Living in Zero Days - Cape Town without water

Kristin Hagan* and Yannick Beaudoin

By GRID-Arendal

February 15^th, 2018

“When the well is dry, we will know the worth of water” – Benjamin Franklin

Cape Town, South Africa (a plausible future scenario): The lineups are long and tensions are high. Police and other security forces are pressed to maintain order as desperate people queue for access to the emergency water rations that are themselves nearly depleted. National and international aid agencies announce they can’t sustain their support long term and recommend emergency relocation of all residents. But with other parts of South Africa also dealing with water shortages, it is unclear where residents can be located nor how long these “water refugees” will remain displaced.

Reading this, you might safely assume it is an imagined worst case scenario for a possible future somewhere in the 2100s.

You would be wrong.

On February 1st, 2018, Cape Town issued its first ever Level 6B water restriction. This entails a maximum allocation of 50 litres of tap water per person per day. To provide a context, the average South African uses 235 litres per day while the average European and North American uses between 300 and 400 litres per day!

Level 6B didn’t happen overnight. Cape Town has had to enforce progressively more restrictive water quotas over the past year. And without any significant rain predicted, Level 6B marks the countdown to Day Zero -- the day the taps run dry.

The few drops of water left in Cape Town’s main water reservoir: Theewaterskloof Dam. Credit: 6000.co.za

Just over a week ago, Day Zero was estimated to fall on April 16. This week, it was announced that Day Zero has been pushed back to June 4th. This is primarily due to water donations by farmers as they divert water use from agriculture in order to support Cape Town’s critical needs. There has also been an increase in the number of people adhering to the 87 litres per day (Level 4B restriction) in place since July 2017. However, pushing Day Zero back further requires that people continue to save water. This would give Cape Town a chance to make it to the beginning of the rainy season in June - although it is not known whether the upcoming winter will break the drought that has been crippling the region since 2014 and which has now been declared a national disaster.

The water crisis in Cape Town has been categorised as a humanitarian crisis. People are queuing at water collection points for clean spring water which is restricted to 25 litres per person per day. Violence in the queues has already been reported. When Day Zero hits, Capetonians will have to collect water from only 200 collection points around the city. Many, such as the homeless and the elderly already struggle to get to current collection points. Cape Town has a population of over 3.7 million people, so 200 water stations is not a lot.

Queuing for water in Cape Town – down to 50 litres a day per person. Credit: Ingebjørg Lingaas

“The water crisis is a wake-up call for all of us. We should never use more water than absolutely needed” - Stuart Black, Cape Town Resident

Living on maximum 50 litres of water a day requires commitment and sacrifice. Just one toilet flush alone uses 9 to 15 litres of water. In the words of one local resident, the expression “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down” has become a common slogan in the city.

Capetonians are also encouraged to shower with buckets to capture all water, and are further forced to drastically cut all water use in the household. Since restrictions have been in place for over a year most people are used to saving water and reusing greywater. However, as the dams empty and shops run out of bottled water and storage tanks, the situation is becoming more dire.

Clear social divides are increasingly apparent in this crisis which emphasize Cape Town’s significant wealth disparities, with more affluent residents able to afford alternative measures (such as storage tanks, small scale filtration systems and well boring) while the poor majority is left with few options. There is also a visible disparity between residents and tourists. Tourism is at the core of Cape Town’s economy. But tourists are sometimes unaware of the severity of the issue combined with the fact that there are no current plans that would see hotels turning off their water taps should Day Zero happen.

No water left in Cape Town’s main water reservoir: Theewaterskloof Dam. Credit 6000.ca.za

Civil unrest is already simmering as fears related to health and hygiene are increasing as are concerns that there will be a breakdown in fire-fighting capability that could affect the city and its surrounding areas like the iconic Table Mountain. Drought vulnerable wildlife has already attracted the attention of outside support with water donations to animal shelters and wildlife centers. But in the grand scheme of things, how much thinking will go to animals when the human need is so great?

“Adjusting to water restrictions was hard at first, but we're now used to 90 second power showers and collecting grey water for flushing the toilet. Also daily checking to see if water is available for sale online for stockpiling. Thinking back to how much water we consumed before, it feels so wasteful. Even after this drought passes, I think most Capetonians will be changed forever in their consumption and care of water.” Amilia Hill, resident of Cape Town

As is common in so many crises, both the best and the worst of humanity is on display. Cape Town is already seeing a lot of community and collective action. People from other areas of South Africa are donating a large amount of water for distribution to schools, elders’ centres and other purposes. Judging from the engagement on social media, the crisis may have planted a seed for a new water saving movement as thousands of people are discussing the situation and sharing water saving tips. However, the crisis is also seeing evidence of greed, including examples of dirty water being bottled and sold to desperate citizens, as well as retailers inflating prices on water and storage containers.

“50 litres is difficult to live with but we will survive. However, if you look at some parts of Cape Town water is wasted and the government is not doing anything”. - Margie Adams, resident of informal settlement in Cape Town

For water-rich nations, Zero Days may seem like a distant problem. But this misses the point. While people can live without oil, electricity, or even the internet, no one can live without water. If it runs out, we would all fight to survive and to provide our children with a fundamental necessity of life. We have all participated in making the world we now find ourselves in.

Zero Days will not remain local. They are consequence of climate change. Their effects and repercussions will spread the world over. Water is life – imagine for one moment, what not having any might feel to you.