What exactly is Cape Town Water Crisis?

Cape Town has been under tremendous stress for using tap water for almost six months now. The reservoir from which the city of 40 million people gets water looked like this in 2014.



In 2018 it looked like this




You probably must have heard about the announcements that were made for the cricket team of India which when entered the hotel in Cape Town was strongly advised not to use the shower for more than 2 minutes.

Today, the engineers fear they might have to shut down the taps if this continues. The official term for this day in reports is DAY ZERO. Cape Town being the first metro city to see a water shortage is still struggling hard to meet the daily requirements. Thanks to the people and the government.

In 2013 Cape Town received 27 inches of annual rainfall. The year was considered the third wettest year since 1970 in the history of Cape Town. The dams were overflowing. But unfortunately it was the last year to receive a satisfying rainfall.
In 2014, the annual rainfall was about 20 inches and in 2015 it was about 14 inches only. In 2016 the rainfall was just 9 inches and in 2017 was just 6 inches of annual rainfall.

The problem arises due to the conflict between the party ruling and the party responsible for the water supply. In 2014 the national party applied for better infrastructure and better use of the groundwater because of the shortage of rainfall. The application was rejected.
The national party once again applied and along with them many other municipalities applied fearing the shortage of water. A project was proposed but was kept on hold in 2016.

The move is said to be pure political.

Today, without any water in the reservoir and no infrastructure to fetch more water, there is a huge water crisis.
Earlier in November 2017, the government issued a national notice requesting every household to use 23 gallons/day of water only. Only 60% of households were reported to follow the regulations. In January the limit was reduced to 13 gallons/day and in february to 6 gallons/day only.

The government recently issued a notice of closing the taps and calling it DAY ZERO. The notice says that the government will close the water when the water in the reservoir remains 13.6%. After that there will be no water in the shower, taps or toilet. Rest of the water will go to hospitals and emergency buildings.

This scene can be seen in Cape Town today:



Hope this year, cape town receives good rainfall.


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