Water management means adapting to water scarcity
Supplying more water and containing demand is not enough to protect Cape Town’s constrained supply
Since February 2017, Capetonians have had to deal with tighter controls over a dwindling water supply. How low can they go before limited supplies are unhealthy? The last five years of rainfall measured at the Cape Town International Airport has been 30% below the average compared to the years from 1979 to 2000 (378mm a year as opposed to 527mm). The city is drier. Not only is there a decrease in the rainfall averages, but at least 25% of the total rainfall for the year fell during one month, followed by seven months of below-average monthly rainfall, sometimes by as much as 50%. Rainfall patterns are uncertain and less predictable, which is consistent with climate-model predictions. Water storage levels in the six major dams supplying water to Cape Town and the surrounding region have declined each year. The City of Cape Town has dealt with dwindling water supplies by implementing a water-demand management programme that includes increasing block tariffs, fixing leaks, reducing pre...
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