Cape Town – Water restrictions… (Aug 2017)

Cape Town is a very popular tourist destination in South Africa. And it is a nice one to. Part of the things to do include Table Mountain, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned), whale watching, shark diving, wine tasting and much more…

But outside of the tourist view of Cape Town, everyday life has brought some challenges in recent months. The city is running out of drinking water. Literally.

There are a few interesting articles around, but this has also created local awareness of the “value” of water, and prompt for better usage.

While I was there, it has also prompted me to look more carefully at water usage, take measurements and think about how I can also help with awareness.

Water restrictions in Cape Town have strengthened at the end of July 2017 to the highest level. The rain should be coming but level are so low that this will not be enough to go back to normal levels soon.

People are struggling. The Government is working on long-term solutions, but at the end of the day, it did show me that it is really down to each one of us, in Cape Town or anywhere else, to take actions and save water. We live in a global world and water is a global supply. While for now, there is still water somewhere else, what is happening in Cape Town (and other places) should be an eye opener world-wide…

Have a read of tips given by the City of Cape Town :
How to manage water restrictions at your home

A lot of those can and should be applied everywhere, even before a critical situation arise. And they are not new… for example, the tip for reducing the level of water in the toilet flushing system was advertised by Southern Water in England when I moved there in…. 1999! how much water would we have saved since then…?

At the same time, they gave cups to use for brushing teeth… 18 years later, I still have it with me… even in Africa 😉