There have been very few times during my twenty-six years of life when I've had to think about the water supply. But while traveling in Cape Town, it was something I thought about every single day. Cape Town is in the depths of one of the most serve droughts in its history. It started back in 2015 and at the time of writing this, they are predicting to hit "Day Zero" (completely run out of water) by April 2018. The population of the city is growing at a rate that the rainfall and water storage systems can’t keep up with. Residents and businesses in the city and surrounding areas have all been impacted. Everyone is encouraged to take every action possible to reduce their water consumption and can now face fines for over consumption. Tourists are greeted by huge signs all over the airport that encourage them to get educated on how they can reduce consumption while visiting.
While we were there we did everything we could to limit how much water we used. We took 1-minute cold showers with little to no water pressure, bought bottled drinking water, and resisted from flushing the toilet after every usage (yes, gross I know). Being there for only a week we took this on as a challenge and it didn't impose a huge inconvenience for us, but it did give us a small taste of what residents of Cape Town are currently going through.
When you finish hiking Table Mountain in 90-degree heat, walk into the public restroom to splash some water on your face to cool down and are told by the attendee that there is no water – it’s a bit of a wake-up call.
For anyone who is planning to travel to Cape Town or the surrounding areas in the near future, I recommend spending some time researching the current situation with the drought and educating yourself on how to come prepared and what measures you can while there. Check out this article for more information.
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