What to Know About Cape Town and the Water Crisis
Updated: Dec 8, 2020
DAY ZERO. At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, we heard a lot in the news about Cape Town, South Africa and day zero the day the city was expected to run out of water. Luckily, during their winter they were able to refill their reservoir and threat is no longer imminent. But day zero still exists in the future and here is why...
The water crisis in Cape Town has been caused by a number factors. The city is supplied water through dams which relies on rainfall to refill them annually. During their summer months, this is usually hard to combat. And with the rising population, more people have to be supplied water off of the same dams for everyday living and agriculture. Hard right? Yep!
On top of the increase in population, the water supply is constantly threatened by invasive species. Per the National Ocean Service, " Invasive species are animals or plants from another region of the world that don’t belong in their new environment. They can be introduced to an area by ship ballast water, accidental release, and most often, by people. Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats". Terrible! Its hard to stop ships from sailing the seas but try not to bring plants/animals to/from your native land from/to anywhere!
Lastly, climate change doesn't help as temperatures have increased around the world. Temperatures increasing obviously makes climates warmer which could be hard for water to sustain. Because you know, water will evaporate!
So...in my efforts to change the world as I see it, I have donated money specifically to Cape Town's water crisis. The donation was based on how much water my friend and I will utilize as we visit the city soon plus +100% increase! And it wasn't even that much as a little goes a long way. I will also be sure we conserve our water usage while we relax in our AirBnb and tour the city.
You can donate to water crisis (as I did) here. You will even get a cute certificate for your donation. You can also decide what you want your donation to go to. I decided to donate to remove invasive species.
You can learn more about invasive species here.
I haven't visited South Africa...yet (coming soon). All pictures are from Pixabay.
What do you do to conserve water? Have you been to Cape Town, what did you do to help them save water? Do you live in Cape Town, how has the water crisis affected you? Comment below!
Thank you for stopping by!
~ Kita the Explorer
Follow me around the Interwebs:
- Instagram: @kitatheexplorer
- YouTube: Kita the Explorer
- Pinterest: @kitatheexplorer
- Twitter: @kitatheexplorer
- Facebook: @kitatheexplorer
- Shutterstock: @kitatheexplorer