Day Zero slowly approaching!

| Share |

Home >
Our Actions >
Ambassador report

5
Comments

ambassador Report View
Day Zero slowly approaching!
by Rosa Domingos \| 03-03-2018 19:26 0
Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille announced in January that the city would be forced to shut off most of the municipal water supply if conditions do not change. Day Zero, as it is called, would be declared when the water level of the 6 major city dams reaches 13.5%. Once this occurs, water supplies would be largely switched off, and residents would rely on 149 water collection points stationed around the city to collect a daily ration of 25 litres of water per person. However, constant water supply will be carried out around the city's CBD, in informal settlements (where water is already collected from central locations) and essential services such as hospitals. The day of when Day Zero would commerce has been changed multiple times, mainly due to a number of reasons, such as reduced agricultural and residential usage, as well as the 7 to 10 cubic meters of water that will be transferred from the Groenland Water User's Association (an association for farmers with private reservoirs) to the city' s dams.Initially, Day Zero was on day 22 April 2018, it was then moved back to the 16th of April, then to 11 May, 4 June and now it has been moved all the way up to 9 July 2018. The Day Zero date is projected based on the fortnightly change in dam storage levels, and it is assumed that this rate will continue unchanged, with no further rainfall or change in water demand. Research done by the University of Cape Town has shown that the period from 2015-2017 has been the driest 3-year period since 1933, and 2017 was the driest year since 1933, and possibly earlier. This was based on a on long-term weather data. It also found that a drought of this severity will statistically occur only once every 311 years. One initiative by the Western Cape government was calling for people to conserve water due to the water shortage in 2017 by putting up impact posters. This led to the agricultural sector reducing consumption by 50 percent. This act brought about a loss of 37,000 jobs in the sector nationally. Also, an estimated 50,000 will be pushed below the poverty line due to job losses and inflation due to increases in the price of food. In February 2018 the agricultural sector had incurred R14 billion (US$1.17 billion) in losses due to the water shortage. But it is not all doom and gloom for the city, as possible solutions have been found from the likes of desalination mechinaries to aquifer exploration as the go to prospects. Much needed awareness should still be at the forefront of the issues to maintain a sustainable resource. Source: ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/International/drought-stricken-cape-town-south-africa-run-water/story?id=52402170 Time http://time.com/5103259/cape-town-water-crisis/ News 24 https://m.news24.com/Analysis/jp-smith-answers-day-zero-questions-its-going-to-be-really-unpleasant-20180126

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 16:33

Rosa Domingos says :
Thank you Gyeongrin! Yes, they have been making progressive adjustments to the '25 liters per person ration', the engineering sector have been hands on about this problem for a while now. I'll keep you posted on the desalination venture!
Posted 08-03-2018 00:13

Gyeongrin mentor says :
Hi Rosa! A continuous report from the last one! I can see that some measures were done afterwards. It is good to hear that possible solutions such as desalination machinary to aquifer exploration has come up. This shows us that engineering could take some part in the solving of this problem! I hope by those effort done by numerous people, the city could stay more conscious about the water shortage that they are facing. Thanks for the report! :D
Posted 07-03-2018 23:50

Rosa Domingos says :
Hi Bwalya! And thank you for reading it. It is a fact of life for many South Africans that live in Cape Town and now that I will be living in Cape Town aonth from now, I will have a more visual and vivid depth and understanding about this problem.
Posted 04-03-2018 09:31