Water Crisis In Cape Town - The Unforseen Future - Ambassador report - Our Actions

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Water Crisis In Cape Town - The Unforseen Future
by Rosa Domingos \| 03-03-2018 11:12 0
In 2015, a drought hit the province of the Western Cape andresulted in a severe water shortage in the region, most notably affecting the Cape Town metropolis. Despite water-saving measures, dam levels are still predicted to decline to critically low levels. So as a way forward,the city has made plans for "Day Zero" (when municipal water supply will largely be shut off) if this happens of when this happens, Cape Town will be the first major city to run out of water. The city of Cape Town has an overall Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and winter rainfall. Six major dams of the Western cape Water Supply Water System in the mountainous areas supplies water to the city. These dams are recharged by rain falling in their catchment areas, mostly during the cooler winter months of May to August. Dam levels decline during the dry summer months of December to February during which urban and agricultural water utilisation increases. In 1995, the population of Cape Town has grown from 2.4 million residents to an estimated 4.3 million by 2018. This represents a 79% population increase in the last 23 years whilst dam water storage only increased by 15% in the same time span. In 2016/2017, 64.5% of the city's water supply went to houses, flats and complexes, while 3.6% went to informal settlements. So how did the unforeseeable drought come to life? Well, from 1950 to 1999, the city's consumption of treated water grew equally at 4% per year with the city's population growth. What is more shocking is that in 1999, water consumption in the city peaked at 335 million cubic metres (335 gigalitres) per year. This followed by periods of low winter rainfall between 2000-2001 and 2003-2004 resulted in the first water restrictions being imposed. This already posed as a warning sign to worse things to come. The city then implemented a 10-year water demand management strategy in 2007,which has successfully kept the annual consumption at or below the 1999 level despite ongoing population growth, figure 2. In 2009, the storage capacity of the dams supplying Cape Town was increase by 17% through the completion of the Berg River Dam. Despite the increased storage capacity, the Department of Water and Sanitation predicted that the growing demand from the city would exceed supply by 2013 without water conservation and demand management measures by the city, and that even with those measures, further water sources would be required by 2019. So what struck the start of water shortage in Cape Town? Improper use of water and lack of water conservation, little to no awareness campaigns to address residents of the the water crisis, and current and future implications of continued overuse and and subsequent dam decline, the boom of tourism thanks to the FIFA tournament in 2010 and agriculture as the South Africa was ranked as seventh in overall volume production of wine and produced 3.9% of the world's wine in 2016. The possibility of the city exceeding its water supply was highlighted as early as 1990. So as a means to avoid this prediction already, but I believe not enough regulations and strick punishment were put in place in order to avoid what the Western Cape is facing today. With 'Day Zero' approaching, one can only hope for the winter to break the drought with rain. Sources: USA Today https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/01/19/cape-town-could-first-major-city-run-out-water/1047237001/ The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/cape-town-water-crisis/553076/ e360 https://e360.yale.edu/features/awaiting-day-zero-cape-town-faces-an-uncertain-water-future Ground Up https://www.groundup.org.za/article/whats-causing-cape-towns-water-crisis/

Dormant user Rosa Domingos

5 Comments

Horticulturist Susmita says :
Greetings rosa
I hope you are doing well

Thank you so much for this report
Keep writing

Green cheers
Regards
Sus
Posted 15-03-2020 16:31

Rosa Domingos says :
Hi Gyeongrin! I'm glad that your city is alleviating the stress by acquiring aid from a neighboring city. I am planning on organising an awareness project with primary schools as to expose them to the crisis we face. Thank you!
Posted 08-03-2018 00:08

Gyeongrin mentor says :
Hi Rosa! I can see that you've been through a great thought about this issue. Drought is a very big problem. I am also greatly interested in this problem because my own city is also lacking water. For now, we are covering the shortage by purchasing water from a near city. However as we know, this can't be the only solution for always. I think the first thing that we should do is to gather people's interest. The decrease of water use is the essential solution for this problem. Activities such as this tunza ambassador project is a good start. Through your report people will get to know the severeness of the problem that they are facing. It will be even better if you could arrange some campaigns so that we could others. I will be looking forward to your future activities! Thanks for this well written report :)
Posted 07-03-2018 23:38

Rosa Domingos says :
Thank you Bwalya! I appreciate your audience! What is your take on the matter? What do you think should happen in Cape Town to alleviate this issue?
Posted 04-03-2018 09:35