Giving Compass' Take:
- In 2018, Cape Town almost became the first city to run out of water. Since then, local leaders have put the duty and responsibility on residents to help avoid repeats.
- How can you support preparation in regions likely to be affected by drought and water shortages?
- Here's an article on the Cape Town water crisis and how it served as a warning to the world.
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After three consecutive years of lower-than-expected rainfall, Cape Town, South Africa, found itself in a water crisis in 2017 and 2018.
Amid dire warnings of reaching "Day Zero," when the water supply was expected to run dry, city officials took desperate measures to curtail consumption. Households and businesses were given reduction targets to hit, while public information campaigns encouraged water conservation, including an effort to limit showers to two minutes with the help of specially released songs.
While the city has averted the worst of its water crises — despite still experiencing drought — other cities are now working to avoid similar situations as the effects of climate change become more pronounced. This will require dramatic efforts in planning and public education, as well as improving residents' "water literacy," according to Gareth Morgan, Cape Town's head of resiliency.
"We now understand, because Cape Town was saved by 4.3 million people doing small things in order to save Cape Town, that the future of water is one of shared risk and shared benefits," Morgan told Smart Cities Dive in an interview at the Meeting of the Minds Annual Summit in Phoenix last week.
Read the full article about water literacy lessons from Cape Town by Chris Teale at Smart Cities Dive.