
Cape Town Is 90 Days Away From Running Out of Water - ekglimmer
http://time.com/5103259/cape-town-water-crisis/?xid=homepage
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taliesinb
I regularly run around Molteno reservoir, pictured in the article. It’s been a
regular and depressing reminder of the water crisis to see its level titrate
down day by day.

Most people here seem to be in denial about the kind of life that awaits.
Either people don’t think about it, or believe the official pessimism about
the desalination schedule is a scare tactic to delay zero day and hence the
cost of the eventual emergency desalinization measures the local government
has waiting up its sleeve.

The alternative is unthinkable: a large percentage of the economy of this city
is tourism, so imagine what happens when foreign guests cancel their hotel and
airbnb bookings en masse.

A few days ago my apartment building installed three massive 5000 liter tanks
of water storage. That’s enough to last all the tenants about 10 days at
25l/day/person. If those tanks are filled from the mains it just accelerates
zero day for everyone else; if from rain water, well, there’s too little rain
at the moment to fill them (and is roof water even potable?). Perhaps the idea
is that it’ll be trucked in. No-one knows what is going on.

I suppose we’ll find a way to manage. In a way I’m glad I’m here to experience
it, as it’s almost certainly a premonition of things to come in other cities
later this century.

~~~
mikestew
_Most people here seem to be in denial about the kind of life that awaits._

As I read the article, I tried to imagine such a scenario. I guess most of the
time "it all works out", and the hope is that it will this time, too. OTOH,
only 54% of residents are hitting the 87 liters/day target, according to the
article. First off, I'm surprised that the taps don't just go dry after 87
liters; perhaps the tech isn't there. Regardless, if barely half are hitting
the target, I guess plenty just aren't taking it seriously, as you point out.
Wishful thinking, denial, or unwarranted optimism, I don't know.

I hesitate to raise a hot-button topic, but I wonder how many parallels there
are to climate change. Wishing, denying, or hoping? Again, I don't know the
minds of others. But if someone can got to the local reservoir, look with
their own eyes and see that, indeed, Cape Town is running out of water, and
then almost half the residents _still_ don't cut back to the suggested level,
I don't hold much hope for more global issues.

 _I suppose we’ll find a way to manage._

See, I'm torn. I hope _you_ find a way to manage (rain, desalination,
hopefully something comes online soon), but somehow the ones still watering
their lawns have to go with parched throats and dirty clothes for a while to
drive the point home.

~~~
chriswitts
_First off, I 'm surprised that the taps don't just go dry after 87 liters;
perhaps the tech isn't there._

Census data is inaccurate, and you have no concrete figures on the number of
people per residence. Even if we had the tech (the new water meters we have
are a step in the right direction, except when they break which is often and
also maintained by quite a number of different contractors) you'd be hamstrung
needing to ascertain correct figures per location. And then throw in all the
apartment blocks in Cape Town, which all have a singular water main and meter,
it becomes even harder (because do you punish all people in the block because
one person is having a bath three times a day).

 _I hope you find a way to manage (rain, desalination, hopefully something
comes online soon)_

The local government has sadly mismanaged the situation terribly, for more
than a decade. We're not going through a drought, we're experiencing a water
shortage. The total population for the City of Cape Town (more than just Cape
Town itself, it includes the surrounding areas) has been rapidly expanding
over the last 15 years (more so in the last 5) due to semigration (people
moving from other provinces, mainly Gauteng, due to the better quality of life
in the Cape), and the underlying infrastructure has not been upgraded in step
with the population growth. We have had warning since as early as 2007 (from
official reports I'm aware of) that we needed to move forward with new water
programs including desalination plants in order to accommodate for the growth.

We have a desalination company, GrahamTek [1], which had put forward tenders
which could have brought in 450ML water a day within 18 months, but were
largely ignored by the powers that be.

[1] [https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/city-of-cape-
towns-...](https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/city-of-cape-towns-water-
bungle-11575998)

~~~
igitur
Bulk water supply is the responsibility of national government. Local
government is responsibile for the distribution of the allocated water.

