Period 5/6: S. Africa Water Crisis

The water crisis in Cape Town is one of drastic measures. If people continue using water up the way they always have, taking it for granted, the dams will dry up and there will not be enough water to support everyone until the dams can be replenished by rain. Even then, rain is not a regular happening. The south African military will not do much. People who are dehydrated or have children who need to drink water or formula are going to do everything they can to get that water. It does not matter who stands against them. All the military will do is either a. Kill people who try to get the water, b. Make it seem like the government is saving the rest for themselves, or c. either of those things. I do not really believe they will make a difference once restrictions for water usage are decreased by any more. In a way, fines could be a good thing. They prevent some people from using more than their allotted amount of water, but those who can pay the fines don't care. In the NBC News article it was mentioned that, “People are still watering their lawns, filling their pools and bathing. They seem happy to just pay the fines. It’s so upsetting,” Stodel said.” they do not care about they fines, they are being selfish and acting like nothing is wrong around them. If the resources and technology is available, the government could put regulations on the water supply to the point that once “x” amount of water goes through a certain households pipes, no more is allowed to go there that day. Like it gets a block in the pipe. One thing that could help Cape Town is other countries and cities sending water to the area. Some cities already are. The United States, Europe and other World Powers should be raising awareness of this crisis, but maybe not necessarily doing anything else. If someone would like to help they must figure out how to get it there by themselves or with a group of other people. One question I had was , so the people living in Cape Town are having to ration their water usage… but in the CNN article by Mezzofiore, it is mentioned that “Vacant stores are used to warehouse the water, though there is never enough room. “We don't have enough space to store the water coming down,” van der Heever said.” There is water being donated to these people, enough that vacant stores cannot hold it all… Why are the people not using this water, instead of the dam water, to let the dams replenish? Is that not the whole issue, the water in the dams are depleting?

One of the most difficult parts of dealing with a natural disaster is determining how to allocate resources to everyone fairly. In such a prolonged event like this, government intervention is necessary and as is international help. Although, having armed guards just seems counterintuitive even with the drastic measures that need to be taken to limit water usage. There shouldn’t be a military for the water in the first place since there’s no point in waiting until it dries up to implement a task force. It could risk putting the people in harm’s way if violence broke out and could promote wealthier citizens to corrupt the system by bribing officers for access to more water than others (they already pay fines willingly). What is instead needed, is better regulation than just fines. Turning off water pipes for those who have exceeded their daily ration seems to be the most reasonable solution despite people’s protests. Some citizens have even tweeted their concerns at Cape Town’s Twitter in order to encourage action against those furthering the problem; “I caught an elderly person with her sprinklers on yesterday. This is the same person you exempt from water restrictions last year because she could not afford a borehole” (NBC). Monitoring issues like this at local levels is crucial if anyone wants to see an end to this drought. One of the problems with government intervention is when a certain area receives special treatment for the wrong reasons as mentioned by NBC, “Some downtown areas could also be exempt and not cut off for the sake of tourism and business.” While I can understand why poorer areas may be exempt due to the risk of disease, why should richer areas be given more water? Tourism and business should be at the bottom of the list of priorities when such a dire event puts millions of lives at risk. Even just tourism alone can be put on hold while places like South London are donating whatever amounts of water that they can to Cape Town. Although South London can’t necessarily fix the amount of rainfall in South Africa, they certainly can temporarily mitigate the effects to prevent crop failure, disease, or even death. They can’t do this on their own, though, and it’s the responsibility of other cities and countries to take action as well. This means they’ll need to get creative like Van der Heever did; “Farmers that bring their produce to East London, Johannesburg, Durban, their trucks go back to Cape Town empty. So I thought that maybe they can carry the water with them" (CNN). It’ll be more difficult for overseas countries to transport massive amounts of water, although with enough effort, it’s possible to help save millions of people.

Why do you think the government is planning on exempting areas for the sake of tourism and business? Do they care about money more than the people?

Day Zero, the day when most of the tapes will be shut off, lingers over Cape Town located in South Africa. Most recently since February first, “The residents are restricted to 13.2 gallons of water each day.(nbcnews.com) Keep in mind the average American uses an estimated 80 and 100 gallons of water daily. The crisis is not a matter of if it happens it is more of a matter when it happens, and it is now predicted that day zero will occur on April 12th(CNN). Restricting the water supply would be a logical approach to delay day zero but it is not very effective because “60 percent of Cape Town residents are still not complying with current restrictions.(nbc news)” Unfortunately in order to make sure everyone is staying within the restrictions they will have to be punishments set in place for the people who ignore the regulations. I do not believe that having the South African Military guard the water supply will be helpful because I predict that they will abuse their power. Especially in a time of a crisis I think people will be willing to do anything just to get water which intensifies the whole situation. Countries like England have already started funding through social media and have moved about 10,000 liters of water to Cape town. This is a great outcome now but it unfortunately won’t be enough for the future of Cape Town. The world is going to have to look for answers outside of social media to permanently fix the water crisis. Water is a necessity to life therefore it is extremely important to raise awareness and support for the crisis worldwide.



I also found something interesting on one of the cities that Ricky provided (globalnews.ca). It was a picture of a man holding up a sign who took part in the protest against the way Cape Town city council.The sign said “Water is not a privilege, water is a right.” So my question is: Do you believe water is a privilege or a right? Why?

South Africa’s water crisis is an unsettling reality of climactic change and the impact it has on large regions of the world. Cape Town, a major tourist destination is running out of water to maintain the metropolitan area. In the event of ‘Day Zero’ happening South Africa’s military would guard and regulate water supply. This action would be effective to restrict domestic water usage, however, they would not be able to secure water from “commercial areas and institutions such as hospitals”(Global News). The military would be there just to “prevent any one person from collecting far above their daily water allocation. Officials will be onsite to monitor potential abuse, and residents are also encouraged to report any abuse they witness” this type of intervention seems to be best for the common good and would be a benefit to the community(Global News). These restrictions are a last resort that may have to be put into place if citizens do not curb their water usage. Right now, there are limits and fines in place to curb water usage but Sitaara Stodel said that “People are still watering their lawns, filling their pools and bathing. They seem happy to just pay the fines”(NBC News). Since the fines are not affecting water usage, different measures should be put into place, such as possible prison time and/or community service time.
This problem is not entirely caused by the citizens of South Africa, it was created by a drought and worsened by irresponsible water usage. Specific countries should not be forced to intervene but international aid organizations have and should continue to aid South Africa by supplying water. CNN reports that “Drop-off points were organized across these cities, with the help of a nationwide disaster-relief charity, Gift of the Givers, which just launched the "Water 4 Cape Town" campaign on social media”. These organizations are the types that should get involved, not simply outside governments that need to worry about running their own countries. These problems need to be solved, but it would be much better for them to be prevented by addressing the root of the problem

What is happening in Cape Town is a perfect example of people’s ignorance in the face of disaster. In the video provided above the CNN article, the Mayor’s office of Cape Town was quoted as saying “we can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them”. These people have, for the most part ignored the suggested restrictions placed on them and inevitably cut their time and water supply dangerously short. Instead if realizing their mistake some Cape Town residents instead chose to point fingers at the government officials for the way that they are handling the situation. Although I did not see much evidence of the local government reaching out for help, it is a bit extreme to be protesting a naturally occurring problem you took part in making worse. It was interesting that in a photo provided by Adam Frisk for Global News a protestor could be seen holding a sign that read “ “Water is not a privilege water is a right!!!” I found it interesting that there are people who view this matter as a problem of the government, possibly even as an oppressive move on the citizens of Cape Town. Yes, the government is just taking the water away from you as a way to take away one of your rights. These types of protests are always arising at any type of misfortune or crisis within a country. Thankfully some publicity was used for the good with the efforts of Talita van der Heever. Through her single act of reaching out via social media she was able to raise enough local awareness that a small step was taken for the better. Glianluca Mezzoflore wrote that Heever “ started receiving requests from other parts of South Africa, including Durban, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and even outside the country's borders, from Namibia”. This is all quite promising but I have very little faith that support will come from much farther than neighboring countries and perhaps a handful of more powerful countries in the beginning. People tend to lose interest quickly in crisis such as these.
Do you think that the protests being held by Cape Town Citizens, against the government restrictions is out of line or are they justified in their actions and beliefs?

@meghan Miller In reference to your quote ". These problems need to be solved, but it would be much better for them to be prevented by addressing the root of the problem." What exactly would be your idea of addressing the root of the problem? The local government is already taking militant actions in order to address the limits that need to be set and so far this has not resulted in any violent outbursts. You used a quote to emphasize that even the fines were not curbing peoples behavior and then added your own point that prison time should served for going over the water limit. Adam Frisk quotes Cape Town officials as stating “When our dam levels reach 13. 5 per cent, we will begin to shut down our reticulation system, except to key commercial areas and institutions such as hospitals.” Is it possible that some such intuitions could include prisons? This would be an interesting point to be seen argued by such officials that had to chose where to cut water access. If there any other possible ways to address this root problem?