Cape Town approaches Day Zero, lessons to learn and ways to avoid such a predicament

In Cape Town, South Africa, they're calling it "Day Zero" -- the day when the taps run dry. City officials had recently said that day would come on April 22.
This week, they moved up the date to April 12.Cape Town is South Africa's second-largest city and a top international tourist draw. Now, residents play a new and delicate game of water math each day.

They're recycling bath water to help flush toilets. They're being told to limit showers to 90 seconds. And hand sanitizer, once somewhat of an afterthought, is now a big seller.

"Unwashed hair is now a sign of social responsibility," resident Darryn Ten told CNN.

Cape Town, a popular tourist destination, has been hit by its worst drought in a century.

Much of southern Africa has been recovering from a drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, following heavy summer rains.

However, Cape Town is still gripped by a drought and has had very low rainfall for the past three years.

Last week, Mayor Patricia de Lille warned the city had reached a “point of no return”.

“We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them,” she said at a press conference.

“Despite our urging for months, 60% of Capetonians are callously using more than 87 litres per day,” she added, referring to the current daily limit.

A person uses about 15 litres per minute for a typical shower and the same amount when flushing a standard toilet, according to WaterWise, a South African water usage awareness campaign.

So how did this happen? How does a major city in the developed world just run dry?

It's been a slow-motion crisis, exacerbated by three factors:

- The worst drought in more than a century, which has pushed Cape Town's water scarcity into a potentially deadly horizon

- The metro area's population, which is 4 million and growing quickly.

- A rapidly changing climate.

A campaign to help Cape Town avoid "Day Zero" offers residents some water-saving tips.

As Cape Town residents try to save water, the concepts of cooking without water and growing crops in seawater have become somewhat meaningful.

According to a report released by WWF, about 1.1 billion people face water shortage in the world. The report also indicates that 2.7 billion people experience the problem of water shortage in at least one month every year. This implies that the water shortage problem is a real one, which affects around 27% of the world’s population.

With worldwide population increasing at a rate of 1.13% or 80 million people every year, nations need to take action to solve a problem which will only worsen.

This should tell us that Cape Town is not the only city faced with this predicament and the sooner we address the menace that leads to this, the better.

Let’s now look at some of the causes of water scarcity and try to address them.

 Pollution
Pollution is a major cause of water shortage. Water is polluted when industrial wastes are deposited into water bodies thus making it unfit for human consumption.

 Overuse of Water
When water is overused, shortage occurs. Some people use too much water especially for irrigation purposes. It therefore becomes inadequate for other equally important uses.
"It is quite unbelievable that a majority of people do not seem to care and are sending all of us headlong towards Day Zero," a statement from the mayor's office said. "We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them."

  Water Wastage
Wastage of water is also a major cause of water shortage. Some people leave their taps running even when they are not fetching water. All this is lost to the ground. The resultant problem is lack of enough water.

 Drought
When drought strikes an area, there is usually no rain for a long period of time. This makes rivers to dry. Other water sources such as streams, ponds, etc. also dry up. 

 Destruction of Water Catchment Areas
 Water catchment areas such as forests are continually being destroyed through deforestation to pave way for human settlement. This problem has been brought about by rapid population increase. As a result, there is not enough rain thus causing water shortage.

Now that we know what the causes are, doing exactly the opposite will serve to stem the tide. Let us consider doing the following:

– People should be educated on the benefits of conserving water.
– Laws should be enacted to prevent water pollution. Those found polluting water should pay a fine or face imprisonment.
– People should be encouraged to recycle rain water.

– Farmers should be encouraged to adopt farming practices that use less water.
– Water catchment areas should be preserved.
– People should contribute funds to support clean water initiatives especially in areas that face water shortage.

Sources: waterfilteranswers.com
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