Cape Town, South Africa is on its way to becoming the first major city in history to run out of water. This comes after a combination of a three-year drought that devastated the city and a population surge that exceeded the water supply.
Cape Town only has an estimated 90 days supply of water left in its reserves and the dreaded day it disappears is April 22. Once this “Day Zero” arrives, town officials will be forced to shut off water for all but vital consumers, such as hospitals. The four millions residents of Cape Town will have to go to a water station and receive a rationed 6.6 gallons of water per person.
The city was warned of the implications of continued excessive water use as early as 2004. However, the city decided to ignore these warnings and rely only on water conservation, which most civilians are struggling to abide by.
As of today, residents are rationed 23 gallons of water a day. Or at least, that’s how much they’re supposed to be using. In all actuality, most people are using much more than that and only 39% of the city is actually meeting the goals outlined. When February arrives, residents’ rations will be cut down to 13 gallons. In comparison, according to the EPA, the average American uses 88 gallons of water a day.
Those living in Cape Town are already attempting to save as much water as possible by taking two minute showers, cutting out activities that use too much water (watering the garden, washing a car). One can only imagine how much more a person would need to downsize in order to live by six gallons a day. Personally, I remember way back when California was in a drought (it was a less than a year ago) and I could not, at all, shower in a five-minute window like the state recommended.
Of course, with dreaded climate change already showing its presence by increasing global temperatures, some are starting to wonder if droughts are going to become the new norm. Hopefully not, but until some sort of solution is actually followed through with, best of luck to those in Cape Town. The clock is ticking.
Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons
