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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.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday January 13 2018, @10:20PM
There is that, it's not insignificant. Still lots of Towns or cities probably did fine when they where smaller. Cape Town is now around 3.5-4.0M or something like that? It might have grown to large to sustain itself from the surrounding area. They might not have what it takes to become or be a real Megacity. Still there are quite a few larger cities out in the desert and such that are doing fine so it might just be substandard municipals in combination with natural causes.