With Water Supply Nearly Dry, Cape Town Declares ‘Day Zero’

 

The city of Cape¹ Town, South Africa has announced new water restrictions² as officials warn the water supply could run dry in three months.

The order – to take effect February 1 - will cut city residents’ daily water usage by nearly half over current restrictions.

Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille announced that total daily usage per person will be reduced to 50 liters. The current limit is 87 liters per day.

The French news agency AFP notes that an average shower uses about 15 liters of water a minute, while a toilet generally requires about 15 liters per use.

"We have reached a point of no return,” De Lille said in a statement. “We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water - we must force them.”

Cape Town, on South Africa’s southwest coast, is fighting the worst drought in a century. The city is home to four million residents.

The mayor has identified April 21 as “day zero” - the date when officials estimate Cape Town will run out of its usable water supply. If no rainwater is received and current usage continues, the city says it will be forced to turn off the main water supply on that date.

De Lille said many residents are not obeying the current restrictions and those using too much water could be fined. She noted³ the government also planned a new tax as another way to punish people who go over the limits.

In an effort to avoid running out of water, the city started several projects to build up its water supply in recent months. These included drilling deep underground to aquifers⁵ and increasing desalination⁶ efforts.

Bruce Hewitson is a climatologist at the University of Cape Town. He says while the new projects are a step in the right direction, they may be too late to change the urgent situation.

“Of course, the challenge is how quickly you can do this. We are facing a ‘day zero’ in the next couple of months. And it takes time to put a lot of these measures in place.”

Mayor De Lille agrees that the new measures will probably not be enough to prevent an eventual⁷ water cutoff. She said the possibility of “day zero” happening on April 21 was "very likely."

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

shower – n. a device for washing and cleaning the body

toilet – n. a water-powered device for removing body waste

drill – v. make a hole in something using a drill

aquifer⁴ – n. underground rock that can hold water

desalination – n. process to remove salt from something, (such as water)

challenge – n. a difficult problem to solve

1 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 aquifer   

n.含水土层

参考例句：

• An aquifer is a water-bearing rock stratum such as sandstone and chalk.地下蓄水层是一些有水的岩石层，如沙岩和白垩岩。
• The wine region's first water came from an ancient aquifer.用来灌溉这个地区葡萄园的第一批水来自古老的地下蓄水层。

5 aquifers   

n.地下蓄水层，砂石含水层( aquifer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And in Africa, the aquifers barely recharge at all. 非洲的地下水开采以后几乎得不到补充。 来自时文部分
• Aquifers have water contents over 30%. 含水层的水含过30％。 来自辞典例句

6 desalination   

n.脱盐(作用)

参考例句：

• Crops can be grown on this land after desalination. 这片土地经过脱盐就可以种植庄稼了。
• One source is by desalination-taking the salt out of salt water to make it drinkable. 淡水的来源之一是使水淡化--把含盐的水中的盐份去掉，使之能够饮用。

7 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。