Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
1–10 of 147 posts
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#2Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, has already run out of water. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-blockade-r...
There were serious problems before the war, but now it's just a disaster area. The US supports this.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#3I live in Cape Town, and this article is missing some points about whats been going on:
1. "Day 0" has been moved forward - we're now expected to run out of water 21 April.
2. The daily limit of water per person is 87l but only ~50% of consumers meet this target
3. This is considered a 1/1000 year event (in contrast to 1/100 experienced elsewhere in the country recently). However due to increased population this is being called "the new normal".
4. Water allocation between residential/agriculture was done at some national level, meaning the province wasn't able to manage the supplies correctly.
5. 6/7 water relief projects are behind schedule - these include desalination plants and aquifer pumps.
6. We lose 15% of our water through leaks - much lower than the world average but not as good as the best (around 10% in Australia and New Zealand)
Some other personal notes: 1. There has been talk of tapping the aquifers for decades - the studies haven't been prioritised and we still don't know how much we can safely take. The outlying areas of Cape Town are essentially marshes and during normal rainfall seasons are prone to flooding, so there is definitely some space but noone knows how much.
2. The city has lost R1.6b ($130m) in water fees due to reduced usage, so now we're facing a "drought tax". To me this is bullshit but thats a whole other post.
3. The restrictions should not be eased once the dams are full - with climate change and increasing population its only a matter of time until we run out of water and no amount of rainfall is going to help
4. When we run out of water there will be water trucks and collections points, but there has been no talk of sanitation - I suspect a lot of people are going to get really sick.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#4Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, has already run out of water. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-blockade-r... There were serious problems before the war, but now it's just a disaster area. The US supports this.
The difference is, Cape Town is not in war time. I can't think of the last time there was literal war in Cape Town, there's nothing in recent times. My best guess would be "a small but significant military engagement" on 8 January 1806 (1).
Unrest in the late 1980s doesn't count.
As far as I know, there were no military engagements in Cape Town during the Anglo-Boer wars (1880 - 1881 and 1899 – 1902).
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#5Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, has already run out of water. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-blockade-r... There were serious problems before the war, but now it's just a disaster area. The US supports this.
The difference is, Cape Town is not in war time. I can't think of the last time there was literal war in Cape Town, there's nothing in recent times. My best guess would be "a small but significant military engagement" on 8 January 1806 (1). Unrest in the late 1980s doesn't count. As far as I know, there were no military engagements in Cape Town during the Anglo-Boer wars (1880 - 1881 and 1899 – 1902). 1 ) https://en.…
There was some action in World War 2 with shipping around the peninsula, but nothing in the city itself
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is, Cape Town is not in war time. I can't think of the last time there was literal war in Cape Town, there's nothing in recent times. My best guess would be "a small but significant military engagement" on 8 January 1806 (1). Unrest in the late 1980s doesn't count. As far as I know, there were no military engagements in Cape Town during the Anglo-Boer wars (1880 - 1881 and 1899 – 1902). 1 ) https://en.…
There was some action in World War 2 with shipping around the peninsula, but nothing in the city itself
Right. Nothing that would destroy the city's pipes or other infrastructure, and therefor ability to manage water, in that.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#7It's definitely a big problem, yet I see a lot of creative solutions which gives us a bit of hope for the future. People are also working together to keep water consumption at its lowest.
A lot of people are gathering rain water with big water tanks next to their houses. I've personally built a setup connected to the gutters of my roof, and it's amazing how much water you can gather like this.
It's also quite easy to keep your swimming pool topped up by simply getting a cover for it so that water does not evaporate.
However the occasional light rains won't do much to affect the big dams that supply drinking water to the wider population of Cape Town. There simply has been too little rain these past winters to fill the dams up to an adequate level.
I think the long term solutions for Cape Town will be increasing and improving the water catchment areas so the dams can cope with the population increase, possibly combined with desalination plants if it gets really bad.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#8Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, has already run out of water. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-blockade-r... There were serious problems before the war, but now it's just a disaster area. The US supports this.
It is not just the US. Canada in recent years signed a $15Bln contract to supply the Saudi Arabia rulers with weapons. (I was going to say 'government but 'rulers' feels more appropriate in this case).
Saudi Arabia is at war with Yemen and the war is causing the humanitarian crisis described in the above article.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#9Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, has already run out of water. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-blockade-r... There were serious problems before the war, but now it's just a disaster area. The US supports this.
It is not just the US. Canada in recent years signed a $15Bln contract to supply the Saudi Arabia rulers with weapons. (I was going to say 'government but 'rulers' feels more appropriate in this case). Saudi Arabia is at war with Yemen and the war is causing the humanitarian crisis described in the above article.
Indeed, the UK position is "We'll support the Saudis in every practical way short of engaging in combat.":
https://www.caat.org.uk/campaigns/stop-arming-saudi/arms-sal...
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#10Cape Town has had some record high temperatures in recent years (1) along with the multi-year drought.
To what extent is this likely to be due to climate change?
1)
http://www.traveller24.com/News/Alerts/sa-summer-heat-breaks...
http://ewn.co.za/2017/12/07/heatwave-brings-record-setting-t...