GSA South African Visit Blog Series Part 1: Cape Town’s Water Literacy Improves Quickly and Dramatically Following Crisis
Theewaterskloof Dam, the largest dam in the Western Cape Water Supply System, at the height of the drought.
GSA’s Vice President is currently in South Africa with the California Department of Food and Agriculture on their visit to the Western Cape to discuss drought and climate change mitigation strategies for agriculture. Joining CDFA Secretary Karen Ross and Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth, as well as a number of agriculture and conservation leaders from throughout the state, Taylor-Silva will be sharing a three-part blog series on the visit, focused upon urban education on drought, the empowerment of and challenges inherent for South African farmers, and agriculture’s response to drought.
No matter their industry, no matter their economic position, everyone in Cape Town knows how much water is in the dams. It’s published weekly in the papers, and they’re reminded to care every time they take a shower.
In early 2018 Cape Town quickly became front page news world-wide, as “Day Zero” quickly approached following three consecutive years of drought. Although the notion that an entire city could run out of water came as a surprise to its residents at the time, in hindsight it had been clear. The region saw 50-70% of its long-term average rainfall from June 2015 – June 2018, and many of the rainfall records for the period were the lowest since that sort of thing had been recorded in the 1880’s.
In the end, locals believe this was a 1:400 year drought. Five main reservoirs hold an 18-month supply for the region, with the City of Cape Town consuming 58 percent, small towns using six percent, agriculture netting 26 percent and 10 percent lost due to evapotranspiration or leaky systems.
Day zero was a term coined in a meeting of officials when it was realized that the reservoirs held approximately 200 or so days of water. Discussions centered on how to manage that when suddenly one official said: “What about Day Zero?” What about the day when the dams go completely dry?
A region of great wealth and substantial poverty was equalized by the lack of one critical resource: water.
In South Africa, official documented unemployment is about 30%, but unofficial unemployment numbers land closer to 50%. Government officials realized quickly that distribution of the limited amount of water available would have to include and prioritize the people who weren’t ratepayers, those who live in the tin “shantytowns” pocketed throughout the city. In these areas, there’s generally only one water spigot for every 1,000 people.
At first the “formals,” the urban residents on the grid that used 66% of the City’s water, balked. They pointed fingers at the “informals,” those who live in the pop-up sheet metal towns, arguing that they were using all the water. Reality was much different. Due to the fact that these areas have no showers or sinks, most people line up to fill buckets of water every day, which means it’s more difficult to waste. Government officials began dialoging with the community and when these poor regions were accused, they informed the crowds that the “informals,” who make up 14% of the city’s population, used only 4% of the water. Finally, discussions about who caused this program refocused and water for lawns vs. the city’s most in-need people was put into perspective.
Officials learned that the elite will simply pay more for their water, so the most effective way to drive change was through social intimidation such as publishing the names of the top 100 most wasteful streets of residents, and striking fear alongside directions on what to do to mitigate the issue. The residents also had to trust their city. Before things turned around, individuals were limited to 50 liters of water each day, or 13.2 gallons per person, the equivalent of a standard kitchen trash can.
Cape Town eventually recovered and by November 2018 the dams regained water, filling to 74%. This has been an especially rainy winter season and levels are looking better than ever. But residents of Cape Town now take showers with 2-minute sand timers.
Agriculture felt the impact, which we will address in another in this series of blogs, with vineyards and orchards on one side of a road dying while the other side prevailed, and with a frustrated agricultural community wondering why notice of the problem and education of the urban sector hadn’t come sooner.
Conversations with the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Planning and excerpts from “Day Zero: One City’s Response to a Record-Breaking Drought” by Leonie Joubert and Gina Ziervogel, contributed greatly to this blog post.