Cape Town is about to run out of water soon

Feb 07, 2018, 05.02 PM IST

Tap running dry

While water scarcity remains a universal problem, and an urgent worry for India, South Africa’s Cape Town is poised to become the first big city to run out of water with about 90 days left before supplies hit critical levels. As the clock ticks down, here’s a look at how the city is coping.

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Reuters

Dire situation

According to South African journalist William Saunderson-Meyer, unless something miraculous happens, Cape Town will run out of drinking water in a matter of weeks.

In pic: A family negotiates their way through caked mud around a dried up section of the Theewaterskloof dam near Cape Town.

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Reuters

Day Zero

Cape Town authorities have predicted that May 11, 2018, will be the day when the city's water supply will get critical. Supposed to arrive in mid-April according to earlier estimates, Day Zero was pushed back by a month due to decline in agricultural water use, raising hopes that the city can hold out till the rainy season, which has historically arrived in May.

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AP

Measures taken

Capetonians have been adivsed to use no more than 50 litres of water per person per day. They are asked to keep their showers under two minutes and to flush toilets as little as possible. They have been asked not to wash their cars, fill their swimming pools or water their gardens.

Authorities meanwhile are trying to drill aquifers, recycle wasterwater and undertake desalination of seawater.

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AP

Why is Cape Town getting parched?

The shortage is the result of a three-year drought that emptied the city's dams. The city has been grappling with drought for about three years now. Add to it the pressures of growing population and climate change and you have the worst water crisis in Cape Town's history.

In pic: People queue to collect water from a spring in the Newlands suburb as fears over the city's water crisis grow in Cape Town.

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AFP

Health concerns on the rise

Officials in Cape Town appealed for residents to be vigilant against health risks caused by efforts to save or reuse water as the South African city's drought worsens.

The city is grappling with a listeriosis outbreak and a doubling of typhoid cases in the past year. It has now urged residents to continue hand washing to maintain hygiene standards -- despite water shortages.

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AP