The South African police and military are to help secure water collection sites in drought-stricken Cape Town if authorities must turn off most taps on what they call “Day Zero’” a date currently projected to fall in the first half of April, the city said on Sunday.
Hospitals, key economic and industrial areas, and densely populated areas with a higher risk of disease would be exempt from a water cut-off, said municipal authorities, who were to open a disaster operations center yesterday to prepare for a possible closure of taps.
South Africa’s second-biggest city ramped up contingency plans as the water crisis hurt tourism and politicians bickered over alleged failures to offset a looming disaster blamed on explosive population growth over the past two decades and several years of drought, which scientists have said was possibly exacerbated by anthropogenic global warming.
Photo: AFP
Cape Town’s roughly 4 million residents could avoid “Day Zero,” slated for April 12, by each using no more than 50 liters daily until adequate rainfall fills up depleted reservoirs and additional supply from aquifers, desalination and recycling schemes is activated, the city said.
If the tap cut-off occurs, decurity forces would guard 200 water collection points where residents could pick up 25 liters daily, authorities said.
Providers of bottled water are being encouraged to increase supply so that people would have the option of buying water, and water tankers would deliver to homes for the elderly and other care facilities.
“This crisis will demand a whole-of-society approach, where we all pull together to get through this,” the city said in a statement that acknowledged “panic” among residents fretting over the possible difficulties ahead
Cape Town’s water and sanitation department over the weekend said it was investigating reports that some retailers might be illegally selling municipal tap water after people were seen lining up with empty bottles at two malls.
Some residents are supplementing water supply by collecting from natural springs in the city.
Cape Town is run by the opposition Democratic Alliance party, which has said that the national government of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has failed to deliver water to all municipalities as required by law.
The ANC’s provincial branch on Sunday said that the “Day Zero” warning was an opposition gimmick to drum up a sense of “gloom and doom” and suggested its own solutions, including reductions in production by brewers and soft drink companies.
“We need water, not sugary and alcoholic drinks,” the party said.
Meanwhile, tourism is taking a hit.
Agencies have received cancelations from domestic and international travelers, Cape Town Tourism chief executive Enver Duminy was quoted as saying by the African News Agency.
He did not provide data on cancellations.
Jamaican Olympic runner Usain Bolt visited Cape Town over the weekend to attend a horse racing event. He was asked about the city’s crisis at a news conference.
“Don’t waste water,” Bolt said.
In the Caribbean, “we have this issue sometimes,” he added.
The water crisis afflicting is credit-negative as it will reduce revenue at a time when Cape Town has to boost spending to ensure supplies, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report yesterday.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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