CANCELLED - Water Insights Seminar - Living Through the City of Cape Town's Water crisis

Presenter: Mumbi Kimani Water scarcity is one of the major problems facing many countries. South Africa is a water scarce country and the gap between supply and demand has been increasing. Urbanization has been on the rise, by 2017 almost two thirds of South African's lived in urban areas. This influx has seen cities like the City of Cape Town struggle to cope with increasing water demand. The recent drought in Cape Town triggered a water crisis leading to the city declaring a date “day zero” on which it would turn off the city's taps. It also revealed cracks in the city's water institutional and managerial structures. We offer a first-hand experience of living through the crisis, discuss some perspectives on the factors that contributed to the crisis and lessons that other cities can learn from the city's experience.