
Cape Town still has water — for now. This may take political solutions as well as technical fixes
It’s Earth Day 2018 and taps in Cape Town, South Africa, are still running — a water crisis deferred, but not resolved.
The city’s “Day Zero” projections have pushed back to 2019, after officials implemented significant agricultural and personal water restrictions. Cape Town, a city of nearly 4 million, still faces the prospect of running out of water.
How did Cape Town reach this brink? Most analysts point to the technical challenges of keeping the water flowing, in an era of severe drought and a growing urban population. It’s a familiar story elsewhere in the world — contaminated water supplies in communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley; millions of people in rural areas outside of Mumbai facing drought and water rationing.… Seguir leyendo »