Rain
I’ve posted this photo because at the time water was on my mind. We were in Hazy View, not far from the Kruger National Park, but we were destined to fly to the Western Cape the following week and knew all about the chronic water shortage there.
The drought in the Western Cape province began in 2015 and has resulted in a severe water shortage in the region, most notably affecting the city of Cape Town. The city announced plans for "Day Zero", when the municipal water supply would largely be shut off, potentially making Cape Town the first major city to run out of water. Luckily for us Day Zero had been postponed until after our expected departure, but we didn’t know quite how the shortage would affect us as tourists. We have relatives in Cape Town and knew how desperate they were for rain. For example, as we were to discover, washroom taps have been shut in public toilets, restaurants and bars, water pressure was reduced in hotels. Hand sanitizers were provided in some places, but it’s not the same as washing hands in water.
However, through water saving measures [largely restrictions on personal and agricultural usage- residents have been living off a daily allowance of just 50 litres a day] and water supply augmentation, by March 2018 the City had reduced its daily water consumption by more than half to around 500 million litres per day, resulting in the initial prediction of Day Zero in April 2018 being pushed back to 2019. But the situation remains severe, particularly if the run of record dry winters continues through 2018.
For Cape Town, and I suspect other cities around the world [including London] it’s not as though the ‘writing wasn’t on the wall’. A 1990 headline in the local Cape Times warned that the city would "run out of water in 17 years," based on a Water Research Commission study at the time. The Cape Town region experiences a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and winter rainfall. Water is supplied largely from the six major dams of the Western Cape Water Supply System in mountainous areas close to the city. The dams are recharged by rain falling in their catchment areas, largely during the cooler winter months of May to August, and dam levels decline during the dry summer months of December to February during which urban and agricultural water use increases. Cape Town's population has grown from 2.4 million residents in 1995 to an estimated 4.3 million by 2018, representing a 79 percent population increase in 23 years whereas dam water storage only increased by 15 percent in the same period. Recent weather patterns have kept the rain-bearing cold fronts south of the southern tip of Africa, frequently missing Cape Town altogether. Plans to tap the substantial groundwater under the region were delayed several times. The warnings were largely ignored and the city's supply of fresh water still comes from six catchment areas that rely on rainfall.
South Africa's colonial legacy has cast a dark shadow over the continent for decades. In Cape Town, it has resulted in vast levels of inequality that are plain to see, and are even more evident during this period of water scarcity. In 2016/2017, 64.5% of the city's water supply went to formal residential users, while 3.6 percent went to informal settlements, ‘shanty towns’ more usually described as ‘townships’ in South Africa. When it comes to water, the new normal is the old normal for many living in the long-marginalized settlement communities where it is the norm for a single tap to be shared with hundreds of people.
We can’t afford to be smug and think our water supplies are secure. In Kent we are in big trouble if we get two dry winters in succession. Drought crises in California, Brazil and Spain all suggest a future where water will be scarce. As urban populations increase, water resources are becoming strained. So don’t complain if its raining……
Rain
I’ve posted this photo because at the time water was on my mind. We were in Hazy View, not far from the Kruger National Park, but we were destined to fly to the Western Cape the following week and knew all about the chronic water shortage there.
The drought in the Western Cape province began in 2015 and has resulted in a severe water shortage in the region, most notably affecting the city of Cape Town. The city announced plans for "Day Zero", when the municipal water supply would largely be shut off, potentially making Cape Town the first major city to run out of water. Luckily for us Day Zero had been postponed until after our expected departure, but we didn’t know quite how the shortage would affect us as tourists. We have relatives in Cape Town and knew how desperate they were for rain. For example, as we were to discover, washroom taps have been shut in public toilets, restaurants and bars, water pressure was reduced in hotels. Hand sanitizers were provided in some places, but it’s not the same as washing hands in water.
However, through water saving measures [largely restrictions on personal and agricultural usage- residents have been living off a daily allowance of just 50 litres a day] and water supply augmentation, by March 2018 the City had reduced its daily water consumption by more than half to around 500 million litres per day, resulting in the initial prediction of Day Zero in April 2018 being pushed back to 2019. But the situation remains severe, particularly if the run of record dry winters continues through 2018.
For Cape Town, and I suspect other cities around the world [including London] it’s not as though the ‘writing wasn’t on the wall’. A 1990 headline in the local Cape Times warned that the city would "run out of water in 17 years," based on a Water Research Commission study at the time. The Cape Town region experiences a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and winter rainfall. Water is supplied largely from the six major dams of the Western Cape Water Supply System in mountainous areas close to the city. The dams are recharged by rain falling in their catchment areas, largely during the cooler winter months of May to August, and dam levels decline during the dry summer months of December to February during which urban and agricultural water use increases. Cape Town's population has grown from 2.4 million residents in 1995 to an estimated 4.3 million by 2018, representing a 79 percent population increase in 23 years whereas dam water storage only increased by 15 percent in the same period. Recent weather patterns have kept the rain-bearing cold fronts south of the southern tip of Africa, frequently missing Cape Town altogether. Plans to tap the substantial groundwater under the region were delayed several times. The warnings were largely ignored and the city's supply of fresh water still comes from six catchment areas that rely on rainfall.
South Africa's colonial legacy has cast a dark shadow over the continent for decades. In Cape Town, it has resulted in vast levels of inequality that are plain to see, and are even more evident during this period of water scarcity. In 2016/2017, 64.5% of the city's water supply went to formal residential users, while 3.6 percent went to informal settlements, ‘shanty towns’ more usually described as ‘townships’ in South Africa. When it comes to water, the new normal is the old normal for many living in the long-marginalized settlement communities where it is the norm for a single tap to be shared with hundreds of people.
We can’t afford to be smug and think our water supplies are secure. In Kent we are in big trouble if we get two dry winters in succession. Drought crises in California, Brazil and Spain all suggest a future where water will be scarce. As urban populations increase, water resources are becoming strained. So don’t complain if its raining……