Cape Town counts down to Day Zero as water supply evaporates

[Nithavela]

Within three months, Cape Town is at risk of going from a tourist haven and hub for the wine industry to becoming the world’s first big metropolis to run out of water after a years-long drought. “We have reached the point of no return,” Patricia de Lille, Cape Town’s mayor, warned this month. With anger in her voice she added: “It is quite unbelievable that a majority of people do not seem to care.” It is likely to get much worse. Barring a drastic improvement in conservation efforts, at some point in April this year — on or about the 21st, according to the latest estimates — Cape Town will wake up to ‘Day Zero’, when toilets and taps will run dry.

https://www.ft.com/content/8a438352-fc76-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

This was complete and utter mismanagement and frank incompetence by the city government.

We have had drought for years. They only said people must stop filling their swimming pools when we reached 26% reserves.
They had contracts out for desalinisation, which they had dragged their feet over - probably to try and get contracts to cronies.

Essentially they just ignored the problem hoping it would rain last winter. Only then did they wake up.
Their solution? They want a massive levy or punitive fines. To do what? To bring water in by tanker? Or more likely to siphon off more money.
Then they try and impose impossible standards of water usage, when it is too little too late - and then blame people for not conforming to it. In addition, they exclude the poor from having to adhere to it. Literally, only rate payers are expected to. They expect 30s showers and not to wash your clothes - when they completely excluded watering parks, hotels and anything tourist related.

To top it all off, they give out snarky communiques claiming it is our fault for not sticking to water restrictions.
No, De Lille, it is YOUR frank incompetence, dishonesty and stupidity to blame.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Really. For 2 years we have seen that the water would run out. The radio stations run Water Warriors with tips on saving water. The Churches have been praying for rain. I stopped filling my child's kiddy pool a year and a half ago, while the government allowed full size pools till the winter rains didn't come. The grocery store chains developed factories and distribution networks for 5 litre water bottles. The hospitals budgeted and procured sterilising gels to decrease water usage. The citizens of Cape Town have known this would happen.

The Government sat twiddling their thumbs, hoping it would get better - till the point of no return. Now they blame us, when we have been trying to do things in a private capacity for years. There have been calls to cut off the water supply in entirety periodically, a succesful water saving strategy used in Kimberley a few years ago, which they refused to even consider.

This is an utter failure of city governance - and the DA is supposed to be the mature political party.

 

[pat34lee]

If anyone in charge had two brain cells to rub together,
they would be contacting engineers in Israel to find out
about new technology for desalinating seawater.
https://thenextweb.com/syndication/...on-israel-helping-world-fight-water-shortage/

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

If anyone in charge had two brain cells to rub together,
they would be contacting engineers in Israel to find out
about new technology for desalinating seawater.
https://thenextweb.com/syndication/...on-israel-helping-world-fight-water-shortage/

There was actually a company, based in Cape Town, that built desalinisation plants in Australia and the UAE. They gave the government a detailed plan for Cape Town more than a year ago, with which they have done nothing. Every now and then there is some kind of false dawn on desalinisation, which gets really frustrating as we all watch the dams running dry.

 

[Nithavela]

Well, know it's too late to build desalination facilities. And even if the facilities were in place, supplying 4 million people with desalinated water is extremely costly.

 

[pat34lee]

Well, know it's too late to build desalination facilities. And even if the facilities were in place, supplying 4 million people with desalinated water is extremely costly.

It's never too late until the people die or are forced
to move away. As for the cost, they're going to have
to grin and bear it unless they choose one of the two
options in my first sentence.

 

[Nithavela]

It's never too late until the people die or are forced
to move away. As for the cost, they're going to have
to grin and bear it unless they choose one of the two
options in my first sentence.

I think moving away is the best choice. As the climate changes, more and more places are going to become uninhabitable, while others further north and south thaw.

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

Got to love government blaming ordinary people for politicians lack of foresight. Bonus points for introducing a moral component.

 

[Rion]

Cape Town counts down to Day Zero as water supply evaporates

For those who want to read the article

 

[Nithavela]

Cape Town counts down to Day Zero as water supply evaporates

For those who want to read the article

Don't know why the link stopped working.

 

[Rion]

Don't know why the link stopped working.

Some sites will move an article that is suddenly getting a lot of views behind a paywall, even if it wasn't originally. This is why I archive a lot of the things that I post. WSJ is notorious for this, for example.