This series is an antidote, an attempt to show that there is plenty of hope, as our journalists scour the planet looking for pioneers, trailblazers, best practice, unsung heroes, ideas that work, ideas that might and innovations whose time might have come.
Readers can follow up with our Further Reading guides and can also recommend other projects, people and progress that we should report on by contacting us at theupside@theguardian.com Was this helpful?
“It was the most talked about thing in Cape Town for months when it needed to be,” says Priya Reddy, the city’s communication director.
“It was not a pretty solution, but it was not a pretty problem.” Cape Town’s water use dropped from 600m litres per day in mid 2017 to 507m litres per day at the end of April.
The Western Cape’s multi-pronged response to its water crisis – from farming innovations to reducing urban water use to diversifying water supply sources – could serve as a blueprint for cities that find themselves, like Cape Town, looking at near-empty dams.
“We have pushed the limits far more than most other cities,” says Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson, who is in charge of the city’s water crisis response.
“This is the one that makes me the most depressed,” says Derick van Zyl pointing to a long row of parched trees in his apple orchard.
“It was about being honest with the public,” Neilson says.
Though day zero is out of the immediate picture, the major dams that supply water to the Western Cape are still only about 20% full.
“When somebody first tells you about it, you think it’s a crazy idea,” says Nick Sloane, a ship salvager who has been pitching the idea of the iceberg plan.