For visitors to CPT, it may not seem like a city that is undergoing a drought. Indeed, CPT still gets a fair bit of rain, if lower than previous years. The problem is we do not get rain in areas where our dams that provide drinking water are situated.
Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
31–40 of 147 posts
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#32I 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 b…
On the first point 4, it's something that many people don't realise. Water policy in this context is set on a National level. All these Youtubers and Facebook protestors don't understand that a Municipality can't simply shut off water to farms/mines. Various approaches were already discussed prior to the Water Act of 1998:
http://www.dwa.gov.za/Documents/Policies/nwpwp.pdf
But as it says in that document - it's National Policy. The government will need to make the call. There may well be provision for disaster areas, but the government doesn't think CPT qualifies.
On the second point 4, there's a already a health concern with regards to our current water supply. Cracks in pipes in the existing infrastructure allow impurities to enter our water supply. When the pipes are at full pressure this doesn't happen. However, when the pressure is dropped (as what is currently happening in various suburbs), the pressure is not enough to keep these impurities out, and you end up with a contaminated supply in some areas.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#33Earlier 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
Yes, U-boats sank merchant shipping in Table Bay
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#34I 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 b…
Well, that's interesting. Are there companies that own water capacity in countries? Might be a good long term investment.
Not sure how to interpret this statement..
One part of me is disgusted at someone profiting from bad planning and misery of others, the other thinks that this is something that really needs investing.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#35This has also led to an interesting social experiment based on a theory developed by the University of California ( http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494414... ) where household water consumption has been made public ( https://citymaps.capetown.gov.za/waterviewer/ ) in order to apply social pressure on high users.
Cape Town also has this now, although the usage levels are very granular: https://citymaps.capetown.gov.za/waterviewer/
The heaviest offenders have also had mandatory electronic limiters fitted to their properties, permitting no more than 350L per property per day (as of now)
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#36A few points from a Capetonian observing a potential disaster in slow motion:
(a) I don't know how claims about the % of users who are toeing the water restriction line can possibly be accurate. what is the population of Cape Town - last major census in 2011. What if there are actually 50 000 more people in CT than we think?
(b) water production is at just about half of what it was at peak in Jan 2015 despite population growth. This is surely a remarkable achievement, presumably a result of considerable collective action. Source (production graph here: http://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Cit...)
(c) the most egregious users have had water restriction devices installed - maybe the bar is too high and city should be stricter about when this measure is taken.
(d) the daily production of water has been more or less constant since July. This tells me that there is not that much more give. The only serious reduction I could see is through very difficult to enforce measures e.g. buckets only instead of showers. However I would prefer to do this now instead of having dry taps in April.
On a personal note: many home owners have boreholes and full rainwater tanks (it is difficult to store more than a few rainy days' worth of water). My parents' tank is +- 20 days of water at 87l pp per day, although they do not currently have a way to purify the water. My block has a plan to put borehole water into the flats. I don't think anyone knows how long borehole water will last though as there has been a massive spike in drilling.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, that's interesting. Are there companies that own water capacity in countries? Might be a good long term investment.
Not sure how to interpret this statement.. One part of me is disgusted at someone profiting from bad planning and misery of others, the other thinks that this is something that really needs investing.
I meant this in a positive, not negative way. A for-profit company, if done properly, will be able to introduce the required infrastructure where necessary. It should (theoretically at least) also be run in a better way -- if the infrastructure isn't functioning properly, no profits are being made.
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#38For anyone wanting to read more about this, here are some articles and data from the Climate System Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town.
This article explains the severity of the drought, and calculates that the return interval for a two-year drought of this severity is 1150 years (!), which mostly absolves the City of blame for not anticipating it: http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/2017/08/28/how-severe-is-this-drou...
Here, you can see an interactive plot of rainfall in Cape Town. Highlight 2017, 2016 and 2015 to see the reason for the current crisis: http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/current-seasons-rainfall-in-cape-t...
Addressing the scaremongering by the City around "the new normal": http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/2017/11/01/is-cape-towns-drought-t...
Describing the difficulty of forecasting this drought: https://theconversation.com/why-cape-towns-drought-was-so-ha...
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure how to interpret this statement.. One part of me is disgusted at someone profiting from bad planning and misery of others, the other thinks that this is something that really needs investing.
I meant this in a positive, not negative way. A for-profit company, if done properly, will be able to introduce the required infrastructure where necessary. It should (theoretically at least) also be run in a better way -- if the infrastructure isn't functioning properly, no profits are being made.
that is so often not the way for-profit works in any public system (ex: prisons, electricity, garbage hauling, education)
Re: Cape Town could be the first city to run out of water
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why did you think that?
I would guess rising seas. Water gets closer to you, literally.
Have you ever tried drinking sea water? It tastes salty. The short of it being: It makes you thirstier; drinking it is worse than drinking nothing.
Desalination is expensive in many ways. If it was a viable way of acquiring water (which it is in some places, like literal deserts) then these places would have already done it. Hence rising sea levels provide no additional access drinkable water.