The Year in Water, 2017

Two months ago, as winter in the Southern Hemisphere turned to spring, authorities in Cape Town grew nervous. After the driest three-year period on record the six main reservoirs that supply water to South Africa’s second-largest city were uncomfortably low. Winter rains, paltry as they were, had been no help, and the summer dry season was approaching.

To avoid draining the reservoirs, the city’s leaders needed to act. So in late October they drew up a plan to ration what little water remained.

Four million residents were asked to whittle consumption to the bone. The city set a target of just 87 liters (23 gallons) per person per day for all household needs, an amount equivalent to scarcely more than one 10-minute shower.

Conservation of that magnitude is an unprecedented goal for a city of Cape Town’s size, living standards, and economic stature. Despite repeated pleas it has not been achieved. Cape Town’s water crisis is emblematic of a year and of an era. The pace of life is quickening. There is a change in the rate of change, and the superlatives biggest, driest, wettest, hottest, most severe are being employed with unsettling frequency to describe seemingly concurrent waves […]

Full article: The Year in Water, 2017