, 2018. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link-gale-com.proxy-ln.researchport.umd.edu/apps/doc/A525862811/AONE?u=loyoland_main&sid=AONE&xid=9be9ba01. Accessed 8 May 2020.

Wolski, Piotr. “Drivers of Cape Town's Water Shortage.” Csag.uct.ac.za, 2018, www.csag.uct.ac.za/2018/07/18/drivers-of-cape-town-water-shortage/.