Cape Town and its desperate battle to avoid running out of water is a climate change disaster, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, stated this January. While Capetonians are currently in a dire race against time to conserve water, with the local government limiting its residents to 50 litres of water per day, there is another water-intensive culprit to consider: agriculture.
If Cape Town is to avoid Day Zero it will not be because of a silver bullet from the government. It will only happen if Capetonians completely change the way they use their water. These past few weeks I’ve been asking locals what they think about the water crisis and Day Zero. It’s easy to tune into what is happening in the news – but what is filtering through to the people?
Cape Town is currently in its worst drought in 100 years. We get it. We know. Or do we? So far 60% of Capetonians have not adhered to the delegated amount of 87 litres per person per day. This suggests that the majority of Capetonians are not aware of the harsh reality Day Zero would bring. Put simply, if we continue on our current trajectory then Day Zero will fast be upon us. That is a guarantee.