Source: ComeToCapeTown.com via Facebook.
Fear of losing something that would normally be taken for granted inevitably provokes popular action. This was the case in Cape Town, South Africa’s legislative capital, as concerns about severe water shortages caused experts to predict that a so-called ‘Day Zero’ was just around the corner. Day Zero is the name for the day when taps run dry and there are vast queues in the street as people desperately seek supplies. This day was originally supposed to arrive this year but the forecast was then pushed back for 2019. Now, some are suggesting that Day Zero may never come but it is that very complacency that could speed up its arrival.
Rationing of water was put in place to stave off the threat of Cape Town running dry. Individuals were restricted to using 50 litres of water each day, with these measures evidently contributing to an improvement in the city’s prospects. Just because something has been dealt with in the short term, it doesn’t mean that Day Zero should be consigned to the history books as a great big fuss about nothing. As Professor Bob Scholes of the University of Witwatersrand told the BBC, it is tempting for people to react to the temporary relief of difficult conditions as an indication that the bad times are behind them.
While, of course, solace should be taken in the fact that Day Zero has not arrived yet, a failure to remain vigilant about the conditions that brought about the need for rationing will ensure that it will not be long before people are queueing in the streets to receive a basic allowance of water. Cape Town has struggled with a water crisis since a drought in 2015, but it is not the only city to have introduced drastic measures to hold off a potential Day Zero. In fact, water crisis around the globe has been analysed, comparing the situation in Cape Town to that of Sao Paulo in 2015. The Brazilian city was required to truck water into the area under escort under fear of being looted by thirsty citizens. Cairo’s own Day Zero is forecast to hit in 2025, while Mexico City is rationing water in a similar fashion to Cape Town. Water crises are affecting major cities across the globe, with the widespread nature of the problems making it imperative for governments everywhere to take action now.
Cape Town now faces a challenge to bring back the tourists who stayed away in fear of Day Zero. Source: Cape Town & Western Cape Convention Bureau via Facebook.
The water issues in Cairo are a result of the cleanliness of the Nile being compromised by waste, with the Nile providing almost all of the city’s water supply. Yet, Cape Town has demonstrated that, while a worrying forecast may spark fear in the city, it can also give time for a difference to be made. Plans for a new water treatment plant have been made in an attempt to preemptively combat the water crisis. This is the kind of preventive action that is needed. Forecasts may be gloomy, but they give administrations and populations the time to prepare for the worst and try to prevent it from becoming reality. Cape Town has avoided Day Zero for now, and the recent scare earlier this year will have provided a cautionary tale for citizens regarding the use of water. Reckless wastage and maltreatment of water supplies must come to an end across the world, otherwise Day Zero may not prove so avoidable in the future.
