Cape Town's Water Crisis: A Deep Dive into the Drought

[Music] [Music] you only need to look at tivity school

of dam to realize how serious Cape Town's water crisis is after three years of record drought the

city's biggest reservoir has become a desert [Music]

the dams supplying water to four million people are at critically low levels this year Cape Town's been on the verge of

becoming the first major city to run out of water but incredibly it's managed to more than

half the amount of water it uses I wanted to find out how to visitors life in this stunning

coastal city still seems pretty normal [Music] but for those who call Cape Town home

things may never be the same [Applause] severe water restrictions were

introduced in February and Ruth halls family of four now lives on a fraction of the water consumed by a single

Australian we're giving settlements and it's actually unhealthy to drink the use of it we don't believe it we just carry

on drinking our water but you know we just ration everybody a couple of liters per person per day they're not allowed

to use more than 50 litres a day the average Australian consumes over 300 [Applause]

David Dunton says the most dramatic changes have been felt in the most private of spaces we do what most the

rest of Cape Town I think is doing is the Credo when it's yellow let it Mellow when it's brown flush it down I've just

come in and noticed that it is indeed brown thanks to my daughter I'm not flashing which often doesn't do which is

meant to sir I will flush and you can you can hear that the toilet isn't filling up that's because we have

this elaborate system down here of buckets of varying ages of bathwater that go into it into the loo so I will

fill it up this is the one that's next of the rank this is another part of our water saving strategies we've taken off

the is they you been done yeah we unscrewed it very simple and we just put a bucket under there and every time we

brush your teeth or wash your hands it goes into there and it's actually surprising how much water you use like

that and that fills up pretty quickly okay are we going to shower now Wow we've got another big system of buckets

and watering cans and all sorts of things here I can do a quick visual demonstration when I shower I stand in

here comes down and into there and again that's used as water for our toilet we try not to use any water once I've been

drinking water do you know how much water you are actually consuming here last month we checked and it was 41

liters per person per day so we underneath 250 so does that make you feel like you could take some longer

showers and fill the bath up a bit higher no I think we didn't try to make it less than 41 next month

[Music] so what's been the hardest thing to get used to things at you I find it a bit

odd to be showering like two or three times a week that that is really odd and so you feel a bit stinky I know what

I've found the hardest to get used to is a dying God many Australians are used to being told

they can't water their lawn or wash their car but we're yet to face the prospect of completely dry taps David

and his wife Ruth are doing all they can to avoid that happening everyone's water usage is publicly available so if you're

middle-class and you don't do your bit you're not only risk a fine but something worse we had a staff meeting

recently and my bus put up her water usage on the board and then everybody had to write up their own family's water

usage I was like quite a sort of a shameful moment like oh my goodness I'm using more water than you are yeah so so

people people are actually talking about like how much water are you using and it's a source of pride you know like I'm

using less than you are seem to record your sister my sister was over 6,000 liters but that's shameful yeah that's

right merci I was gonna call her up I think that what's happened over the last 12 months is that our attitude to

water has changed irrevocably we've actually learned that getting water and being able to turn on a tap and the

water is there that's a privilege no I don't think that we can always rely on the idea that government is going to

give us water Cape Town is facing a major water crisis with predictions that taps will run dry in May 2018 we start

anticipating the very real possibility of a day 0 scenario that's the date taps are due to run dry how did Cape Town get

into this water crisis in the first place and could this have all been averted last year

Cape Town experienced to the lowest rainfall since records began in 1933 the city's also thirstier than it used to be

the population is increased by a whopping 45% in a little over 20 years ironically it won an award for water

saving measures designed to keep pace with its growing population but government failed to significantly

increase the water supply and despite climate change ringing alarm bells everywhere it was caught out when the

drought struck [Music] to top up their daily water allowance

some caped onehans come to natural springs like this if day zero ever happens the water supply to households

will be shut off and lining up at water stations will be the only way to get water the daily ration will be reduced

to a meager 25 litres there's no other world theory and they will find out that there's a place that we can come to

fetch water so you didn't even have water out of your taps yesterday other day the whole day we didn't have

relatives was that the first time that had happened no it's not a first time it's been happening for many times crass

tickly reduced mains water pressure has already left many households without water

it sounds like day zero has already happened at your house Desiree's whatever happening we are not waking 14

seasons already - like we went a lot of places to look for water we even went to the beach to fetch some water for the

toilet some salt water from the beige totally from the beach just to use for the toilet so that was not nice we're

looking for water everywhere every year because we try not to use too much of the waters at our thefts we

obviously want to keep they they zero away we really would like to be part of be part of that happening it's extremely

scary when you have things that's freely available to you on a daily basis you don't think you know you just stole you

do the amount of laundry you do you open the taps without thinking that this is something you know reality that's going

to eat you tomorrow I'm bein Nilsen the deputy mayor we're here to talk about the water situation

in Cape Town we believe there's still a way to go in in terms of us getting our consumption down further

despite careful planning the city's leaders also feared a zero especially the looming specter of panic and even

violence well I think we very obviously be a very very severe situation we understand the risks of social unrest in

those circumstances of disputes over access to water over people finding the time to be able to collect that water we

have to keep at it we cannot relax at this point inevitably there's been a political stash over the

crisis with national and city governments blaming one another for failing to build more infrastructures we

have to diversify this water supply system there has to be ground water there has to be water reuse there has to

be desalination there's been an expensive last-minute scramble to create more water sources including the

construction of desalination plants do you have any regrets about the way things have been handled

I think we could have started sooner but that's easy in retrospect very easy a crisis can bring out the best and worst

in people on the whole the city has rallied behind the campaign to save water in all kinds of inspiring ways

[Music] local musicians have even recorded a two-minute song to play in the shower

taps off when the music stops but there are always those who flout the restrictions this man is committing

daylight robbery a river like this in the middle of the city wouldn't exist if people were allowed to take the water

[Applause] that's why it's been necessary for the city to get tough the water enforcement

issue the Strickland is a very emotional issue for many of the public so just be sensitive the now you deal with people

I'm officer Maksim I'm employed by the city of Cape Town as a loyal faithful officer with water police enforcing the

city's water bylaw unfortunately it's part of human nature where people will just use the water as

they please that is why they is enforcement we go into a car wash at the BP garage

car washes are permitted so long as they don't use tap water how's it good good good good good good good

on the zoo Briella system to check the obvious as I Alaska they could be that doesn't even a circle so plan

I'm checking ways getting this water supply from as you can see this is the connections over here this pipe is the

municipal supply pipe but as you can see it's it's it's it's tight closed off so they are not they not operating here but

we have to investigate we are they getting the water source from there is it I've become this way you can see his

tanks so they're using this water by using the storage tanks to store the water and from the water story is a pipe

coming into the high priest of the scene and then they will wash the vehicles for that they're doing they're doing at the

moment they are doing the right thing so they are very compliant this carwash is using bog water now but the first time

officer max him visited he slapped them with a three hundred dollar fine when you first started coming around and

finding people were they resistance they were very resistant they are swearing at you they are give you they are

bad-mouthing you they are calling you all these names and etc they didn't understand the seriousness of the drug

because they they they will say things like I'm paying for my water who are you to come give me a fine fool for the

water I'd pay for [Music] I've been hoping to see officer Maxine

catching people out but it's probably a good thing for Cape Town that these days his job is a lot less confrontational

okay so you have completely disconnected it okay as you can see the tip is completely disconnected

so I can see this day is broken people are doing the right people are doing the right thing this differently producing

job is basically trying to save the city man yes exactly so we sue Peters what is 14:02 superiors yeah that's right and

makes it feel good yeah yes very good [Music] I'm Sharlene Mellon I'm the owner and

director of Charlie's Angels [Music] my nickname is actually Charlie and so

hence the name Charlie's Angels hello miss Kier thanks for bringing your water perhaps the real water heroes are the

people who aren't just following the rules they're going above and beyond in their efforts to save water Sharlene

asks her clients to bring their own water and towels the salon relies mostly on donated water on Thursdays and

Fridays which had become jug and bucket days unless clients have come for a special treatment

Sharlene also asks them to wash their hair beforehand salon is completely reliant on water we did have to kind of

sit down and look at ways that we can start saving water and how we were going to put that into place

she says at first clients weren't sure about the changes but they got on board once they realized it was otherwise

business as usual if anything business is increased as a result of Charlene's innovations so that's actually just

something that I've caught knots on Facebook it's not actually use in the garden for fertilizer than insecticide

that she's garden master power sprayer and you can get this at any garden sections at any supermarkets and in fact

it's been almost silent at every supermarket that you guys because people are showering with us

I heard that the premier cake problems here at the badges I have not but I'm rolling my eyes because I'd like to have

the premier comments on me that I'll explain to why it's not a good thing I'm saying government hello wake up

because it's the people on the ground that is actually having to find immediate innovative ideas to save water

[Music] it looks like a lot of extra work oh no one's forcing Charlene to make these

changes the water restrictions don't actually apply to businesses like this but there's more at stake for her in

this crisis and for most people if day zero hits our business workers there's just no way that we would be able to

operate at all I don't even want to think about it because we won't be able to feed our families educate our

families we will not be able to pay the balls and so the negative impact on that will just it just ripples into something

else that I don't even really want to think about but it's a huge possibility [Music]

South Africa is one of the world's most unequal countries around a quarter of Cape Town's

population live in informal settlements that they only use five percent of the city's water

[Music] every day is day zero here [Music]

water and sanitation have always been huge issues in places like Khayelitsha which is said to be the fastest-growing

township in South Africa middle-class families might complain about short showers and dying gardens

that people here have to cube for taps and toilets but don't always work about 50 houses will rely on the steps even

more because all the all the section here doesn't have told it doesn't have depth

inside what do you think when you hear people in the city talking about j0 j0 is not new to people living in informal

settlements people have been carrying packet on top of their heads walk long distance to access water I think it's

big to people who were living comfortably people who had water in their houses tasks the people who

experience Daisy because if we are used to fetch water things the one mechanic difference

passante zero will fetch water from from the same tape if it's not cut off it is not cut off you know

[Music] I think the day zero is coming and I think that as middle-class people we are

gonna have to think about life in a way that where people have been living for a long time which is you have to go with

your bucket and you need to go to the communal tap and you need to get your water and so on and this is how we're

going to live I think that that's how we're going to one possibility is that we live kept on when possibility is that

we take her and take our kids and put them into a school elsewhere in the country and just stay there for six

months because we can't actually sit around spending half the day looking for water we can't do that

[Music] I think Cape Town is like the wake-up call for the world the rest of the world

should should wake up and say okay this is how it's gonna be which is not just there's not enough water but rainfall is

going to be erratic it's going to come at the wrong time it's not going to you know it's not gonna water you're right

crops and so on so we're in trouble everyone's in trouble and I think captain is a is a

wake-up call for the whole world we're gonna be Mad Max 1 and you guys are gonna be the sequels

you