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 over the years. Prolonged and recurrent drought in recent years in Western Cape triggered a water crisis that culminated to the city declaring a date “day zero” on which it would turn off the taps. It also revealed cracks in the city's water institutional and managerial structures. The city through a different mechanism, and with the help of its residents, managed to avert day zero. Based on first-hand experience living through the crisis and emergent research, I discuss some perspectives on the factors that contributed to the crisis and lessons that other cities can learn from the city’s experience.
Zoom is also available for this seminar: https://psu.zoom.us/j/370338484
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