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Cape Town Water Crisis
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https://www.npr.org/...-to-run-out-in-april

I had no idea this was going on, but apparently they are predicting that the city of over 3 million people will run out of water by April. I originally saw this on twitter and was looking at some of the tweets of how people are dealing with this crisis. Flushing your toilet once per day, taking a "shower" while standing in a bucket, not washing your hair for weeks, etc. I really would have a difficult time adjusting to that kind of lifestyle, but think it may be a much bigger problem in other major cities in the very near future. Are there any residents of Cape Town here on ST? If so, would love to hear your experience with it.
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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [sake] [ In reply to ]
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I don't know if Karachi is going to run out of water at any point, but it doesn't sound good there either.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/28/karachi-pakistan-water-crisis


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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [sake] [ In reply to ]
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Heard about this on CBC radio last night. Sounds like it has been years in the making. Not only that the mayor of Cape Town was chastising the residents for doing nothing to help. Sad thing is it wouldn't take extreme measures. They were talking about people not taking more than one shower a day, taking short showers, not watering lawns etc. However because of not doing that by April they are going to run out of water and then everyone will have to go to one of 200 water distribution centres to get their daily allotment.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [sake] [ In reply to ]
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I have two friends that live in Cape Town. One is in full panic mode on Facebook about it, the other hasn't mentioned it. (Both are fairly active on social media).

I am sure that the mood of the city is somewhere in between.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?
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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [len] [ In reply to ]
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To be fair, they haven't done anything to force people to use less water either. It's simple. You use more than, say, 50 litres a day? Any litres over 50 cost you R100 each.

That would get people to stop, right quick.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?
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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [BLeP] [ In reply to ]
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Yes putting a price on it usually helps. Most of Southern Australia has a regime in place that puts a price on water and they are coping quite well. People have put in their own water tanks for rainwater 2 stage toilets etc etc .

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [BLeP] [ In reply to ]
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BLeP wrote:
To be fair, they haven't done anything to force people to use less water either. It's simple. You use more than, say, 50 litres a day? Any litres over 50 cost you R100 each.

That would get people to stop, right quick.

Yeah the article I read seems like this is exhibit A for the tragedy of the commons. Made it sound like most people there have done almost nothing to moderate their usage, especially the wealthier areas of town.
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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [sake] [ In reply to ]
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They need a commercial desalination plant or two. Why a city on the ocean would run out of fresh water is ridiculous.
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Re: Cape Town Water Crisis [ThisIsIt] [ In reply to ]
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ThisIsIt wrote:
BLeP wrote:
To be fair, they haven't done anything to force people to use less water either. It's simple. You use more than, say, 50 litres a day? Any litres over 50 cost you R100 each.

That would get people to stop, right quick.


Yeah the article I read seems like this is exhibit A for the tragedy of the commons. Made it sound like most people there have done almost nothing to moderate their usage, especially the wealthier areas of town.

Of course not, they haven't been forced to. Whether we like it or not, people need to be "incentivized" to change water habits, especially rich people.

Then again the government has known that Cape Town's water supply is insufficient for a City that size for a while now. And little has been done about it. Until now, that panic mode has set in.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?
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