Cape Town’s reservoir levels this time each year of drought Feb. 17, 2014Feb.
19, 2018020406080100% full020406080 Data: City of Cape Town Cape Town announced on Feb. 21 that it would be pushing back its dreaded “Day Zero” by a month, from June 4 to July 9, thanks to a lesser-than-expected drop in water levels over the preceding week.
The reservoirs that feed the city (also called “dams”) lost 0.5% of their capacity in the week ending Feb. 19, the city announced, compared to 1.9% over this same one-week period in 2014, the year before the current drought officially began.
That leaves the city’s reservoirs at 24.1% of capacity as of Feb. 23, according to the city.
The bottom 10% of water in any reservoir is considered unusable, so in practical terms, the city has 14.1% of its usable water left.
That’s better than expected, but still way, way less than the volume of water the city has in a normal year.
The revised Day-Zero date suggests Cape Town’s recent measure to restrict residents down to 50 liters (13 gallons) of water per day, considered by experts to be the bare minimum for sanitation and survival, seems to be working.
The city as a whole was using an average of 523 megaliters per day as of Feb. 20 (one megaliter is the equivalent of 1 million liters).
That’s way down from the 1,130 megaliters used per day in 2014, but still short of the 420 megaliters the city was hoping for, News24 reported.
The July 9 date reflects a projection of current water use; it may be pushed back farther if city residents continue to take water conservation measures.

But there’s also a great deal to worry about beyond the city’s limits and deeper into the surrounding farmlands of the Western Cape.
There’s a real risk that the water shortage could see farmers’ yields decimated during this growing season which is from September to March for irrigated crops, and from from May to October for rainfed crops.
The Australian case Australia’s Millennium drought was categorised by low rainfall conditions in late 1996 and throughout 1997 in southern Australia.
Farmers in the region relied solely on water from dams for agriculture and domestic consumption.
The drought also changed the way Australian agriculture treated its water resources, and those who depended on them.
But there are some important differences between Australia and South Africa.
In 2017 there were 215 000 employees in the agriculture sector in the region, an estimated 75% were seasonal workers.
Seasonal workers in South Africa usually settle in the production area, often in informal settlements.
Significant job losses in the agricultural sector could also lead to considerable social unrest, as happened in the past.
Impact of the drought The drought has already begun to affect how farmers use water.

Alvine Kapitako Opuwo-The drought that has ravaged the Kunene Region for at least seven consecutive years now, continues to affect communities in the region who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and have since started moving into the regional capital, Opuwo.
The Mayor of Opuwo, Albert Tjiuma, told New Era last week that many farmers who survived on their animals have migrated to Opuwo where they have set up structures anywhere.
“Some even came with their animals and this has contributed to the problem of many animals within the boundaries of the town,” said Tjiuma.
“They expect to be provided with services such as water but that is difficult because it was unplanned for,” said Tjiuma.
However, the situation in Opuwo is not any different from that in remote areas and, according to 41-year-old Ukonjerua Kavari of Omaoipanga village situated 15 kilometres from Opuwo, people depend mainly on drought relief from the government in order to survive.
“It hasn’t rained, you can see how dry it is,” said Kavari, pointing to the dry land.
Apart from drought relief consisting mainly of maize, cooking oil, salt and rice – which they get only about three times a year – Kavari depends on his livestock for survival.
“I don’t think it will rain this year and if it does it won’t be sufficient for us to recover from this drought.
I lost many animals over the years,” lamented Kavari.
Uahironua Tjisuta, who is 22 years old, said there are 11 adults and seven children at their house.

First, the case against “drought.” In California, a drought only happens when a governor declares it to be so.
Yes, dry years strung together are important.
But looking back at California’s weather so far this century, we have been “dry” (as in below-average precipitation) two years out of three.
For lack of a better term, it is like a Semi Drought.
The University of Arizona recently documented the emerging problems of the Semi Drought.
And Southern California, even with intensive groundwater management, has not been immune from the impacts.
Perhaps this weather trend is rarely discussed, and never declared, because we haven’t settled on a catchy word that describes what has steadily emerged to be our most challenging long-term weather problem.
As Gershunov intimated, the Scripps research also pointed to more frequent dry years in the future.
If we truly are in a long and challenging Semi-Drought, or whatever we end up calling it, whether it is very wet or very dry or very “average” in any given year is important in the short term.
This article originally appeared on Water Deeply.

Western Cape premier Helen Zille has criticised the national government for not making funding available for water augmentation efforts in the drought-ravaged city of Cape Town.
"Although bulk water supply is its mandate, the national Department of Water and Sanitation has not made funding available for augmentation in this crisis, because the National Treasury has literally turned off its funding tap following a disastrous audit outcome," Zille said during her state of the province address in the provincial legislature on Thursday.
She said that, as a result, the City of Cape Town had stepped into the breach with aquifer extraction, water reuse and desalination projects amounting to close to R6bn over the five-year medium term revenue expenditure framework.
Zille said she noted Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s budget speech setting aside R6bn for drought relief and infrastructure for the five provinces hit by the current drought.
The provincial government, operating on a very constrained budget, has diverted over R369m from our core functions to supplement disaster funding since 2015-16.
This would be the lowest storage level ever recorded and the potential trigger for Day Zero — or Level 7 restrictions — when the city turns off the taps in residential areas to conserve the remaining water supply.
That was when most people would have to queue for water — rather than sourcing it from a tap in their homes, Zille said.
However, she said that business districts, informal settlements and public health facilities would remain connected to supply.
These will be supplemented by the private sector that is making plans to ensure a range of complementary supply points across the city.
ANC Western Cape leader Khaya Magaxa said Zille was blaming the ANC at national level, "but taking credit for the same ANC’s performance at national level".

But there’s also a great deal to worry about beyond the city’s limits and deeper into the surrounding farmlands of the Western Cape.
There’s a real risk that the water shortage could see farmers’ yields decimated during this growing season which is from September to March for irrigated crops, and from from May to October for rainfed crops.
The Australian case Australia’s Millennium drought was categorised by low rainfall conditions in late 1996 and throughout 1997 in southern Australia.
Farmers in the region relied solely on water from dams for agriculture and domestic consumption.
The drought also changed the way Australian agriculture treated its water resources, and those who depended on them.
But there are some important differences between Australia and South Africa.
In 2017 there were 215 000 employees in the agriculture sector in the region, an estimated 75% were seasonal workers.
Seasonal workers in South Africa usually settle in the production area, often in informal settlements.
Significant job losses in the agricultural sector could also lead to considerable social unrest, as happened in the past.
Impact of the drought The drought has already begun to affect how farmers use water.

As we head into the rainy season, Joel Alexander with City Utilities is still keeping an eye on area lake levels to be at a healthy 86% full.
"We’re going into the spring season feeling better than we were a few days ago I think," Alexander says.
"We have been in a moderate, severe, even some parts of the Ozarks, an extreme drought," Griffin says.
"This heavy rainfall will definitely put a dent in our drought.
It might not totally go away, but definitely the ground is saturated, and we are seeing too much of a good thing."
"Even though we have been in a drought, we have seen too much rain too quickly," explains Griffin.
While flooding is a concern, Griffin says those lakes that CU was keeping an eye on are likely to bounce back.
Those lakes have been so low lately that we are going to bounce those levels back to near normal as we head into the spring," says Griffin.
"It’s certainly nice to have the rain this time of year, you couldn’t have asked for rain to come at a better time.
We are certainly glad it’s not ice."

Some stretches of New Mexico have gone months without meaningful moisture, leaving farmers and ranchers to make difficult decisions as long-term forecasts call for drought to intensify across the already arid state.
Experts with the National Weather Service talked of pitiful snowpack levels in the mountain ranges that feed the state’s rivers ahead of the release Thursday of the latest drought map.
The map shows all but a small sliver of southern New Mexico is grappling with some level of dryness, with extreme drought increasing in the northwest corner of the state.
Officials with the federal Farm Service Agency in New Mexico say many ranchers are scrambling to buy up as much alfalfa as they can to supplement feed supplies while others from Cuba to Carrizozo are being forced to cut their herds.
Never miss a local story.
Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.

The largely dry winter across California is leading to worsening drought conditions and may cause officials to implement water restrictions again in the coming months.
On Tuesday, members of the state Water Resources Control Board held a meeting to discuss a proposal to implement water restrictions across the state but delayed a decision, according to the Associated Press.
This meeting comes just days after the U.S. Drought Monitor released a report showing that nearly half the state has returned to severe drought conditions.
Water restrictions were in place across California from 2013 to 2017 as extreme drought gripped the state, but the restrictions were lifted after an abundance of rain and mountain snow erased much of the drought during the winter of 2016-2017.
Some of the restrictions would include prohibitions on watering lawns, washing sidewalks, using a hose without an automatic shut-off nozzle, running an ornamental fountain without a recirculating system and watering outside within 48 hours of a good rain, according to AP.
In this Jan. 3, 2018, file photo, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, from left, accompanied by Grant Davis, director of the department, and Michelle Mead, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, leave the nearly snow barren Phillips Station snow course, after conducting the first snow survey of the season near Echo Summit, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) This winter has been exceptionally dry across California with most areas receiving only a fraction of the precipitation that they did last winter.
“After a blockbuster snowpack winter for 2016-2017, California is once again in a snow drought,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell said.
“There are growing worries for [the] water supply picture, especially in California, but even over more of the Southwest,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.
There is still time for more snow to build up on the mountains before the water year in California comes to an end on April 1, but that time is quickly running out.
“Every drop of water saved and every suspected leak fixed will help secure our water supply,” the website says.

NAIROBI, Kenya The Kenya Red Cross on Thursday released a new drought appeal to assist 3.4 million Kenyans suffering from a severe drought that has hit the Horn of Africa region.
At a press conference on Thursday, Abbas Gullet, the secretary general of the Kenya Red Cross Society said the drought in Kenya was worsening by the day, adding that the current drought had been declared a national disaster by the Kenyan government a year ago, in Feb. 2017.
“The Kenya Red Cross Society has launched a drought appeal seeking to raise 1,044,244,850 Kenya shillings ($10.2 million) to support 1,373,294 people (who are in the alert phase) who are facing starvation due to the persistent drought in Kenya,” Gullet said.
The Red Cross says the most affected are from 14 counties in Kenya with six being at an alarm stage, which are Garissa, Wajir, Isiolo, Tana River, Kajiado, and Kilifi.
“Our appeal is to all stakeholders, local and international partners to support us in mitigation efforts.
We are keen to intensify our interventions through direct cash transfers, health and nutrition outreaches, rehabilitation of key communal water points, food distribution as well as animal offtake and slaughter,” Gullet added.
Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form.
Please contact us for subscription options.