Running Out of Water Sucks: How Cape Town Can Be a Climate Change Wake-Up Call

Our world can be a scary place. Fires, floods, hurricanes, two-headed snakes who are clearly here to devour us all—Mother Nature has a pretty cruel sense of humor and a knack for making us feel entirely powerless. Don’t get us wrong: we humans are a resilient lot, and our ability to endure and rebuild in the wake of tragedies is truly inspiring. But that doesn’t mean that we should simply accept these natural disasters as a horrible part of life. Instead, we need to respect the reality of climate change and the effect that we ourselves are having on the Earth.

Take for instance the current state of Cape Town in South Africa. The city is set to become the first city in the world to run out of water, with officials claiming that the city’s taps might be turned off by July. So how did this happen? And what does it mean? What are the 4 million people of this coastal city expected to do if their water sources simply…disappear?

Global Warming Puts More than the Environment at Risk

To say Cape Town is experiencing a drought seems like an understatement. South Africa’s second largest city is currently enduring the worst drought in 100 years, and is facing the very real possibility that it will actually run out of water. In fact, when the city’s reservoirs and water sources hit 13.5% capacity, the government will be forced to turn off most of its taps, a move which will have unknowable consequences on Cape Town’s residents. This day is ominously referred to as ‘Day Zero’, and while its date is not set in stone (it was originally set for some time in April, but authorities are now saying it might not happen until 2019), it seems for the moment to be an inevitability.

While there are obvious health and environmental issues associated with this disaster, the impact is actually far more wide reaching. In the current history of climate change, economies faltering like this triggers the displacement of peoples, which can create much bigger issues on a global scale. Consider the recent conflict in Syria: as Francesco Femia, co-president of the Centre for Climate Change and Security in the United States put it, the conflict didn’t just arise out of the blue:

“In Syria, a number of farmers and pastoral peoples crops and livestock were decimated by major drought that was linked to climate change. That can in turn lead to displacement of peoples, which can put pressure on urban areas, which can put pressure on existing political problems and which could then lead to political turmoil and possible conflict.”

The drought is not the sole catalyst for Cape Town’s crisis, with population growth and climate change also playing a role. However, finding someone or something to point the finger at won’t solve anything. The government’s job now is to find a way to ensure their citizens are not left to simply go thirsty. In the meantime, the rest of the world should be looking at the situation in South Africa as a critical wake up call to the very real dangers of global warming.

What Cape Town Can Teach Us About Climate Change

As demonstrated by the people of Cape Town, we can start monitoring and lessening our water consumption. Right now, residents are allotted 50 litres of water a day, which they must ration for drinking, washing and cooking. While this reality might seem unthinkable over here, it is not an impossibility: in North America, our collection of glaciers have essentially dried up due to climate change. So rather than waiting for them to disappear all together, we can come up with alternatives and lessen our consumption.

Water recycling systems are a great starting point, and they are already gaining popularity. These systems use grey water for water gardens, toilets and other things that don’t have to be pristine. Experimental practices with desalination are starting to take place, where salt water is turned into drinking water. This would work well for the coastal city of Cape Town while they find other alternatives. Additionally, Wastewater Treatment Plants actually treat water so that it can be reused completely and entirely: drinking, watering, washing, you name it. These facilities also treat the water in such a way that it does not affect the natural environment it comes from.

At the end of the day, global warming sucks, but we suck too if we continue to stand by and just watch it happen. Instead, let us learn from Cape Town, and work towards creating a global harmony with our planet.