Water Hazard

And you thought Capetonians were being dramatic. Turns out, there’s a lot more to the drought than not being able to soak in the tub. Here’s how a world with less water hits you where it hurts – your health

- Michelle October

When the City of Cape Town announced that the Mother City’s taps would run dry, the world was understandably stunned. How could a city surrounded by water just run out of it? If Cape Town reaches Day Zero, citizens will have to queue at water points for an allowance of 25 litres per day. “There has not been a city in the world that’s ever required of its inhabitants to make do with 25 litres of water per day,” says Dr Jo Barnes, an epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University, who researches water pollution and sanitation.

Day Zero may have been postponed, but spend a weekend in the Cape and you’ll realise that water-saving measures, like buckets in your shower and grey water in your toilet, are the new normal. And it’s not just Cape Town. Elsewhere, South Africans are struggling too. In Grahamstown, it’s totally routine to add bottled water to your monthly shopping because the municipal water is either unsafe or non-existent. And Carte Blanche revealed that Hartbeespoort Dam in the North West province is overrun with bacteria. What’s more, several provinces have been declared disaster areas and have implemented water restrictions. The problem is, with water restrictions – and subsequent hygiene short cuts – comes a cocktail of diseases, to which no one is immune.

DRINKING DIRTY

Trying not to get sick in a drought is a bit like navigating traffic with taxis all around: very tricky and easy to mess up. Plus, the list of conditions you could contract is long. That’s because during droughts, people in both high- and low-income households switch water sources, often to a lower quality.