The bustling metropolis of Cape Town, South Africa, home to about 4 million people, is on track to run out of water and cut off its taps in May. Because of a years-long drought — believed to be partially caused by climate change — the city’s reservoirs are about to run dry.
AFRICA
Atlantic
Ocean
Indian
Ocean
Cape
Town
ANTARCTICA
The six dams that form part of the Western Cape Water Supply System, which supplies water to towns and provides irrigation water for agriculture.
Voëlvlei
10 MILES
17.3 percent
of capacity
Paarl
Wemmershoek
50.1 percent
Berg River
53.4 percent
Cape Town
Theewaterskloof
12.3 percent
Strand
False
Bay
Steenbras Upper
81.6 percent
Steenbras Lower
41.9 percent
Urban area
Cultivated
agriculture
Vine-
yards
The six dams in and around Cape Town that form part of the Western Cape Water Supply System, which supplies water to towns and provides irrigation water for agriculture.
Urban area
Cultivated
agriculture
Vineyards
AFRICA
Atlantic
Ocean
Indian
Ocean
Voëlvlei
Cape
Town
17.3 percent
of capacity
ANTARCTICA
Atlantis
Wellington
Paarl
Wemmershoek
50.1 percent
Cape Town
Berg River
53.4 percent
Cape Town
Int’l Airport
Theewaterskloof
12.3 percent
Strand
False Bay
The City of Cape Town uses approximately 64 percent of the total water supply, agriculture 29 percent, and other urban areas use about 7 percent.
Steenbras Upper
81.6 percent
Steenbras Lower
41.9 percent
Kleinmond
Atlantic
Ocean
10 MILES
The six dams in and around Cape Town that form part of the Western Cape Water Supply System, which supplies water to towns and provides irrigation water for agriculture.
Urban area
Cultivated
agriculture
Vineyards
AFRICA
Voëlvlei
Ceres
17.3 percent
of capacity
Atlantic
Ocean
Water levels are replenished from direct rainfall and rainfall runoff into the dams. Augmentation schemes, such as sea water desalination, only provide about 12% of the total available supply, while the low rainfall from 2017 accounts for 88% of the available water.
Malmesbury
Indian
Ocean
Cape
Town
ANTARCTICA
Atlantis
The City of Cape Town uses approximately 64 percent of the total water supply, agriculture 29 percent, and other urban areas use about 7 percent.
Wellington
Rawsonville
Paarl
Wemmershoek
50.1 percent
Bloubergstrand
Klapmuts
Berg River
53.4 percent
Berg River Dam, operational since 2007,has been the only major addition to the water supply system since 1995.
Cape Town
Cape Town
Int’l Airport
Theewaterskloof
12.3 percent
Strand
Theewaterskloof holds more than half of all the water in the system.
False Bay
Steenbras Upper
81.6 percent
Steenbras Lower
41.9 percent
Kleinmond
Atlantic
Ocean
5 MILES
Cape Town is still using in excess of 547 million liters of water per day. To avoid “Day Zero” — the day the taps are turned off — the daily usage needs to be reduced to 450 million liters per day.
[Analysis | On Day Zero, Cape Town will run out of water. It’s not the only city at risk.]
The loss of water can be seen most clearly with Cape Town’s biggest dam, Theewaterskloof. The reservoir now holds only 12 percent of its original capacity.
Theewaterskloof water levels on the
decline
Jan. 3, 2014
Jan. 17, 2016
Jan. 31, 2017
Jan. 16, 2018
Theewaterskloof water levels on the decline
Jan. 3, 2014
Jan. 17, 2016
Jan. 31, 2017
Jan. 16, 2018
Theewaterskloof water levels on the decline
Jan. 3, 2014
Jan. 17, 2016
Jan. 31, 2017
Jan. 16, 2018
Theewaterskloof in 2017. (Roger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images)
Here, the same lack of rainfall that has plagued the other reservoirs has been compounded by an explosion of urban growth. The reservoir feeds the bulk of the urbanized land area in Cape Town, where there are now far more people and businesses than there were decades before. But there has been no change in water infrastructure, causing the reservoir to run dry.
Water supply has not kept up with population growth
Cape Town in 1990 had roughly 2 million people, today the city of 4 million is expected to add another 200,000 people in the next five years.
Built up area
Area served by
Theewaterskloof Dam
1987
Atlantic
Ocean
Cape
Town
Cape
Town
Int’l
False Bay
2017
Atlantic
Ocean
Cape
Town
Int’l
Cape
Town
5 MILES
Water supply has not kept up with population growth
Cape Town in 1990 had roughly 2 million people, today the city of 4 million is expected to add another 200,000 people in the next five years.
Built up area
1987
Area served by
Theewaterskloof Dam
Cape Town
Int’l Airport
Cape
Town
False Bay
2017
Atlantic
Ocean
Cape Town
Int’l Airport
Cape
Town
5 MILES
Water supply has not kept up with population growth
Cape Town in 1990 had roughly 2 million people, today the city of 4 million is expected to add another 200,000 people in the next five years.
Built up
area
Area served by
Theewaterskloof Dam
1987
2017
Atlantic
Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean
Cape Town
Int’l Airport
Cape Town
Int’l Airport
Cape
Town
Cape
Town
False Bay
5 MILES
But all hope is not lost for Cape Town. The city’s efforts to conserve water so far, especially with limiting agricultural consumption, have pushed Day Zero from April to May, when the region’s rainy season starts.
The wettest seasons in South Africa
The Cape Town area is dependent on replenishing rainfall that falls in the winter months of May through July, while much of the rest of the country typically receives mostof its rain in the summer months.
ZIMB.
200 MILES
BOTSWANA
MOZ.
NAMIBIA
Pretoria
Johannesburg
SWAZI.
LESOTHO
SOUTH
AFRICA
Atlantic
Ocean
Indian
Ocean
Cape
Town
Fall
Winter
Spring
Summer
Feb.-April
May-July
Aug.-Oct.
Nov.-Jan.
Mar.-May
June-Aug.
Sept.-Nov.
Dec.-Feb.
April- June
July-Sept.
Oct.-Dec.
Jan.-Mar.
The wettest three month seasons in South Africa
The Cape Town area is dependent on replenishing rainfall that falls in the winter months of May through July, while much of the rest of the country typically receives mostof its rain in the summer months.
ZIMB.
BOTSWANA
MOZAMBIQUE
Windhoek
Gaborone
NAMIBIA
Pretoria
Maputo
Johannesburg
SWAZI.
Bloemfontein
Springbok
LESOTHO
Durban
SOUTH
AFRICA
Atlantic
Ocean
Indian
Ocean
Cape Town
Port Elizabeth
200 MILES
Fall
Winter
Spring
Summer
Feb.-
April
Mar.-
May
April-
June
May-
July
June-
Aug.
July-
Sept.
Aug.-
Oct.
Sept.-
Nov.
Oct.-
Dec.
Nov.-
Jan.
Dec.-
Feb.
Jan.-
Mar.
The reservoirs’ levels go up each year with the rainy season, and then down again during the dry season. So hitting the rainy season will likely save Cape Town from Day Zero for now.
Volume of water stored in the
Big Six dams is on the decline
Typically the water storage of the reservoirs decreases in the first months of the year, and increases again once the rainy season begins in May, but overall, the trend during the current drought is less available water reserves.
1 million
megaliters
Capacity for the six dams is 900,000 megaliters.
800k
2013
600k
2014
2015
400k
2016
2018
200k
2017
Water can only be extracted from the dams when storage is above 10 percent.
0
2014
Jan.
2015
Jan.
2016
Jan.
2017
Jan.
2018
Jan.
Volume of water stored in the Big Six dams is on the decline
Typically the water storage of the reservoirs decreases in the first months of the year (summer), and increases again once the rainy season begins in May, but overall, the trend during the current drought is less available water reserves.
1 million megaliters
Capacity for the six dams is 900,000 megaliters.
800k
2013
600k
2014
400k
2015
2018
2016
200k
2017
Water can only be extracted from the dams when storage is above 10 percent.
0
2013
July
2014
Jan.
2015
Jan.
2016
Jan.
2017
Jan.
2018
Jan.
However, with little rain expected this season — the volume has decreased year after year, which many climate scientists link to climate change globally — the city will likely run into the same issue later this year or early next.
[If the world builds every coal plant that’s planned, climate change goals are doomed, scientists say]
Accumulated daily rainfall at
Cape Town International Airport
Since 2015, the rainfall totals are significantly below the 40-year median.
2013
600
millimeters
2014
400
2015
2016
200
2017
0
Jan.
Mar.
May
July
Sept.
Nov.
Dec. 31
1977-2017
Accumulated daily rainfall at Cape Town International Airport
Since 2015, the rainfall totals are significantly below the 40-year median.
800
millimeters
2013
600
2014
median
400
2015
2016
200
2017
0
Jan.
March
May
July
Sept.
Nov.
Dec. 31
1977-2017
In response to its quickly depleting water supply, Cape Town has put in strict water restrictions on its residents. Each person is limited to using 50 liters — about 13 gallons — of water per day. To achieve this, the government recommends only flushing the toilet once a day and taking “stop-start” showers, in which the water is turned off while applying soap and shampoo.
What does 50 liters of water look like?
50 liters
(13 gallons)
Five-minute
shower
40L
Five toilet
flushes
45L
One dishwasher
load
29L
One laundry
load
70L
Daily drinking
water
3L
Daily hand-
washing water
2L
What does 50 liters of water look like?
50 liters
(13 gallons)
Five-minute shower
40L
45L
Five toilet flushes
29L
One dishwasher load
One laundry load
70L
3L
Daily drinking water
Daily hand-washing water
2L
If Day Zero comes, residents will be forced to collect their water at a few shared taps around the city, limited to 25 liters (about 6.6 gallons) per day. That’s equivalent to a three-minute shower, or three toilet flushes.
About this story
City of Cape Town, Western Cape Government, Department of Environmental Affairs and Statistics South Africa. Land use data from South African National Biodiversity Institute. Satellite imagery for false color images of Cape Town from Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 via USGS EarthExplorer. Satellite images of Lake Theewaterskloof from Sentinel and Landsat via RemotePixel. Western Cape Water Supply System data from The Watershed Project. Accumulated rainfall and storage capacity from Climate System Analysis Group and University of Cape Town. Seasonal rainfall map from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station Data (CHIRPS).
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