The day we will have no water….

The day we will have no water….

Mark 12^th April 2018 on your calendar. Even if you do not live in Cape Town, mark that day.

That’s “Zero Day.” The day when Cape Town runs out of water completely. Taps will run dry.

After three consecutive years of drought, the taps are running dry in this city at an alarming rate. Already, severe restrictions are in place. Starting 1^st Feb, each person in the city is allowed to use 13.2 gallons (49.97 litres) of water per day, tightening from 23 gallons (87 litres) in mid-January.

Earlier this year, the city published a name-and-shame list of the worst water offenders in Cape Town, and it says it is issuing fines for the heaviest water users.

Farmers have been asked to cut back on irrigation, car hire firms have stopped washing cars, while tourists in self-catering accommodation have been asked to restrict personal washing.

In private homes, swimming pools are empty, gardens are bone-dry, and residents are controlling their usage by using grey water to flush their toilets. Hotels and restaurants are coping, encouraging guests to reduce their water consumption by suggesting two-minute showers, removing bath plugs from hotel tubs, and placing hand sanitiser in bathrooms.

There is no book or past to follow. This is for the first time we that we are seeing the full impact of a major global city losing its piped potable water supply. But isn’t this how our world could become if we do not stop this wastage of water?

We take water for granted but without it, we all could perish. Earth would not exist. So let Cape Town be a wake up call to all of us living on this earth – there is only so much water; lets conserve it.

Yes, Cape Town is not a one-off … We need to use this now to reboot our entire system to be prepared for it in the future.