At Camps Bay,  Demola Ojo finds out why tourists shouldn’t worry about the drought in Cape Town.

Cape Town remains one of the most beautiful cities in the world which attracts many foreigners. Despite the drought challenge the city is facing, it does not stop tourists from coming in.

As passengers disembark from the plane, they start getting notified through signboards on how and why to help the city save water.

“Cape town dam levels are critically low. Please save water while there’s still water to save.”

For many months, the drought crises have been all over the internet. Cape Town, which is a hotspot for foreign tourists is likely to run out of water soon when the DAY ZERO is reached.

DAY ZERO

Day zero is the dreadful day in Cape Town when there will be no water again. Initially, the day zero was said to be mid March but was later moved to mid July when people started cutting short on their water usage. But recently, it was moved to 2019. Though the exact month is not known yet.

HOW DAY ZERO HAS BEEN MOVED

With many billboards everywhere informing people on how to curtail water usage, especially in hotel bathrooms, it has helped in saving water and moving forward the day zero to 2019.

Many tourists who lodge in hotels during vacations have been using various practical measures such as changing bedspreads and towels less regularly and slow flow of taps to reduce the amount of water used have been working well. Many litres of water have been saved through these measures.

How Cape Town has been surviving this drought crises serves as a template for other cities that is or may be hit with this similar challenge.

“I think you’re starting to see South Africa playing a lead role as to how world class cities respond to water crises,” “Tourists are aware of recycling, carbon emissions. But now it’s water.” – Sisa Ntshona, CEO of South African Tourism.

It is expected that once winter rain starts next month or in 2 months, it will ease the drought crises.

“we need to recalibrate our relationship with water as a country,” “This is the new norm. Even if it rains tomorrow, we can never go back to the old way of consuming water.” – Ntshona said.

Hopefully if the measures adopted now are still in use, Cape Town may never experience the Day Zero.

Have you visited South Africa since the drought began? How were you able to curtail water use when you visited?