Cape Town water crisis

Last updated

Graph of total water stored in the Western Cape's largest six dams (blue) as well as City of Cape Town water restriction level (orange) from November 2013 to August 2021. Cape Town water crisis graph.svg
Graph of total water stored in the Western Cape's largest six dams (blue) as well as City of Cape Town water restriction level (orange) from November 2013 to August 2021.

The Cape Town water crisis in South Africa was a period of severe water shortage in the Western Cape region, most notably affecting the City of Cape Town. While dam water levels had been decreasing since 2015, the Cape Town water crisis peaked during mid-2017 to mid-2018 when water levels hovered between 14 and 29 percent of total dam capacity.

Contents

In late 2017, there were first mentions of plans for "Day Zero", a shorthand reference for the day when the water level of the major dams supplying the City could fall below 13.5 percent. [1] [2] [3] "Day Zero" would mark the start of Level 7 water restrictions, when municipal water supplies would be largely switched off and it was envisioned that residents could have to queue for their daily ration of water. If this had occurred, it would have made the City of Cape Town the first major city in the world to run out of water. [4] [5] The water crisis occurred at the same time as the Eastern Cape drought, located in a separate region nearby.

The City of Cape Town implemented significant water restrictions in a bid to curb water usage, and succeeded in reducing its daily water usage by more than half to around 500 million litres (130,000,000 US gal) per day in March 2018. [6] The fall in water usage led the City to postpone its estimate for "Day Zero", and strong rains starting in June 2018 led to dam levels recovering. [7] In September 2018, with dam levels close to 70 percent, the city began easing water restrictions, indicating that the worst of the water crisis was over. [8] Good rains in 2020 effectively broke the drought and resulting water shortage when dam levels reached 95 percent. [9]

Background

A map of the major dams that supply water to Cape Town Cape Water map dams.png
A map of the major dams that supply water to Cape Town

The Cape Town region experiences a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and winter rainfall. The Western Cape Water Supply System relies almost entirely on rainfall, which is captured and stored in six major dams situated in mountainous areas. [10] The dams are recharged by rain falling in the catchment areas, largely during the cooler winter months of May to August, and dam levels decline during the dry summer months of November to April during which urban water use increases and irrigation takes place in the agricultural areas.

Urban and agricultural use consume approximately 70 percent and 30 percent respectively of total water supplied by the Western Cape Water Supply System, with significant seasonal variations. [11] [12] In the post-Apartheid era, and under the Free Basic Water policy, the City of Cape Town adopted an increasing block tariff structure for water pricing, in which larger users of water were penalised with higher tariffs to discourage use, while tariff for the first block were set at (near) zero to ensure equitable access to a basic level of water for all South Africans. [13] Registered low-income households in Cape Town with a direct water and sanitation connection receive their first 6 000 litres per month of water free, and are only charged a tariff for consumption above that amount. [14] Households in informal settlements are supplied water from communal taps and use community toilets. [15] For farmers who get water from the Western Cape Water Supply System, they are metered and monitored by irrigation boards and water user associations. Many farmers also join shared irrigation distribution schemes (from a specific river flow), and have on-site private storage dams and boreholes. [16] The City claims that they make no profit on water sales, and that water pricing policy attempts to balance efficiency, equity and cost-recovery needs. [17]

Periods of low winter rainfall in 2000–2001 and 2003–2004 resulted in water restrictions. [18] [19] In 2003, the City entered into an agreement with the then Department of Water Affairs and Forestry for the construction of the Berg River Dam and Supplement Scheme and also commenced water demand management. In 2009, the storage capacity of the dams supplying Cape Town was increased by 17 percent from 768 to 898 million cubic metres when the Berg River Dam and Supplement scheme were completed. [20]

In 2015, the City of Cape Town won a prestigious international award recognising their efforts at Water Conservation and Demand Management (WCWDM). Cape Town was particularly successful at reducing water loss through leaks, with a water loss rate of 14 percent, compared to a national average of 35 percent. The by-laws also specify that water efficient fittings approved by the South African Bureau of Standards should be provided for all new developments and renovations. [21] [22]

Timeline

Water levels as a percentage of total dam capacity by year. [23]
Major damsCapacity (megalitres)17 May 2021 [24] 18 May 2020 [25] 13 May 2019 [26] 14 May 2018 [27] 15 May 201715 May 201615 May 201515 May 2014
Berg River Dam 130,01076.165.668.139.232.427.254.090.5
Steenbras Lower 33,51758.048.438.635.426.537.647.939.6
Steenbras Upper 31,76754.296.565.059.656.756.957.879.1
Theewaterskloof Dam 480,18875.250.236.112.015.031.351.374.5
Voelvlei Dam 164,09558.350.455.414.517.221.342.559.5
Wemmershoek Dam 58,64459.143.343.648.436.048.550.558.8
Total stored (megalitres)898,221626,907481,370411,849191,843190,300279,954450,429646,137
Total % Storage10069.853.645.921.421.231.250.171.9

2015–2016

After good rains in 2013 and 2014, the City of Cape Town began experiencing a drought in 2015, the first of three consecutive years of dry winters brought on possibly by the El Niño weather pattern and perhaps by climate change. [28] Water levels in the City's dams declined from 71.9 percent in 2014 to 50.1 percent in 2015. [23] On 1 January 2016, previous water restrictions of Level 1 from 2005 had been lifted to Level 2 by the City and on 1 November 2016 it elevated these to Level 3, when the Department of Water and Sanitation gazetted water restrictions for urban and agricultural use. Significant droughts in other parts of South Africa ended in August 2016 when heavy rain and flooding occurred in the interior of the country, [29] but the drought in the Western Cape remained.

2017

Poster issued in 2017 by Western Cape government calling for people to conserve water Western Cape Water Saving 2017.jpg
Poster issued in 2017 by Western Cape government calling for people to conserve water

The City increased water restrictions to Level 3B on 1 February 2017 and by the end of the dry season in May 2017, the drought was declared the City's worst in a century, with storage in dams being less than 10 percent of their usable capacity. [30] Level 4 water restrictions were imposed on 1 June 2017, limiting the usage of water to 100 litres per person per day. [31] Overall rainfall in 2017 was the lowest since records commenced in 1933. [32]

With the dry summer season approaching, the City increased its existing water restrictions to Level 4B on 1 July 2017, and to Level 5 on 3 September 2017, banning outdoor and non-essential use of water, encouraging the use of grey water for toilet flushing, and aiming to limit the overall per person water usage to 87 litres per day, for a total consumption of 500 million litres per day. [11] However, the Level 5 restriction was accompanied by an ambiguous statement on household usage limits, which had the unintended consequence of increasing usage for some. [5]

Behavioural response to messaging on the Day Zero drought Behavioural response to messaging on the drought. .png
Behavioural response to messaging on the Day Zero drought

By early October 2017, following a low rainfall winter, Cape Town had an estimated five months of storage available before water levels would be depleted. [11] In the same month, the City of Cape Town issued an emergency water plan to be rolled-out in multiple phases depending on the severity of the water shortage. Phase 1 comprising "water rationing through extreme pressure reduction" was implemented immediately. In Phase 2, post "Day Zero", water would have been shut off to most of the system except to places of key water access. Phase 3 would have been the point at which the City would no longer be able to draw water from surface dams in the Western Cape Water Supply System and there would have been a limited period of time before the water supply system fails. [33] [34] [35]

2018

Theewaterskloof Dam at approximately 12% on 10 February 2018 Theewaterskloof Dam 2018 02 10 (28425520089).jpg
Theewaterskloof Dam at approximately 12% on 10 February 2018

On 1 January 2018 the City declared Level 6 water restrictions of 87 litres per person per day. In February 2018, the City increased restrictions to Level 6B limiting usage to 50 litres per person per day. [11] The Provincial Cabinet also announced that it was drawing up plans with the South African Police Service for a strategy to deploy officers at water distribution points across the City after "Day Zero". [36]

Cape Town's largest reservoir, Theewaterskloof, was at 11% capacity in March 2018 Theewaterskloof sandscape 2018-03-11.jpg
Cape Town's largest reservoir, Theewaterskloof, was at 11% capacity in March 2018

In mid-January 2018, previous Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille announced that the City would be forced to shut off most of the municipal water supply if conditions did not change. Level 7 water restrictions, "Day Zero", would be declared when the water level of the major dams supplying the City reached 13.5 percent. Municipal water supplies would largely be switched off, and residents would have to rely on 149 water collection points around the City to collect a daily ration of 25 litres of water per person. [37] [38] This would further affect Cape Town's economy, because employees would have to take time off from work to wait in line for water. [39] Water supply would be maintained in the City's CBD, in informal settlements (where water is already collected from central locations) and to essential services such as hospitals. At the time of the announcement, "Day Zero" was projected to take place on 22 April 2018, but soon thereafter this was revised to 12 April. [40] [41] [42] The "Day Zero" projections were based on the fortnightly changes in dam storage levels, assuming that the rates of decline would continue unchanged, with no further rainfall or change in water demand. [43]

Residential and agricultural water usage declined significantly under the new restrictions. [6] [27] This enabled the City to move the estimated "Day Zero" back in stages, and on 28 June "Day Zero" was postponed indefinitely. [3] [43] [44] [45] [46]

Good winter rains in 2018 resulted in dam levels rising, but the national Department of Water and Sanitation announced that bulk water restrictions would remain in place until levels reached 85 percent. [47] In September, with dam levels close to 70 percent towards the end of the rainy season, the city reduced consumer water restrictions from level 6B to level 5. [8] Dam levels peaked at 76 percent. In November, restrictions were reduced to Level 3, or 105 litres per person per day. Under Level 3 restrictions, municipal water may be used to water gardens at certain times, using a watering can or bucket but not a hose, to wash cars using a bucket, and to top up swimming pools as long as the pool is fitted with a cover to prevent evaporation. [48]

Causes

Severe drought

The immediate cause of the water crisis was the extreme drought from 2015–2017 that exceeded the planning norms of the Department of Water and Sanitation. Research on long-term weather data done by the Climate System Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town determined that the low rainfall between the years 2015 and 2017 was a very rare and extreme event. [49] Decreasing rainfall trends are linked to broader changes in the atmospheric and oceanic circulation, including the poleward shift of the Southern Hemisphere moisture corridor between 2015–17, displacement of the jet-stream and an expansion of the semi-permanent South Atlantic High. [50] 2017 was the driest year since 1933, and possibly earlier, since comparable data before 1933 was not available. It also found that a drought of this severity would statistically occur approximately once every 300 years. [32]

Long-term demand and supply management

The City of Cape Town's population has grown from 2.4 million residents in 1995 to an estimated 4.1 million by 2015, representing a 71 percent population increase in 20 years, whereas dam water storage only increased by 17 percent in the same period. [23] [51] The impact of population increases on water demand is also often underestimated, as forecasting fails to take full account of the individual's indirect uses of water through food and consumer goods production. [52] In 2007, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry predicted that the growing demand on the Western Cape Water Supply System would exceed supply if water conservation and demand management measures were not implemented by the City and other municipalities. [53]

This increase in long-run demand is exacerbated by strains on long-run supply of water, including invasive plant species and climate change. The spread of water-thirsty alien plants in crucial catchment areas have reduced water supply to the Theewaterskloof Dam by an estimated 30 million metric cube per annum. [16] There has been a one degree Celsius increase in temperature over the past century and models predict that the average temperature in Cape Town will increase by another 0.25 degrees Celsius in the next ten years, which may increase the likelihood and severity of drought. [54] The effects of climate change has also not been adequately captured in existing climate models: Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape, said that South African Weather Services was not expecting a severe drought for another 10 years. [55]

Government failure

Responsibility for the water supply is shared by local, provincial and national government. The National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) prescribes that the national government is the "public trustee" of the nation's water resources to ensure that water is "protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable and equitable manner, for the benefit of all persons". [56] This resulted in tension between the opposition-led local and provincial government (Democratic Alliance, DA) on the one hand, and the majority party-led national government on the other (African National Congress, ANC), with the parties blaming each other for the water crisis. [57] The DA is criticized for a lack of forward thinking on the development of new water sources and infrastructures, while the ANC is accused of withholding funding to sabotage and embarrass the DA-led administration. [58] According to a report by the South African Water Caucus, soaring debt and rampant corruption in the Department of Water and Sanitation may account for its failure to accept Western Cape's R35 million (US$3 million) request to increase water supplies and infrastructure in 2015. [59] Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape, has called for the national government to refund the City of Cape Town for the costs of managing the water crisis. [36]

In mid-October 2017, the City was criticised by some of the water desalination companies for the slow pace of procurement, high level of bureaucracy, lack of urgency, and the inadequate scale of the proposed water supply projects. In January 2018, in response to a damning report criticizing the City of Cape Town for failing to deal with the disaster in an adequate and timely manner and other governance failures, the DA federal executive decided to remove Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille from managing the drought response task team, replacing her with Mmusi Maimane, leader of the DA, instead. [60] [61]

Rejection of desalination

In 2018, Cape Town rejected an offer from Israel to help it build desalination plants. [62] [63] [64] [65]

Impact

The Flower Monument in the Westridge Gardens was erected to memorialise a prayer meeting that called for good rains during the water crisis. Westridge Gardens 9.jpg
The Flower Monument in the Westridge Gardens was erected to memorialise a prayer meeting that called for good rains during the water crisis.

The water crisis had extensive economic, health and safety impacts. It is clear that the provision of municipal water for irrigation and urban use have positive externalities in the form of food security, public health, and overall stability.

Economic

The water crisis resulted in the loss of 37,000 jobs in the Western Cape Province and an estimated 50,000 people being pushed below the poverty line due to job losses, inflation and increases in the price of food. [66] Analysts "estimate that the water crisis will cost some 300,000 jobs in agriculture and tens of thousands more in the service, hospitality and food sectors". [39]

Agriculture

Agriculture is an important industry in the Western Cape. The wine industry in the Western Cape drew 1.5 million tourists in 2017, and together with the deciduous fruit industry employs about 340,000 workers and contributes more than 10% to the Western Cape economy. Many of the crops are also water intensive; for instance, a vineyard needs between 10 and 24 inches of water to survive. On average, the agriculture sector in the Western Cape had to cut its water use by 60 percent from 2017 to 2018, resulting in smaller yields and an estimated economic loss of R5.9 billion (US$400 million), 30 000 jobs and a 13–20 percent drop in exports. [16] Some estimates put the figure higher at R14 billion (US$1 billion). [67]

The returns on investment of the local wine and fruit industries are very low although the wine industry produces some of the most popular wines in the world. This led to concern that many agricultural businesses risk bankruptcy. [16]

Tourism sector

Cape Town is a major tourist destination and is the city that receives the most long-haul visitors on the continent. The tourist industry was also hard hit with a decrease in arrivals, occupancy and visitor traffic at attractions in January 2018 when compared to the same period to in 2017. The accommodation sector reported a decline in occupancy of 10%. [68] Hotels made service compromises, such as removing bath plugs, issuing hand sanitiser to guests, putting suppressors on showers and either draining pools completely or filling them with saltwater. In October 2017, the City launched one of its key initiatives, the 'Save like a local' campaign, with a focus on involving tourists in the city-wide drought interventions. [69] [70]

Hydrological poverty

Hydrological poverty tends to trap people that cannot afford to purchase the food or water necessary for their society to become more affluent. In Cape Town it is illegal to sell water from wells or rivers but people could still profit from the transport and labour associated with the delivery of water from other areas. Those who were using significantly more than the allocated daily water allowance of 50 litres per capita per day were fined between R500–3,000 (US$35–210). Yet this impact further cemented the poverty gap because the fine was relatively small for the wealthy but crippling for less affluent residents. [71]

Public health

Public health professionals raised concerns about diseases that could be spread via faecal-oral contamination as a result of less hand-washing. Public health companies, research centres and health providers were also worried about the impact that the water crisis could have had on health services.

Inadequate sanitation could have led to diarrhoeal diseases, which kill 2.2 million people every year worldwide, with most deaths occurring among children younger than 5 years of age. With a population of around 4.3 million and a population density of around 1500 per square kilometre it was suggested that this could have led to diseases like cholera and other spreading rapidly without proper sanitation, especially in the impoverished neighbourhoods of Cape Town. Without clean water the public health consequences could have been increased by insects in dirty waters, which might have caused the further spread of diseases. [72] Officials warned that water-borne illnesses such as cholera, hepatitis A and typhoid fever would "likely become more prevalent" as residents began storing water in contaminated containers. [73] Especially the spreading of disease was very likely to occur as a result of the maximum use of 25 litres (6.6 gallons) of water per person per day, an insufficient amount to keep a household hygienic. This combined with the use of greywater and popular media encouragement to forego washing fruit had increased the risk of cross contamination. Another impact on public health as a result of the water crisis is the shortage of nutrients or the low quality of nutrients individuals receive. Because of water shortages yields of crops and livestock are reduced or lowered in quality. [74]

Occupational health risks

Emergency shower and eyewash stations are an essential part of workplace safety for many laboratories and factories. A steady supply of water is necessary in the event of harmful chemical exposure. Many Occupational Health and Safety requirements suggested that emergency showers should be able to pump 75 litres per minute for a minimum of 15 minutes. [75] If these wash stations had been banned or limited, workers who handle highly corrosive chemicals would have been vulnerable.

Childcare

In homes and orphanages, children were one of the most vulnerable groups that could have suffered from health effects of water scarcity. The feeding, washing, and sterilization of items required to care for children is water intensive. [76] Furthermore, if schools in the Western Cape had their taps turned off on "Day Zero", 1.1 million children would be left without water. [77]

Fire risks

There was concern that fire risk would increase as the environment and infrastructure became increasingly dry. This was especially significant for large industrial sites and warehousing as fire on one site could spread more easily to other buildings in close proximity. Fire suppression system might also have failed due to reduced water pressure in higher lying areas. [73] [78]

Responses to the water crisis

There were attempts to both increase the supply and reduce the demand for water in the Western Cape Water Supply System. Many individuals and businesses attempted to reduce their reliance on the municipal water system to safeguard their own water supplies. The water crisis spurred research and investment in alternative water systems, which may ultimately help prevent other cities from falling into the same degree of water scarcity. It also highlighted the need for longer-term planning in a city where climate change will exacerbate the technical, legal and institutional challenges of delivering water across high levels of inequality. [79] The combination of climate change and population increase in urban areas means other cities may face similar severe droughts and may need to consider alternative methods of obtaining water. [80]

Supply augmentation

The City of Cape Town expended significant effort in raising the supply of water. Key efforts included:

Collectively, these projects were planned to produce an additional 144 million litres per day between February and July 2018. [81] However, many of these projects were plagued by logistical challenges, and were running behind schedule. [82] DA leader, Maimane, stressed that desalination plants were expensive and complex; specifically, one plant would cost R15 billion (US$1 billion), which is a third of the City's entire budget and the procurement process for such facilities are outside of the City's legal mandate. [83] Plans for desalination plants were eventually abandoned as the cost per unit of water was too high. [84]

In February 2018, at the height of the drought, the Groenland Water User Association (a representative body for farmers in the Elgin Grabouw agricultural area near Cape Town) began releasing an additional 10 million litres of water from their Eikenhof Dam at no cost. This water was transferred into the Upper Steenbras Dam. [85] This enabled the City to push back estimates for Day Zero from 16 April to 11 May.

Urban water demand management

Common pool resources, like surface water, tend to be over-used and depleted, when unregulated TragedyofCommons.png
Common pool resources, like surface water, tend to be over-used and depleted, when unregulated

Surface water and rainfall exhibits properties of a common pool resource, which is subject to the tragedy of the commons. In the absence of regulation, self-interested individuals will make consumption decisions that deplete the commons, leading ecologist Garrett Hardin to declare that "freedom in a commons brings ruin to all". [86] This is particularly acute during a water crisis when total supply may fall short of even the socially optimal level of consumption. As such, the City attempted to regulate use of the commons through exhortations for responsible use, direct allotment and use of water tariffs (for consumers to internalize the social marginal cost of their decision making).

The City of Cape Town successfully reduced water use by more than 50 percent during the drought from 2015 to 2018. [87] Residential water usage declined significantly under the Level 6B restrictions, with the lowest recorded figure being 481 million litres per day on 2 July 2018, the closest to the targeted level of 450 million litres per day. [27] The Water Outlook 2018 Report documents the changes in water demand from November 2013 to May 2018. [88]

Enforced reductions

The limit for personal water use was constantly revised downwards throughout the crisis, with the lowest bound being 50 litres per day per person effective 1 February 2018. [5] This level of use is just a third of the average daily water consumption of 150 litres in the United Kingdom and a sixth of average daily use in the United States. Urban residents were requested not to flush the toilet after urinating, to flush using rainwater or grey water after defecating, and to reduce the length and frequency of showers. In order to conserve water, hand sanitizer was provided in offices and public buildings for use instead of conventional hand-washing. Some cafes began using plastic and paper cups and plates to reduce dishwashing. Using municipal water to top up pools, irrigate lawns or hose down surfaces is forbidden. It is estimated that around 50 percent of households adhered to water restrictions. [46] [89]

The City explored various measures to ensure compliance:

  • Creation of an online map with green dots showing which houses were doing a good job saving water [90]
  • City officials drove through neighborhoods that were using too much water with a bullhorn calling them out [91]
  • Publishing of the names of top water users [87]
  • Failure to comply with demand restrictions could result in the installation of a water-management device, that strictly limits consumption to 350 litres per day, with the home owner having to foot the R4,500 (US$314) installation bill. [6] In Dec 2017, Mayor Patricia de Lille personally visited the homes of water wasters to install water management meters. [92]  
  • The law enforcement department stepped up its policing of water waste [84]

Hike in water tariffs

The City also raised water tariffs, especially for residents who continued to use large amounts of water, often for luxurious, non-essential uses. [14] At the highest tariff rates, using more than 35,000 litres of water a month cost R768.64 (US$54) per 1,000 litres, which the City describes as punitive. [17] According to the Water Outlook 2018 Report, the average water demand dropped by about 45 percent from February 2017 to February 2018. This translated "to a shortfall in revenue of nearly R2 billion (US$140 million) in the current year", which was also a motivating factor behind tariff hikes. [17]

Research also supported the use of pricing policy as a tool for efficient water allocation. In comparing flat rate pricing (for which the marginal cost of consumption equals to zero) to volumetric pricing of domestic water utilities, Hanke and Bolard (1971) showed that a shift from the former to the latter was effective at achieving a lasting decline in domestic water usage. Water tariffs are particularly effective at reducing water demand for non-essential uses as such demand is often price-elastic, and will fall more than proportionately in response to a price hike. [93]

Alternative water supply

Residents queueing up at the Newlands Spring Newlands Spring Water crisis 2018.jpg
Residents queueing up at the Newlands Spring

Doomsday predictions of Day Zero in Cape Town led many individuals and businesses to seek alternative water supplies from the Western Cape Water Supply System. Many locals, armed with plastic containers, collected water from mountain streams and natural springs around the city. This led to long lines and even fights between citizens, and the City stepped up security at popular locations. [89] [46]

More innovative solutions included the installation of water storage tanks that will collect rainwater, and the drilling of private boreholes. [94] [38] Since the marginal cost of using water from the water storage tanks or private boreholes is close to zero, households and businesses with such installed options can reduce their demand for municipal water and meet their most price inelastic needs with these alternative supplies of water, with more price elastic needs making up a larger percentage of total municipal water demand.

This has potentially deleterious long-run consequences for water security and the municipal water supply system: first, it hampers the ability of the city to use water pricing and tariff policy to regulate use of the commons and two, given the importance of cross-subsidization of low-volume users by high-volume users in a progressive tiered-water tariff system, it raises financial sustainability concerns for a water system that is already buckling under its fiscal weight. [13] While water regulations do not easily allow citizen and local businesses to go off the municipality's water supply system, further changes in local by-laws may need to be implemented to enable well-off households and the private sector to contribute to augmenting water service delivery. [95] [96]

Water-efficient farming

This water crisis has spurred research into, and the adoption of, more water-efficient methods of farming. Farmers have increasingly adopted agricultural precision technology to gain better insight into water use on their farm. [16] Researchers from the University of Cape Town are examining traits from wild plants that can grow with limited water, with hopes of replicating such traits in food crops through conventional breeding and biotechnology. Other scientists are studying metabolism of plants to learn how they use less water during photosynthesis, which enables them to survive during long periods of severe drought. [97] It is noteworthy that despite having the largest area under irrigation (269 476 ha), the Western Cape also has the lowest, and most efficient water use per area unit (5 874 cubic metres per ha) among the country's provinces. [16]

Water-saving campaign at schools

In the second half of 2017, a campaign was launched to help save water through a maintenance and behavioral change campaign at schools. [98] [99] The intention was to save water at the schools, but also to raise awareness with the children. These children could then take the message home, thereby reaching thousands of users. The campaign was launched as a collaborative effort between four main partners: Shoprite (Africa's biggest retailer), Stellenbosch University, Cape Talk radio, and Bridgiot. Through the support of 93 corporate entities 358 schools were reached. Each corporate adopted one or more schools, with Shoprite supporting 100 schools. The Western Cape Education Department also contributed supporting a number of schools.

Top Trumps playing cards used to raise awareness at schools Top Trumps playing cards used to raise awareness at schools..png
Top Trumps playing cards used to raise awareness at schools

The campaign's first phase was the installation of a smart meter, called the Dropula, [100] followed by a 'quick-and-dirty' maintenance drive at each school. [101] This was then followed by a behavioural change campaign, in which schools were split into three groups: a control group that was mostly left in the dark, except for subsequent urgent interventions, a group in which only staff were sent information, and a group in which the staff received information and the children were engaged in a competition. [102] The results showed drastic savings from the maintenance drive with minimum night flow reducing by 28%. The behavioural change led to total additional savings ranging from 15% to 26%, with the information-only group saving the most. An interesting outcome from the study was the distribution of water use across school quintiles. The poorer schools have a water efficiency of around 50%, while affluent schools have a water efficiency of closer to 80%. [103] The project was also covered in a CNN feature. [104]

Controversies

The water crisis has seen no lack of political controversies and misinformation, making it challenging to discern the true extent of the crisis, and to accurately appraise efforts at addressing the crisis. Some have even questioned the existence of a water crisis, and downplayed "Day Zero" as a scare tactic. [6] [49] [56]

Distributional inequalities

The Cape Town water crisis have laid bare the water distributional inequalities in the city. Although one fifth of Cape Town's population lives in informal settlements, only 3.6 percent of the province's water supply went to such settlements in 2016/2017. [105] This is so as residential demand for water is a function of infrastructure provided, and households relying on communal standpipes—as is the case in most townships—consume a lot less water than households with an in-house connection. [106] This means that in practice, many of the residents of informal settlements already consume water at levels compliant with Level 6B restrictions and saw no substantial change in lifestyle before and during the water crisis. Observers have criticized the government's neglect of such water security and equity problems in the informal settlements prior to the Cape Town water crisis. [107] Human Rights Watch released a statement, imploring the government to "keep respect for and fulfillment of fundamental rights at the core of a sustainable resolution, and ensure that allocation of water is prioritized according to vital needs." [108]

Allocation between agricultural and urban use

Allocation between different water uses depends on the relative marginal benefits of use. Graph does not model externalities. WaterResourceAllocation.png
Allocation between different water uses depends on the relative marginal benefits of use. Graph does not model externalities.

Water restrictions were imposed on both agricultural and urban use of municipal water. On average, the agriculture sector in the Western Cape has had to cut its water use by 60 percent since 2017. Water restrictions varied from 50 percent in the Breede Valley, 60 percent in the Berg River and Riviersonderend region and 87 percent in the Lower Olifants River Valley. [16] At Level 6B water restrictions, urban areas were expected to cut their water consumption by 45 percent. Anton Rabe, CEO of Hortgro, which represents deciduous fruit growers in Cape Town, argued that the cut of 60 percent to agriculture, compared with 45 percent to the city, was unfair. [109] However, there were also sensational news and vlogs which blamed the water crisis on water inefficient agricultural and livestock farming methods. [56] Optimal allocation of water between agricultural and urban use is particularly complicated due to the presence of multiple externalities, with irrigated water being crucial for food security and urban use for public health, as well as the seasonal changes in demand.

Comments by Premier of Western Cape, Helen Zille

Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape, drew attention for some of her comments on the water crisis. In September 2017, she revealed that she only showered once every three days, and that she regards "oily hair in a drought to be as much of a status symbol as a dusty car." This spurred public discussion, with some praising her dedication to the drought response and others offering cynicism. [110] In January 2018, Zille also ignited outrage on Twitter after she responded to concerns over government neglect of water insecurity in the informal settlements by praising colonialism for providing piped water. This led to censure by the DA for "an infraction on the use of social media". [111] Zille is also known for her doomsday characterization of the water crisis, at times comparing it to World War II and 9/11, which some have criticized as counter-productive. [112]

Internal fights within the Democratic Alliance

In January 2018, the DA announced that Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille would be formally "charged and investigated" for eight charges of "governance failures" (unrelated to the water crisis) and would be removed from her leadership role in the city's response to the water crisis with immediate effect. [56] Cape Town City Manager Achmat Ebrahim, who was implicated in alleged wrongdoing alongside De Lille, also resigned from his position. [113]

Desalination and Israel

Members of the ANC have accused the DA of fabricating and exaggerating the water crisis to benefit Jews and Israel. This is so as Israel is a global leader in water desalination technology, and would be a potential partner in helping Cape Town set up her desalination plants. Relations between post-Apartheid South Africa and Israel have historically been rocky, with South Africa accusing Israel of apartheid (in handling the Israel–Palestine conflict). This has hampered effective collaboration in water management. For instance, a 2016 Johannesburg conference focusing on the water crisis was canceled due to news that the Israeli ambassador to South Africa at the time would be attending. [114] [69]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Town</span> Legislative capital of South Africa

Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the country's second-largest city, after Johannesburg, and the largest in the Western Cape. The city is part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality.

Water supply and sanitation in Singapore are intricately linked to the historical development of Singapore. It is characterised by a number of outstanding achievements in a challenging environment with geographical limitations. Access to water in Singapore is universal, affordable, efficient and of high quality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water restrictions in Australia</span>

Water restrictions have been enacted in many cities and regions in Australia, which is the Earth's driest inhabited continent, in response to chronic water shortages resulting from the widespread drought. Depending upon the location, these can include restrictions on watering lawns, using sprinkler systems, washing vehicles, hosing pavement, refilling swimming pools, etc. Overpopulation, evidence of drying climates, coupled with corresponding reductions in the supply of drinking water has led various state governments to consider alternative water sources to supplement existing sources, and to implement "water inspectors" who can issue penalties to those who waste water. Many states describe the different levels of water restrictions in terms of "stages": starting at Stage 1, for the least restrictive, going up as far as Stage 8. The highest level reached in the current drought has been stage 7 for Kingaroy. There are different definitions given to each "stage" in different states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in South Africa</span>

Water supply and sanitation in South Africa is characterised by both achievements and challenges. After the end of Apartheid South Africa's newly elected government struggled with the then growing service and backlogs with respect to access to water supply and sanitation developed. The government thus made a strong commitment to high service standards and to high levels of investment subsidies to achieve those standards. Since then, the country has made some progress with regard to improving access to water supply: It reached universal access to an improved water source in urban areas, and in rural areas the share of those with access increased from 66% to 79% from 1990 to 2010.

Water privatization in Metro Manila began when the then President of the Philippines, Fidel Ramos, instructed the government in 1994 to solve what he called the water crisis in Manila by engaging with the private sector. In 1997, two concession contracts for the Eastern and Western halves of Metro Manila were awarded after an open competition. The concessions represent the largest population served by private operators in the developing world. Both winning companies, Maynilad Water Services in West Manila and especially Manila Water in East Manila, submitted bids with extremely low water tariffs. The tariffs proved to be too low to finance the investments needed to improve performance, especially after the East Asian financial crisis and the devaluation of the Philippine Peso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steenbras Dam</span> Dam near Gordons Bay, Western Cape

The Steenbras Dam, now referred to as Steenbras Lower Dam, is a gravity concrete arch type dam located in the Hottentots-Holland mountains, above Gordons Bay, near Cape Town in South Africa. It is one of the six large dams that make up the Western Cape Water Supply System. It is owned by the City of Cape Town and serves principally to supply water to that city. The dam wall is 28 metres (92 ft) high and 412 metres (1,352 ft) long; it impounds a reservoir of 36,133 megalitres over a surface area of 380 hectares when full.

The Sydney Desalination Plant also known as the Kurnell Desalination Plant is a potable drinking water desalination plant that forms part of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney. The plant is located in the Kurnell industrial estate, in Southern Sydney in the Australian state of New South Wales. The plant uses reverse osmosis filtration membranes to remove salt from seawater and is powered using renewable energy, supplied to the national power grid from the Infigen Energy–owned Capital Wind Farm located at Bungendore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Tunisia</span>

Tunisia has achieved the highest access rates to water supply and sanitation services among the Middle East and North Africa. As of 2011, access to safe drinking water became close to universal approaching 100% in urban areas and 90% in rural areas. Tunisia provides good quality drinking water throughout the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Cape Water Supply System</span> Water supply system in the Western Cape region of South Africa

The Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS) is a complex water supply system in the Western Cape region of South Africa, comprising an inter-linked system of six main dams, pipelines, tunnels and distribution networks, and a number of minor dams, some owned and operated by the Department of Water and Sanitation and some by the City of Cape Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berg River Dam</span> Dam in Western Cape

The Berg River Dam is a 68-metre (223 ft) high dam on the Berg River in South Africa. It is the centerpiece of the Berg Water Project (BWP) which is designed to capture the winter rainfall and store it for supply to Cape Town during the dry summer months. The project in turn forms an important part of the Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS), an intricate system of dams and bulk water infrastructure that provides water to more than 3 million people. At the inauguration of the dam in 2009, then President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe called the project "a good example of how public infrastructure projects can be used to contribute meaningfully to poverty eradication and to foster social empowerment of the people." The Berg River Dam was the first dam in South Africa to be designed and constructed in accordance with the guidelines of the World Commission on Dams. It has been completed on time and within budget. The Berg River basin and the adjacent metropolitan area of Cape Town are of particular importance to the Western Cape region because, although the basin generates only about 3% of the country's water resources, it is home to about 8% of South Africa's population, and produces about 12% of GDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theewaterskloof Dam</span> Dam in Western Cape, South Africa

Theewaterskloof Dam is an earth-fill type dam located on the Sonderend River near Villiersdorp, Western Cape, South Africa. Administratively it is located within Theewaterskloof Local Municipality. It was established in 1978 and is the largest dam in the Western Cape Water Supply System with a capacity of 480 million cubic metres, about 41% of the water storage capacity available to Cape Town, which has a population of over 4 million people. The dam mainly serves for municipal and industrial use as well as for irrigation purposes. The hazard potential of the dam has been ranked high (3).

Water supply and sanitation in Malaysia is characterised by numerous achievements, as well as some challenges. Universal access to water supply at affordable tariffs is a substantial achievement. The government has also shown a commitment to make the sector more efficient, to create a sustainable funding mechanism and to improve the customer orientation of service providers through sector reforms enacted in 2006. The reform creates a modern institutional structure for the water sector, including an autonomous regulatory agency, an asset management company and commercialised state water companies that have to reach certain key performance indicators that will be monitored by the regulatory agency. The government has also stated its intention not to embark on new private sector contracts for water provision, after a bout of such contracts during the 1990s showed mixed results.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water scarcity in Africa</span> Overview of water scarcity in Africa

Water scarcity in Africa is predicted to reach dangerously high levels by 2025 when it is estimated that about two-thirds of the world's population may suffer from fresh water shortage. The main causes of water scarcity in Africa are physical and economic scarcity, rapid population growth, and climate change. Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. Although Sub-Saharan Africa has a plentiful supply of rainwater, it is seasonal and unevenly distributed, leading to frequent floods and droughts. Additionally, prevalent economic development and poverty issues, compounded with rapid population growth and rural-urban migration have rendered Sub-Saharan Africa as the world's poorest and least developed region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Namibia</span>

Namibia is an arid country that is regularly afflicted by droughts. Large rivers flow only along its northern and southern borders, but they are far from the population centers. They are also far from the country's mines, which are large water users. In order to confront this challenge, the country has built dams to capture the flow from ephemeral rivers, constructed pipelines to transport water over large distances, pioneered potable water reuse in its capital Windhoek located in the central part of Namibia, and built Sub-Saharan Africa's first large seawater desalination plant to supply a uranium mine and the city of Swakopmund with water. A large scheme to bring water from the Okavango River in the North to Windhoek, the Eastern National Water Carrier, was only partially completed during the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply in Sierra Leone</span> Water supply and sanitation in Sierra leone

Water supply in Sierra Leone is characterized by limited access to safe drinking water. Despite efforts by the government and numerous non-governmental organizations, access has not much improved since the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2002, stagnating at about 50% and even declining in rural areas. In the capital Freetown, taps often run dry. It is hoped that a new dam in Orugu, for which China committed financing in 2009, will alleviate water scarcity.

Water supply and sanitation in Nairobi is characterised by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements is the expansion of infrastructure to keep pace with population growth, in particular through the construction of the Thika Dam and associated water treatment plant and pipelines during the 1990s; the transformation of the municipal water department into an autonomous utility in 2003; and the more recent reduction of water losses – technically called non-revenue water – from 50 to 40%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water supply and sanitation in Nigeria</span>

Responsibility of water supply in Nigeria is shared between three (3) levels of government – federal, state and local. The federal government is in charge of water resources management; state governments have the primary responsibility for urban water supply; and local governments together with communities are responsible for rural water supply. The responsibility for sanitation is not clearly defined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water scarcity in Iran</span> Water shortage of Iran

Water scarcity in Iran is caused by high climatic variability, uneven distribution of water, over exploitation of available water resources,and prioritization of economic development. Water scarcity in Iran is further exacerbated by climate change.

Water management devices are water meters which, at once provide accurate data on water flow and water consumption levels, and can be programmed to control water use at household- or business-level. This is valuable for consumer who can ensure that they stay within a certain level of consumption, allowing savings on water costs, or for water suppliers who wish to reduce overall water consumption due to lack of water supply or increased demand.

The 2019 Chennai water crisis was a water crisis occurring in India, most notably in the coastal city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. On 19 June 2019, Chennai city officials declared that "Day Zero", or the day when almost no water is left, had been reached, as all the four main reservoirs supplying water to the city had run dry. Two years of deficient monsoon rainfall, particularly in late 2017 and throughout much of 2018 had led to this crisis.

References

  1. Cassim, Zaheer (19 January 2018). "Cape Town could be the first major city in the world to run out of water". USA Today.
  2. Poplak, Richard (15 February 2018). "What's Actually Behind Cape Town's Water Crisis". The Atlantic. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 York, Geoffrey (8 March 2018). "Cape Town residents become 'guinea pigs for the world' with water-conservation campaign". The Globe and Mail.
  4. "Day Zero, when is it, what is it and how can we avoid it". City of Cape Town.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Booysen, Marthinus Johannes; Visser, Martine; Burger, Ronelle (5 January 2019). Temporal case study of household behavioural response to Cape Town's Day Zero using smart meter data (Report). engrXiv. doi:10.31224/osf.io/6nckp. PMID   30472543.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Narrandes, Nidha (14 March 2018). "Cape Town water usage lower than ever". Cape Town etc.
  7. Myburgh, Janine (29 June 2018). "Chamber delighted by Day-Zero's death". Cape Messenger. Archived from the original on 6 July 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  8. 1 2 Pitt, Christina (10 September 2018). "City of Cape Town relaxes water restrictions, tariffs to Level 5". News24. Archived from the original on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  9. "After the drought: Cape Town's gushing water". GroundUp News . 7 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  10. Welz, Adam (1 March 2018). "Awaiting Day Zero: Cape Town Faces an Uncertain Water Future". Yale Environment 360.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "City of Cape Town Water Outlook 2018 Report" (PDF). City of Cape Town. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  12. "Cape Town Water Shortage". Washington Post.
  13. 1 2 Muller, M. (2008). Free basic water—a sustainable instrument for a sustainable future in South Africa. Environment and Urbanization, 20(1), 67–87.
  14. 1 2 "Water and sanitation services and costs in formal housing". City of Cape Town.
  15. "Water and sanitation services in informal housing". City of Cape Town.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Agricultural Water File". Worldwide Fund for Nature.
  17. 1 2 3 Jones, Aidan (March 2018). "City explains new water tariffs". Groundup News.
  18. Basholo, Zolile (4 February 2016). "Overview of Water Demand Management Initiatives: A City of Cape Town Approach" (PDF). City of Cape Town.
  19. Steenkamp, Willem (1 January 2005). "We needed to build more dams a decade ago".
  20. "Cape Town's water supply boosted". City of Cape Town. 17 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009.
  21. "C40 Cities Awards 2015".
  22. Aleem, Zeeshan (February 2018). "Cape Town is bracing for "Day Zero" — the day it cuts off running water for 4 million people". Vox.
  23. 1 2 3 Bohatch, Trevor (16 May 2017). "What's causing Cape Town's water crisis?". Cape Town: Ground Up. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  24. "City of Cape Town: Dam Levels". City of Cape Town. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  25. "City of Cape Town: Water Dashboard" (PDF). City of Cape Town. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  26. "City of Cape Town: Water Dashboard" (PDF). City of Cape Town. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  27. 1 2 3 "Water Dashboard". City of Cape Town. March 2019. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  28. "Frequently asked questions about South Africa's drought". Cape Town: Africa Check. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  29. Masinde, Muthoni (18 August 2016). "Southern Africa faces floods after drought". Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  30. Van Dam, Derek (31 May 2017). "Cape Town contends with worst drought in over a century". CNN.com. CNN . Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  31. Etheridge, Jenna (31 May 2017). "City of Cape Town approves Level 4 water restrictions". Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  32. 1 2 Wolski, Piotr (August 2017). "How severe is the drought?". University of Cape Town.
  33. Bosman, Richard (October 2017). "Critical Water Shortages Disaster Plan Summary" (PDF). City of Cape Town. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  34. De Lille, Patricia (4 October 2017). "Op-Ed: The City of Cape Town's Critical Water Shortages Disaster Plan | Daily Maverick". www.dailymaverick.co.za. City of Cape Town. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  35. "Day Zero FAQs" (PDF). City of Cape Town. 5 April 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  36. 1 2 "Government must refund Cape Town for cost of managing the water crisis". Business Day. 24 January 2018.
  37. Harrison, Aletta; Janse van Rensburg, Alet (26 January 2018). "JP Smith answers Day Zero questions: 'It's going to be really unpleasant'". News24. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  38. 1 2 "Borehole rules? Can you use sea water to flush? – The City of Cape Town answers your questions". GroundUp. 30 January 2018. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  39. 1 2 "'I Knew We Were in Trouble.' What It's Like to Live Through Cape Town's Massive Water Crisis". Time . Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  40. Baker, Aryn (15 January 2018). "Cape Town Is 90 Days Away From Running Out of Water". Time. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  41. Thom, Liezl (17 January 2018). "Drought-stricken Cape Town, South Africa, could run out of water by April's 'day zero'". ABC News. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  42. Brandt, Kevin (23 January 2018). "Day Zero Brought Forward, CT Officials Prepare for Worst".
  43. 1 2 Neilson, Ian (20 February 2018). "Statement by the City's Executive Mayor, Alderman Ian Neilson: Defeating Day Zero is in sight if we sustain our water-saving efforts". City of Cape Town.
  44. Said-Moorhouse, Lauren (5 February 2018). "Cape Town 'Day Zero' delayed as agricultural water use drops". CNN.
  45. "South Africa: Day Zero pushed back to June". aljazeera.com. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  46. 1 2 3 Said-Moorhouse, Lauren; Mezzofiore, Gianluca (1 February 2018). "Cape Town cuts water use limit by nearly half". CNN. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  47. "Western Cape edges closer to an end to the drought as dam levels continue to rise". News24. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  48. "Level 3 Water Restrictions (2018)" (PDF). City of Cape Town. 30 November 2018.
  49. 1 2 "Facts are few, opinions plenty… on drought severity again". www.csag.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  50. Sousa, Pedro M.; Blamey, R.; Reason, C.J.C.; Ramos, A.M.; Trigo, R.M. (2018). "The 'Day Zero' Cape Town drought and the poleward migration of moisture corridors". Environmental Research Letters. 13 (12): 124025. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaebc7 .
  51. "Cape Town Population 2019". World Population Review.
  52. Schutte, C. F., & Pretorius, W. A. (1997). Water demand and population growth. WATER SA-PRETORIA-, 23, 127–134.
  53. "Western Cape Water Reconciliation Strategy Newsletter 5" (PDF). Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. March 2009.
  54. Buis, Alan (8 September 2020). "Making Sense of 'Climate Sensitivity': New Study Narrows the Range of Uncertainty in Future Climate Projections". NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming. NASA . Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  55. Petra, Saal (January 2018). "Zille tries to blame it on the weatherman". Times Live.
  56. 1 2 3 4 "Facts and myths about Cape Town's water crisis". GroundUp. January 2018.
  57. Saunderson-Meyer, William. "Commentary: In drought-hit South Africa, the politics of water". U.S. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  58. Hyman, Aron (March 2018). "'Day Zero heroes': Maimane hails water-wise Capetonians as crisis recedes". Times Live.
  59. "REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION". South African Water Caucus. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2019.
  60. "Cape Town Water Crisis Crossing State and Party Lines". The Conversation.
  61. News24 (26 October 2017). "Cape Town city manager given special powers to deal with water crisis – NEWS & ANALYSIS". www.politicsweb.co.za. Retrieved 1 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  62. In drought-hit South Africa, the politics of water, Reuters, January 25, 2018
  63. Cape Town May Dry Up Because of an Aversion to Israel, Wall St. Journal, February 21, 2018
  64. The Cape Town Water Crisis and Hating Israel, aish, February 11, 2018
  65. South African stupidity, Jerusalem Post, February 3, 2018
  66. DIANA NEILLE, MARELISE VAN DER MERWE & LEILA DOUGAN. "Cape of Storms To Come". features.dailymaverick.co.za. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  67. Phakathi, Bekezela (5 February 2018). "Farmers lose R14bn as Cape drought bites". Business Day. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  68. "CTT Research Report April 2018" (PDF). Cape Town Tourism. 24 July 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  69. 1 2 Orbach, Jon (April 2019). "Could Israel Help Cape Town's Water Crisis?". Moment Mag.
  70. "How to "Save Water Like a Local"". Cape Town Safaris. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  71. "Politics, poverty, and climate change: stories from Cape Town's 'Day Zero'". ODI. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  72. Head, Tom (10 October 2017). "Cape Town water crisis: With drought, comes the horror of disease". The South African. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  73. 1 2 "Water related FAQs" (PDF). City of Cape Town. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  74. Parks, R., McLaren, M., Toumi, R., & Rivett, U. (2019). Experiences and lessons in managing water from Cape Town (29) [Grafiek & Literatuur]. Geraadpleegd van https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/publications/briefing-papers/Experiences-and-lessons-in-managing-water.pdf
  75. "Day Zero: The impact of Cape Town's water shortage on public health | Public Health". Public Health. 5 February 2018. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  76. "Vulnerable fear Cape Town's water shut-off". News24. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  77. "Water crisis: Day Zero could affect a million children". www.enca.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  78. "Western Cape Water Crisis: How resilient is your organization in the face of the current water crisis?" (PDF). PWC. December 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  79. Joubert, Leonie; Ziervogel, Gina (2019). Day Zero. One city's response to a record-breaking drought (PDF). Axa, Mapula Trust, African Climate and Development Initiative.
  80. "Cape Town is almost at the feared 'Day Zero'". The Independent. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  81. Nkanjeni, Unathi (November 2017). "Cape Water Crisis: Day Zero 'moved' as city prepares for 2m tourists". News24.
  82. Bratton, Laura (November 2017). "Slow progress bringing new water to Cape Town". GroundUp.
  83. "Maimane takes over Cape Town water crisis response". Business Tech. 24 January 2018.
  84. 1 2 Walton, Brett (July 2018). "How Cape Town Got to the Brink of Water Catastrophe". CityLab.
  85. "WATCH: Cape Town gets 10bn litres of water". www.enca.com. 6 February 2018. Archived from the original on 8 September 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  86. Hardin, G. (1968). "The tragedy of the commons." Science, 162(3859), 1243–1248.
  87. 1 2 Welch, Craig (March 2018). "Why Cape Town Is Running Out of Water, and Who's Next". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018.
  88. Department of Water and Sanitation, City of Capetown (18 May 2018). "Water Outlook 2018 Report, Revision 25" (PDF). City of Cape Town. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  89. 1 2 "Cape Town water crisis: 'My wife doesn't shower any more'". BBC News. January 2018.
  90. Shapiro, Ari (September 2018). "Did Cape Town Learn From 'Day Zero'?". National Public Radio (NPR).
  91. Shapiro, Ari (June 2018). "Cape Town Averts 'Day Zero' By Limiting Water Use". National Public Radio (NPR).
  92. Chutel, Lynsey (December 2017). "Africa's favorite tourist city is about to run out of water". Quartz.
  93. Hanke, S. H., & Boland, J. J. (1971). "Water requirements or water demands?" Journal‐American Water Works Association, 63(11), 677–681.
  94. Wasserman, Helena (February 2018). "SA's richest family is coining it amid the scramble for JoJo tanks". Business Insider.
  95. Poonah, Vanessa (July 2018). "Businesses in W Cape plan to get off water grid". SABC News.
  96. Green Cape. "Water Installation Guidelines" (PDF).
  97. "Time to reevaluate agriculture as Cape Town runs dry". The Hill. 28 April 2018.
  98. www.SchoolsWater.co.za
  99. YouTube videos on the project
  100. Dropula page
  101. M.J. Booysen, C. Ripunda, M. Visser, (2019). "Results from a water-saving maintenance campaign at Cape Town schools in the run-up to Day Zero", Vol 50, Sustainable Cities and Society. Published: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101639. (Open access: https://doi.org/10.31224/osf.io/45cf9)
  102. M. Visser, M.J. Booysen, K. Berger, J. Brühl (2019). "Saving water at Cape Town schools by using smart metering and behavioural change", Working paper. https://doi.org/10.31224/osf.io/7kzwv
  103. M.J. Booysen, B. Wijesiri, C. Ripunda, A. Goonetilleke, (2019). "Fees and governance: Towards sustainability in water resources management at schools in post-apartheid South Africa", Vol 51, Sustainable Cities and Society. Published: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.101694. (Open access: https://doi.org/10.31224/osf.io/5wy8s)
  104. CNN article and video of the project.
  105. Makou, Gopolang (August 2017). "Do formal residents use 65% of Cape Town's water, with half going to gardens & pools?". Africa Check.
  106. Smith, L., & Hanson, S. (2003). "Access to water for the urban poor in Cape Town: where equity meets cost recovery." Urban Studies, 40(8), 1517–1548.
  107. Bratton, Laura (November 2017). "Water crisis: it makes no difference to us, say residents of informal settlements". GroundUp.
  108. Mavhinga, Deva (February 2018). "Cape Town's Water Crisis Response Needs to Protect the Rights of Millions". Human Rights Watch.
  109. Gosling, Melanie (September 2018). "Western Cape farmers call for easing of water restrictions to repair drought damage". News24.
  110. Fihlani, Pumza (22 September 2017). "Helen Zille: Why South African politician will only shower every three days". BBC News.
  111. Pather, Ra'eesa (January 2018). "DA threatens to charge Zille over water colonialism tweets". Mail and Guardian.
  112. Dave, Chambers (22 January 2018). "Zille takes charge: Day Zero bigger than WWII and 9/11' says premier".
  113. Davis, Rebecca (16 January 2018). "#CapeWatergate: DA hints Mayor De Lille to blame for water crisis mismanagement". Daily Maverick.
  114. Luke, Tress (March 2018). "As 'Day Zero' looms, South Africa open to Israeli water tech, researcher says". The Times of Israel.