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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 13 2018, @02:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the so-thirsty dept.

Cape Town, home to Table Mountain, African penguins, sunshine and sea, is a world-renowned tourist destination. But it could also become famous for being the first major city in the world to run out of water.

Most recent projections suggest that its water could run out as early as March. The crisis has been caused by three years of very low rainfall, coupled with increasing consumption by a growing population.

The local government is racing to address the situation, with desalination plants to make sea water drinkable, groundwater collection projects, and water recycling programmes.

Meanwhile Cape Town's four million residents are being urged to conserve water and use no more than 87 litres (19 gallons) a day. Car washing and filling up swimming pools has been banned. And the visiting Indian cricket team were told to limit their post-match showers to two minutes.

Such water-related problems are not confined to Cape Town, of course.

Nearly 850 million people globally lack access to safe drinking water, says the World Health Organisation, and droughts are increasing.


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday January 13 2018, @09:53PM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday January 13 2018, @09:53PM (#621951) Journal

    not flushing the toilets until absolutely necessary for example, something that would be found disgusting in America.

    I believe we in America invented the phrase "If its yellow, let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down".

    In the US, perfectly good toilets are being replaced at a fantastic rate with low-volume flush models. There's risk of a porcelain shortage.

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