Getting even one month of respite from the thought of impending drought can be a great relief. That is what residents of drought-stricken Cape Town, in South Africa, have found out. City officials have told them that piped water to their homes would not be cut off until July 9, one month later than what they were told earlier.
But the residents know that it is not yet uhuru. They know that if they do not cut down drastically their consumption pattern by so-called “Day Zero”, that is, the last day of normal water supply, they will have to queue at 200 standpipes for daily rations of 25 liters.
City officials have been enforcing strict waste controls including prosecuting homeowners who consume more than the current 50-litre daily limit. In a statement, the city’s deputy mayor, Ian Neilson, said “The Groenland water transfer and the reduction in our weekly average demand has had a dramatic impact on the ‘Day Zero’ date,” referring to the recent water transfer deal to bail out the county’s parched second largest city.
The deputy mayor further stated, “Today I urge the residents of Cape Town not to ease up on their water-saving efforts. We cannot afford to slow down when the estimated ‘Day Zero’ date moves out, simply because we cannot accurately predict the volume of rainfall still to come.”
As Cape Town officials noted, every day that the city uses more than 450 million liters, “Day Zero” becomes more likely. In the past week, city-wide consumption stood at an average of 523 million liters daily. The previous forecast for “Day Zero” was June 4. The city has published a name-and-shame list of the worst water offenders in Cape Town, and it says it will fine the heaviest water consumers.
However, some Cape Town residents believe the officials are not efficient enough. They criticize the officials for failing to introduce and implement usage restrictions much earlier. They also accused them of ignoring the warnings by experts before the drought.
