Cape Town makes plans to turn off its water

•Injustunder 10 weeks, Cape Town plans to turn off its water taps. Millions of residents in South Africa’s “Mother City” are preparing for the worst.

“Everybody is panicking,” said Fowzia Hendricks, 52, who travels more than 20 kilometres to a natural spring outside South African Breweries in Newlands every few days to stock up on drinking water, joining the queue to fill 15- and 25-litre containers.

“We heard the city might run out of water but we didn’t think it would happen,” Hendricks said, holding her six-month-old grandson. “I think it’s very serious.”

For the past three years, this city has been in the grip of an unprecedented drought. The dry spell, coupled with its booming population, has left Cape Town’s dams at only about 26 per cent capacity. When they reach 13.5 per cent — a point the city is calling Day Zero, predicted to hit April 16 — the authorities will turn off most of the city’s taps and its 4 million residents will have to get their water at about 200 collection points monitored by police and the military. Officials have acknowledged that the problem is almost unavoidable, potentially making Cape Town the first major city in modern times to run out of water.

The drought “is a catastrophe” said Neil Armitage, head of the University of Cape Town’s urban water management department. “It’s like waking up one day to a magnitude 7 earthquake. The buildings are falling down. Everyone is in a panic.”

Capetonians are stockpiling water, clearing supermarket shelves as they leave with trolleys heavy with plastic bottles. Police stand guard at natural springs after fights broke out between people queuing, and the city’s tourism industry is suffering as sun-seeking visitors stay away.

Though the city is scrambling to get more water in its system using groundwater and desalination plants, many residents accuse the city of mismanagement.

“They’ve had years to plan for this,” said Bill Kennedy, wiping sweat from his brow after hauling 20 litres of spring water to his car in the beating midday sun. He said he was thinking about leaving the city before April 16. “Can you imagine when DDay comes?”

As of this week, residents are only permitted to use 50 litres of city water per person per day — about enough to drink, wash one sink of dishes, take a two-minute shower and flush the toilet, according to city data.

WE HEARD THE CITY MIGHT RUN OUT OF WATER BUT WE DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN.