# Is anyone paying attention to Cape Town? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349 "2018-02-07T03:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/1 "2018-02-07T03:13:37Z")
> **[Cape Town’s Water Crisis Should Be a Warning to the World](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/02/cape-towns-water-crisis-should-be-a-warning-to-the-world.html)** > > Major cities running dry are a predictable consequence of climate change, population growth, and poor water management. A city of 4 million is about to run out of water – like completely. Imagine if Phoenix or Houston ran of water. Imagine the insanity that would be ensuing. This is about to fucking happen, and it’s a warning to every city in every country from America to Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/2 "2018-02-07T03:39:00Z")
I’ve been following it, and it’s interesting and newsworthy, but not particularly unusual. A lot of large cities are facing [water stress](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/29/where-world-most-water-stressed-cities-drought). ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/3 "2018-02-07T04:54:34Z")
Desalination and deep wells will eventually ameliorate the problem, until then they have to cut usage by 90%. Good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/4 "2018-02-07T05:06:37Z")
I’m always interested in situations like this. Personally, I’m not worried. Last year here on the east side of the Big Island, we got 185 inches of rain. In 2016 it was 235. My 10,000 gallon catchment tank is almost always full. Rain water drains off my roof into gutters that fill the tank. The water is heated by solar panels, so if I want to take a 20 minute shower (not that I would want to), I could. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/5 "2018-02-07T05:07:21Z")
Existing thread: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=847354](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=847354) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/6 "2018-02-07T05:22:16Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > …and it’s a warning to every city in every country from America to Australia. Well, very few places on earth have a [Mediterranean Climate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate), so that’s quite an exaggeration. ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/7 "2018-02-07T06:04:18Z")
Every single day. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/8 "2018-02-07T06:25:36Z")
> [@WilyQuixote](#): > > Every single day. 🙂 I’m glad we’ve got a Doper on the ground to keep us informed. I’m astounded that the entire western world isn’t making a huge issue of this. As the OP said, if it was happening in Phoenix or Houston, the press would be in full-scale “everybody panic!” mode. Now my question for Capetown folk: are you angry about the stupidity that caused this ? It was pretty easy to see the problem developing, and it’s pretty easy to fix. Desalinization plants are expensive, but not outrageously expensive. They exist all over the world. Capetown is a modern western city–how the frick do you justify suffering like a third-world country when it is totally unnecessary? Are you demanding that your politicians pay the price for such stupidity? Are there signs of panic developing? Or are people still acting in the typical mode of any natural disaster: when everybody is full of brotherly love for their neighbors, paddling through floodwaters to save some stranger’s puppy, etc. That feeling lasts for about a week…after which the looting sets in. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/9 "2018-02-07T07:02:12Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Now my question for Capetown folk: are you angry about the stupidity that caused this ? It’s “Cape Town” please, not “Capetown”. And yeah, generally people are pissed off. > [@](#): > > It was pretty easy to see the problem developing, and it’s pretty easy to fix. It should be noted that dams were full, or nearly full, after winter rains in 2014. Three years of below average rainfall. 2017 was the driest year on record since 1921. Even so, by this time last year it was clear that there would be a problem if winter rainfall was below average (which it was) and local government only really got into gear in October 2017. Until then, the strategy was largely nagging residents to use less water and praying for rain. > [@](#): > > Capetown is a modern western city–how the frick do you justify suffering like a third-world country when it is totally unnecessary? At the moment we do have water in our taps and “Day Zero” , the day taps are switched off, is a constantly shifting target. > [@](#): > > Are you demanding that your politicians pay the price for such stupidity? The mayor is facing a disciplinary tribunal on unrelated charges. The Cape Town municipality is governed by the Democratic Alliance, which is likely to take a hit in the next municipal elections. Given the alternatives, they will receive a majority vote and will continue to govern Cape Town. > [@](#): > > Are there signs of panic developing? People are definitely panic buying water but otherwise not really. Bottles of 5l still water sell out within hours of arrival, even when they are limited to several bottles per customer. Water hasn’t run out yet, its just limited to a mere 50 litres per person per day. Enough for a single toilet flush, a 2 minute shower, a few litres for cooking, a few litres for cleaning and 2 litres for drinking. On Monday, Day Zero, (the day when taps will be switched off) was moved from 12 April to mid May, mainly due to reduction in use from the agricultural sector. May is the start of the rainy season, and may avert Day Zero. Even so, extreme water restrictions are likely to remain in place. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/10 "2018-02-07T07:56:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Well, very few places on earth have a [Mediterranean Climate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate), so that’s quite an exaggeration. I think he only means Angola, Argentina and Armenia. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/11 "2018-02-07T08:01:13Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Now my question for Capetown folk: are you angry about the stupidity that caused this ? I also live in Cape Town. This problem was not caused by stupidity. The basic fact is that this is the worst drought for 300 years. No government can change that. In 2014 we had floods, and the dams were full to overflowing. It’s likely that this will be the case again in a couple of years. News articles about floods in Cape Town over the past few years. [http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Cape-Town-floods](http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Cape-Town-floods) Huge desalination plants take years to build, and cost billions. By the time any plant could be built and come into operation, it’s very likely that the crisis would be long past. The main causative factor for this drought seems to be the El Nino Southern Oscillation. Climate scientists say that there may be a tendency towards less rainfall in the Western Cape over the 21st century due to climate change, but there will still be plenty of wet years, and this kind of drought is NOT the ‘new normal’ for Cape Town. Is Cape Town’s drought the new normal? [http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/2017/11/01/is-cape-towns-drought-the-new-normal-piotr-wolskis-article-for-groundup/](http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/2017/11/01/is-cape-towns-drought-the-new-normal-piotr-wolskis-article-for-groundup/) ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/12 "2018-02-07T08:54:56Z")
There are also temporary desalinisation projects and aquifer projects in progress, which will bring more water into the city’s supply. This should push ‘day zero’ (currently in May) further into the future. The rainy season also starts in May. The Strandfontein desalination plant is on track, and will produce 2 million litres of water per day by March and 7 million litres per day by May. This plant will only operate for two years, by which time the water crisis will probably be over. > **[Rush to get Cape Town's temporary desalination plants online | News24](https://www.news24.com/News24/rush-to-get-cape-towns-temporary-desalination-plants-online-20180201)** > > The City of Cape Town's R240m temporary desalination plant at Strandfontein Pavilion is on track, but it will only start producing the first two million litres of an expected seven million a day in March. The city also has three major aquifer projects in progress, in Atlantis, Table Mountain and the Cape Flats. The Atlantis and Cape Flats aquifers are expected to provide about 25 million litres of water per day from June. > **[Desalination plants on track to deliver water, says City of CT](https://ewn.co.za/2018/02/02/desalination-plants-on-track-to-deliver-water-says-city-of-ct)** > > The first phase is expected to produce 2 million litres in March and the second phase will output 5 million litres in May. ---
**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/13 "2018-02-07T11:17:14Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > This problem was not caused by stupidity. The basic fact is that this is the worst drought for 300 years. No government can change that. It was certainly exacerbated by stupidity and stronger measures should have been taken at an earlier stage. All of the water augmentation measures were subject to delays, (including Strandfontein, which at least is on track now) If Day Zero is avoided, it will be by the skin of our teeth. Even now, half the strategy appears to consist of hoping the winter rains will come on time and in abundance. There has also been a distinct lack of leadership around this issue. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/14 "2018-02-13T13:05:23Z")
I was quite closely involved from a tech support side with the initial studies done on the Table Mountain Group Aquifer (which doesn’t lie under Table Mountain itself) and that was 15 years ago. Even then, local water and climate scientists all knew there was going to be a huge problem when climate change worsened, and sooner rather than later. Not happy to be proven right. Even less happy that the initial study, including the pilot wells drilled, was shelved for shortsighted political expediency. People are in general losing their collective shit about it, but they nevertheless [go on using water](https://citymaps.capetown.gov.za/waterviewer/)like there’s going to be a last minute reprieve. Zoom in on that map - everything not dark green is using too much water. I’m fortunate - I have a machine in my kitchen that makes 30_l_ of water from air every day, I have 3 k_l_ of rainwater stored, and other options if things get worse. We use 25_l_/person daily (and I consider that 10_l_ too much, but that’s my “you only really need 5_l_/day” Burner habits talking). > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Well, very few places on earth have a [Mediterranean Climate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate), so that’s quite an exaggeration. Yeah, only Mediterranean climate countries will be affected by climate change… I don’t think so. And who needs SoCal, anyway, amiright? ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/15 "2018-02-13T16:23:41Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’m fortunate - I have a machine in my kitchen that makes 30_l_ of water from air every day How much power/energy does that use? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/16 "2018-02-13T17:05:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I have a machine in my kitchen that makes 30_l_ of water from air every day, I have 3 k_l_ of rainwater stored, and other options if things get worse. Awesome! I have a line to some enterprising little fellows that could give you a great deal on a droid that speaks Bocce and understands the language of binary load lifters. Seriously, though, I’m glad you’re prepared, and that sounds like a pretty cool setup. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/17 "2018-02-13T17:10:23Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > …Yeah, only Mediterranean climate countries will be affected by climate change… I don’t think so. > > And who needs SoCal, anyway, amiright? Then it’s a good thing I didn’t say that! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/18 "2018-02-13T19:52:20Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > How much power/energy does that use? 450w > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Then it’s a good thing I didn’t say that! Neither did \*\*asahi \*\*say only places with the same climate as Cape Town would be affected… ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/19 "2018-02-14T07:00:37Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > 450w So if it runs at 450W for 24 hours, it uses 10.8 kWh to produce 30l of water. Now, I don’t have any figures for how much water is withdrawn from the Cape Town water supply to generate 10 kWh, but it will be a _lot_ more than 30l. Your machine (which is a pretty expensive investment in the first place) actually uses far more water resources than it condenses from the air. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349/20 "2018-02-14T07:20:09Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > So if it runs at 450W for 24 hours, it uses 10.8 kWh to produce 30l of water. > > Now, I don’t have any figures for how much water is withdrawn from the Cape Town water supply to generate 10 kWh, but it will be a _lot_ more than 30l. Not necessarily. The power may be generated using water not taken from the Cape Town water supply, or its catchment area. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-paying-attention-to-cape-town/808349.md?page=2)