Taps will run dry in the South African metropolis of Cape Town in two months. Hundreds of cities across the world are nearing a similar breakdown. Can they avoid a collapse?
THE WATER conservation maxim, “If it’s brown flush it down, if it’s yellow let it mellow,” adorns the walls of hotel rooms in Cape Town, one of South Africa’s richest cities. Its implication becomes clear as one enters Springs Way, the road leading to the city’s most popular natural springs. Here, “ubers” or flatbed trolleys that are used to haul water cans to waiting cars can be seen everywhere. Under the watchful eyes of the local law enforcement authority stationed on the streets, people jostle for space around a three-inch PVC pipe at a spring water collection point in their mad rush to fill bottles, buckets and jerrycans. The precious water flowing out of the numerous pipe holes has become the city’s lifeline as a dry and waterless future stares at the city’s residents. There are already strict restrictions in place to budget water. The municipality has introduced skyrocketing tariffs and penalties if water usage exceeds 6,000 litres per household per month (50 litres per person per day). Last year in September, the limit stood at 87 litres per person per day.
Once an idyllic street located in the upper middle-class suburb of Newlands, Springs Way has turned into a crowded place ever since Cape Town realised it was running dry. “We have been coming here almost every day to supplement the 50 litres of water per person we get from the municipal pipes,” says Louise, a Cape Town resident. Though there is no limit as to how much water one can collect from the spring, a daily limit of 25 litres per person is likely to be imposed when Day Zero hits on July 15, 2018, and the municipal taps run dry. When that sets in, residents will have to queue up to get water ration from collection points under armed guards. Twenty-five litres is a pitiable amount. A toilet flush generally uses about 9 litres of water.
This story is from the March 15, 2018 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 15, 2018 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Golden 100 Days
India prepares battle blueprint for the next pandemic
CULINARY MASTERPIECE
The sour culinary melon from southern India remains underutilised despite nutritional benefits and a potential to provide food security
Over to panchayats
Can the government's move to align panchayat targets with UN's Sustainable Development Goals help India meet the global deadline?
Genetic rescue
Odisha to introduce two female tigers to Similipal forests to improve genetic diversity of its melanistic tiger population
Standing up for period rights
Women of Maharashtra's Madia tribe take steps to root out superstitions about menstruation, end the practice of living in isolation
PUT THE PATIENT FIRST
Draft guidelines on passive euthanasia exclude the interests of terminally ill patients: A letter to the Union health minister
Dead end
West Bengal moves to discontinue Kolkata’s trams despite calls to revive the city’s oldest and cleanest mode of transport
A river lost
Unchecked discharge of industrial effluents and inadequate sewage treatment facilities have turned the Hindon water toxic. ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY tracks the river's journey though seven Uttar Pradesh districts, starting from its origin in Saharanpur
RECKLESS DISREGARD
India is set to expand seaweed cultivation along its coastline by promoting Kappaphycus alvarezii, a known invasive species that has smothered coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar over the past two decades. Should the country instead focus on its native species?
Joining The Carbon Club
India's carbon market will soon be a reality, but will it fulfil its aim of reducing emissions? A report by PARTH KUMAR and MANAS AGRAWAL