Cape Town (South Africa) - "Day Zero" looms for water!

a reply to: halfoldman
just another suggestion..


How i get washed when camping.Boil a pot of water throw in some washing up liquid, throw in a golf towel. Plenty for a whole human body. Bollocks and butt crack last obviously..or.. dive in the sea, but the salt water does play havoc with your hair..

Cape Town at risk of becoming the first global city to run out of water.
www.theglobeandmail.com...

Day Zero (when the taps run dry for all but emergency services) is now set for 21 April (although some argue it may be as soon as March 2018).

Gymnasium showers to be cut by half from the 31 January (two per gender), and the next phase will cut the hot water.
Luckily not switched off completely yet, as I feared the other night.

People encouraged to invest in pit toilets, and chemical toilets for high-rise apartments.

Tomorrow we find out if we get extra water levies (since we saved so much the city is lacking water-bill funds).
Not going down well - saving water as urged, and then being punished for it.

After Day Zero possibly extra electricity levies, since everybody has to switch off their geysers, causing further financial losses to the city.

Then, every citizen can collect 25 liters of water per day from apparently 200 distribution points across the city (manned by the National Defense Force).
Heaven help those too old, weak or infirm to lift that.
I mean even good neighborliness has its limits after a few months (until sufficient winter rains may come, or not).

What a disaster!

I saw a fog colllector on tv. Wires with fluid traps collect enough for 200 people a month.

a reply to: anotherside

Fog collectors depend very much on the topography and environment, and you won't find much fog in Cape Town.
en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: halfoldman

I assume you are one of the more affluent members of your Cape Town locality. I'm not suggesting you have it easier or anything, just interested how the water shortage is affecting the bottom of society. What's the news in the real poverty zones? Like those squatter type camps on N2, is it causing illnesses disease etc? social unrest? Political change?

a reply to: ufoorbhunter

Without going into a 20 page essay on the history of Cape Town, let me shortly say, when Day Zero comes, all taps will be turned off.

There will be no special treatment, except the business CBD (which also houses the political establishments, like Parliament) and emergency services, like hospitals.

Of course, in a crisis like this there's a lot of finger-pointing.
There's a lot of long-term residents who claim the migrants from the Eastern Cape and other parts of Africa don't bother conserving water (nor ever paid water or electricity tariffs, or property tax), while some politicians claim it is the super-rich (even the tourists over Xmas) who are partially to blame.

In the middle-class area I have my room (when not in a job-related barracks) it won't make a difference.
But barracks are barracks, all bros the same.

Of course the very rich (although I'd be careful to plonk them in one area) can sink boreholes (currently unlikely they will get licenses now to do so, and some existing ones may be shut to save the aquifer).
Some roads collapsing due to boreholes.
There are also companies willing to deliver water from other provinces to those who can afford the cost, but that will not get the household going again.
And there might be a national crisis soon.
Some engineers and experts have warned since 2010 - many were dismissed for their efforts as unpatriotic naysayers (with a good dose of anti-white racism to boot) and rather took their skills elsewhere.
But most people where I live will have to queue for water, or beg someone to do it for them.

The only place I could imagine it makes a difference is high up on Table Mountain itself, or places like Clifton where the super-rich live.
They can carry on flushing their toilets with washing machine water, and it goes straight to the sea.
On the Cape Flats (a flat, generally poor area) it will become a hygiene disaster.
If not really flushed through, the sewage will collect and overflow.

But otherwise this will be a great equalizer between classes.
I go to budget gym with all races and classes.
And nobody gets special treatment.

So apart from perceptions, like oh the super-rich in Constantia kept watering their English gardens; or oh in Wallacedene (a squatter camp) they don't pay for it anyway so they leave the faucets open and spray water to keep the dust down, there's little proof anyone will be more affected or to blame.

Gonna be cut-off across the board by 21 April, unless a miracle happens.

But let me just say that all Capetonians, (no matter anyone's blame-game or perceptions) have already saved so much water that the city is running on a loss.
Hence extra water tariffs are proposed, which is causing a big deal of anger across communities.

But what really happens to various communities after 21 April, or Day Zero, we'll have to wait and see.

With businesses closing, and probably schools and campuses, many will probably leave the province to go back to their countries and tribal areas.
Not much of an attraction left here.

Doubtlessly we will see increasing tension and opportunism between the national ANC (and their Cosatu trade union affiliates) and the DA (who run the Western Cape). But I can't explain all those current politics here. Suffice to say it won't change much in reality.

With the people who have property interests here, the main problem I see is not race and class based.

It will be able-bodied vs. not able-bodied to lift 25 liters of water, transport it home (per household member) and unload it.

That's gonna affect most people.
And that goes into gender, disability, fitness and ageist issues across communities.
Whether you live in a three-bedroom middle class home, or a shack.
It's gonna suck equally bad.
And not everybody now who bought their house two decades ago (when they had jobs and property prices were lower) has money now to pay somebody else to do it.

I fear this one is about total physical practicality.
And perhaps - the middle-class - more isolated than lower class people, might suffer more on this one.

And how often have I heard it - your son can't find a real job, still living with his parents.

Uncaring neighbors say - time you kick him out.

But I'm sure you're gonna be glad to have a strong son living there now!
Well, a son who can lift 25 liters of water.

But those judgemental people better ask nice soon, if they want any help from me.

a reply to: halfoldman

Many thanks for the excellent hands on report of the situation in your part of planet Earth halfoldman. We never hear anything about South Africa these days in the UK, well you occasionally get something about Guptas but that's about it. When I was a kid in the 80's South Africa was THE headline news year on year, then after De Klerk stepped down it never got on the news again. The change was unreal, not a word virtually, reporting from there just disappeared.

I really hope the water issue gets resolved. The world is changing fast and many regions are becoming short of water, but there must be some way of transferring water from areas of the world where it's in abundance to the regions in need. Maybe the Romans would have done it better, they seemed to be able to transfer water all over desert zones. You have those great rivers to your north, with all the wealth in South Africa surely there will be a way to solve your localities problems long term. Cape town is a wonderful place, to be honest it's one of two places on Earth that I dream of living in the future. You have a great city. I dearly hope you get through the water issue

a reply to: ufoorbhunter

Thanks, immediate plans (as mentioned earlier in the thread) include desalination and pumping water from an aquifer in Atlantis and Table Mountain.

But gonna take a while.
Day Zero 2018 seems to assured.

But at grassroots level - heard of no other plan.

If you can't lift that (25 liters), and your neighbors won't help you, you die of thirst.

Cape Town to be declared a disaster area?
Hurtling to Day Zero, as the panic begins to grow.

www.news24.com...

a reply to: halfoldman

I must apologize a bit to ATS.
Haven't been quite myself lately.
My coping mechanisms in a looming disaster are not the healthiest.
But what else can you do but zoot about like a panicked chicken, or just fly into a permanent rage?

Went to a Chinese restaurant yesterday (local Cape Town Chinese community), and the head-chef and boss - I tell you that man went gray overnight.
Became an old man in a week.
Couldn't believe it when I saw him.
Yeah, what stress does to people is shocking.
His daughter is just as anxious.
They fear they're going to have to close their entire business soon.
She's just babbling forth: "In China, when it doesn't rain, they shoot a rocket into the clouds! Why they can't do this here?"
People are distraught.

Sounds real bad.
Get a few of these just incase.

www.lifestraw.com...

You can drink toilet water through these.

Ultimately just a canary in the global coal mine.

originally posted by: halfoldman
Cape Town to be declared a disaster area?
Hurtling to Day Zero, as the panic begins to grow.

www.news24.com...

Those able to carry water are going to have to have security with them as well...

Seems a really dire situation and I wish everyone there the best.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Well tonight, just overhearing my parents' news, all I heard was: "security structures", "army", "police".

Doesn't sound good.

The last times I heard those terms, people like me went missing.

Plans to deal with disease outbreaks!
ewn.co.za...