Causes of drought in cape town pdf

We live in an increasingly complex world where immense opportunity and. They can deliver, as per early estimates, 80, 40 and 30 megalitres per day respectively. Impacts of drought on grape yields in western cape, south africa article pdf available in theoretical and applied climatology 1231. Some of the worst droughts witnessed in subsaharan africa have been associated with global warming and climate change. Much has been written about the ongoing drought and critical water shortages in the city of cape town. Pdf impacts of drought on grape yields in western cape. A recent cover story on cape town s drought the day when taps run dry is telling. Global warming raised the risk of more severe droughts in. The causes of cape town s water crisis are hotly contested.

The single biggest source of cape town s water supply is theewaterskloof dam the one that features regularly in the press these days. Haunting photos show cape town gripped by drought crisis. The city of cape town has reported that dam levels have increased slightly to 25. Mar 06, 2018 cape town s residents are living on 50 liters of water a day, but the drought s economic impact is harder to put a number on. For city of cape town, move to level 6b restrictions and introduce punitive drought tariffs level 6 from 1 february to comply with ndws restriction continue all demand management initiatives physically restrict demand to cape town weekly water budget of. Apr 12, 2019 the january 2018 announcement alone galvanized a 30percent drop in residential consumption after a steady but slower decline in earlier stages of the drought, according to city of cape town. The red colours indicate a high risk of drought, while blue indicates a high risk of flooding. The cape town drought highlighted the importance of strengthening collaboration between departments in the city. Aug 31, 2017 drought is a relatively complex concept, particularly hydrological drought.

A story thats been making the rounds recently is the impending water shortage in cape town. Minimising the impact of the critical water shortages on human life, dignity and property. During a drought as severe as this one, it thus makes sense for water to be very expensive above a lifeline amount, with severe penalties for exceeding any restrictions. Cape town has three main options to augment its water supply in times of drought, with the first being the large aquifers in the city and cape flats regions. How the droughts in the western and eastern cape affect. Jul 23, 2018 the severe 3year day zero drought that threatened cape towns water supply is often referred to as the western cape drought or the cape town drought. Cape town is in a waterscarce region and is experiencing the impacts of climate change with an increased frequency of drought events, said the statement. Cape towns history of water tariff setting does not look good against this backdrop. Cape towns drought is causing economy to dry up too. What cape town s drought teaches us is that climate change is not a thing of a distant future.

This is a public summary of the city of cape towns critical water shortages disaster plan. The drought required collaboration across departments that had not been in place before. Constructed using data provided by city of cape town xanthea limberg this graph shows the citys dam levels from 2000 to 2017. Droughts impact on western cape businesses heightens. Global warming raised the risk of more severe droughts in cape town cape town s drought teaches us is that climate change is not a thing of a distant future. This report discusses why drought occurs in the united states. These terms have even been used regularly in scientific work on the topic e. Cape town bring online up to 500mlday of new nonsurface water by end. The single biggest source of cape towns water supply is theewaterskloof dam the one that features regularly in the press these days. The risk ratio rr is the likelihood of this drought.

Pdf the cape town day zero drought and hadley cell expansion. The january 2018 announcement alone galvanized a 30percent drop in residential consumption after a steady but slower decline in earlier stages of the drought, according to city of cape town. After a particularly dry winter in 2015, other requests for funds were filed by the provincial government in 2016, resulting in the recognition of five out of the thirty western cape municipalities as drought disaster areas cape town was not included. As overall temperatures increase more water evaporates and severe weather conditions increase. In 2018, the city of cape town experienced its worst drought in over a century. The actual rainfall in cape town is of little consequence in this regard. Solutions for cape town water crisis crown publications. Multiple years of droughts have resulted in lower and lower water levels in the reservoirs that supply. Moodys said in a report that one of the most direct impacts would be on cape towns operating revenues as 10% of them are from water charges. Photo above filling 5l bottles with well point water to flush the toilets. We are running out of time to reduce greenhouse gas.

Countries that experience little rainfall have an even greater scarcity of rainfall. The city of cape town s xanthea said that the longterm effects of the water crisis were acutely felt on farms, but she said that the upside of the drought. Thankfully, in 2018 the region had a relatively bountiful rainy season, and the city was able to escape its day zero plans for turning off the citys water supply. How the droughts in the western and eastern cape affect tourism multiple south african towns and provinces are experiencing a crippling drought. While this is positive news, all businesses still need to be acutely aware of the farreaching effects of the current water shortage in the region. Silobased thinking and action hinders responses to crises and complex problems. Drought relief funding in the western cape in 20102011. Until 2017, cape town adopted 3 tariff curves every year there are now 4. A hydrological drought is a result of an intricate interplay of characteristics of weather such as timing, magnitude and intensity of rainfall events, and other factors affecting runoff and dam storage. The graph below shows the decreased rainfall in the past two years for theewaterskloof, the dam supplying more than half our water. In 2015, cape town was awarded a prize by the c40a collection of cities focused on climate change worldwidefor its management of water.

Cape town and south africa urgently need a multilateral approach to the water crisis, while the country requires the same for other pending social challenges. Aug 15, 2018 as the end of the rainy season approaches, and dams have yet to reach a 60% provincial average, cape town may be dealt another drought blow. Cape town with operational costs potentially running between r350 million and r1 billion per year. When a region goes for long periods without any rain, especially for more than a season, then the situation leads. Impact of drought cape town message board tripadvisor. And it is the hydrological drought that affects the capes dams. Cape town may have avoided day zero, but there are parts of south africa that have not, particularly several karoo towns in the eastern cape that have run out of water. Global warming has raised risk of more severe droughts in. Recurrence of drought in nigeria causes effects and report,1 understanding what drought is and its causes, how it has affected north america in the past, and how drought may affect the united states in the future all bear on actions congress may take to prepare for and mitigate the effects of drought.

Of far greater consequence is the rainfall in the catchment areas of the dams supplying its water. It has less than 20 per cent of its water capacity. Oct 10, 2019 cape town may have avoided day zero, but there are parts of south africa that have not, particularly several karoo towns in the eastern cape that have run out of water. The drought is reportedly having severe impacts on the population, with water supplies to cape towns residents due to be cut off on 12 april 2018 unless. A drought is a period of drierthannormal conditions that results in waterrelated problems. Cape town gets lots of its water from the theewaterskloof dam and i know it has rained, as i have friends close to there, but it was so empty that they think it will need 2 or 3 good rainy winters to return to normal. We live in an increasingly complex world where immense opportunity and debilitating challenges run side by side. Extreme water restrictions have been put in place in the city of cape town and neighbouring towns, and water is being rationed via pressure reduction and other demandside management interventions. The increasing rate of evaporation from the soil and vegetation leads to drought in africa. The current drought is characterised by all four of the above drought types. Possibly high consumption preceding current drought. In 2018, cape town, south africa was at a very real risk of being the first major city to run out of water due to a longterm trend in reduced winter rainfall and significant seasonal variability.

The risk ratio rr is the likelihood of this drought today compared. For city of cape town, move to level 6b restrictions and introduce punitive drought tariffs level 6 from 1 february to comply with ndws restriction continue all demand management initiatives physically restrict demand to cape town weekly water budget of 450 mlday waterrationing 3. On friday, the citys dam levels were recorded at 20. But there are also other reasons brought up in the public discourse, particularly on social media, such as population and water demand growth, unreported agricultural use, invasive species sucking out water in catchments, poor planning and mismanagement of water supply. The city of cape town s xanthea said that the longterm effects of the water crisis were acutely felt on farms, but she said that the upside of the drought was the lessons it had taught them. While dam water levels had been declining since 2015, the cape town water crisis peaked during mid2017 to mid2018 when water levels hovered between 15 and 30 per cent of total dam capacity. The problem is not limited to the western cape though. Looking back on cape towns drought and day zero citylab. Impacts of drought on grape yields in western cape, south africa. Mar 19, 2018 drought stricken cape town counts the cost 19 march 2018 06. Ohio, who has been in a sports championship drought and moving out of it is headed into a water drought. Christopher vandome assesses the causes of south africas water shortage. Despite many years of disaster relief assistance from the government, studies show a general consensus amongst analysts that drought assistance has been ineffective, poorly. Despite its near 4,000word length, climate change is not mentioned at.

It describes the issues of drought identification, causes, prediction. What is the cause of the current drought in cape town. Droughts take place whenever there is prolonged periods of rainfall deficiency for a season or more and usually when there is a lack of anticipated rainfall or precipitation. In the deserts of the southwest, the average precipitation is less than 3 inches per year. Dec 12, 2017 the water crisis in south africas cape town teaches us theres more at play than just rainfall. Cape town will see more severe droughts say scientists. The effects of drought are widespread and have devastating effects on the environment and the society as a whole. The city of cape town has just announced that from february were being reduced to 50 litres per day from 87 litres. For example, the water demand management department worked with. This drought can have terrible consequences, as cape town is now experiencing. The critical water shortages disaster plan for the city of cape town is based on the following fundamental principles which provide a basis for decisionmaking. So scary photos from home, cape town our new normal. The impact of cape towns water shortage on public health. This is a public summary of the city of cape towns.

As the drought in cape town intensified in 20172018 and then abated later in 2018, international and national attention was focussed on cape town. The amount of precipitation at a particular location varies from year to year, but over a period of years, the average amount is fairly constant. Cape town s history of water tariff setting does not look good against this backdrop. The cape town water crisis in south africa was a period of severe water shortage in the western cape region, most notably affecting the city of cape town. Landscapes and crops need more water to survive and overall the. Western cape provincial water sector plan 20092014. Experts warn of growing drought risk in western cape. The severe 3year day zero drought that threatened cape town s water supply is often referred to as the western cape drought or the cape town drought. Studies cited by the wwa group say the western cape drought was the worst almost since the beginning of the 20th century. Residents are bracing themselves for day zero the moment at which most of the citys. The global warming situation tends to exacerbate the drought conditions.

In the coming months, cape town, if the water levels keep falling, will declare day zerowhen the city will run out of water and supplies to the suburbs will be shut off. Cape town is experiencing the worst drought in recorded history and according to the city, dam levels are currently at their lowest in 19 years. Disasters like droughts means the issue must be seen from many different perspectives, like politics. Importantly, cape town is just one example of how many towns and cities in south africa, and other semiarid regions, can be impacted by. Jan 29, 2018 cape town and south africa urgently need a multilateral approach to the water crisis, while the country requires the same for other pending social challenges. This site was created to make that obvious to everyone. Kwazulunatal is also overexploiting about 50% of the rivers in its main catchment pongola. May 31, 2017 cape town has less than 10% of its useable water remaining for its nearly 4 million residents as it grapples with the worst drought in over 100 years. This is a public summary of the city of cape towns critical. Theewaterskloof dam near villiersdorp, south africa in march 2017.

Cape town water outlook 2018 water institute of southern. How western cape farmers are being hit by the drought. The cape flats aquifer, the table mountain aquifer and the atlantis aquifer. The drought is reportedly having severe impacts on the population, with water supplies to cape town s residents due to be cut off on 12 april 2018 unless. Apparently they were in effect from the 9th of february today is the 22nd. The dams that supply cape town are entirely dependent on rainfall, making. What is causing the current drought in the western cape. The change in risk of a drought like the one just experienced in cape town that is attributable to human influence on climate. Zolotokrylin encyclopedia of life support systems eolss van nostrand reinhold company, new york. This is a public summary of the city of cape town s critical water shortages disaster plan. Western cape water sectors vision, goals, targets and alignment to ikapa growth and development strategy. Informing the western cape agricultural sector on the 2015.