Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
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I spent a weekend in Cape Town recently for the Sun Met, and as we all know, there are tremendous water shortages there. What surprised me was that apparently some people in Cape Town itself are not fully aware of the problems. Whatever story has been covered now in the New York Times and on the BBC will hardly be good for tourism. They are showing pictures of people lining up for water and that the day when the water will be cut off, the so-called zero day, is now meant to be in May. Barring some miraculous rains, things are not looking good for Cape Town at all and one wonders what on earth will be done. Is this the global warming we are now seeing first-hand? Either way, suddenly all of those people who have moved to Cape Town may not exactly be thinking it was the right time to be there. There is nothing that glamorous about having to queue to go and get a bucket of 50 litres of water, and basically they are only a few weeks away from that shocking reality.
The way the story has been covered around the rest of the world is basically that Cape Town will be the first major international city in the entire world to run out of water. I have heard of drones being used in some golf estates to monitor whether or not people are using too much water and fine them, the BBC had footage of guys that were washing cars, which is against the law, being arrested and having all their equipment confiscated and at Cape Town International Airport, there were no running taps in the toilets, with a sanitiser instead and signs indicating that this was due to the water shortage.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Monday 26-Feb-18
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Comments
Tersia said:
on Thursday 08-Mar-18 07:59 AM
This is really bad. I also heard over the weekend while watching an international rugby game that they made mention of Cape Town being the first city in the world to run out of water. It certainly has made news all over. It's amazing for me that we have at least all come together with this crisis. From the one town to the next people are gathering water to send to Cape Town, the rugby teams and even a small town like Nigel has gotten involved. But at the end all we can do is pray and hope that the Lord will bless them with rain!!
Michelle said:
on Monday 05-Mar-18 09:16 AM
I don't think people are fully aware of how serious the situation is that Cape Town is currently experiencing. Water is very important and we simply cannot live without it. I believe this is definitely signs of global warming. We can only hope for a lot of rain.
Zindy said:
on Friday 02-Mar-18 08:25 AM
This is very sad. They should make provisions now for future events as such to collect water and build more dams ect so worst case scenario in this event they are prepared. Even though there is no water at the moment they should be working on a plan for the future to.
Sharne said:
on Friday 02-Mar-18 07:47 AM
The government did not take action regarding the problem sooner and now the hole of Cape Town are suffering. Its not pleasant to hear about problems in your country especially when something could have been done about it.
Ashleigh said:
on Thursday 01-Mar-18 04:51 PM
Its really strange that there is a drought when they have a whole ocean that they could have started making plans with and kept the fresh water for human intake. But anyway, the mindset will be that we will just wait for things to become disastrous before we plan and take action.
Jolene said:
on Thursday 01-Mar-18 09:42 AM
It must be terrible to not have water, I feel very bad for each and every Capetonian. I agree that the government should have taken action a long time ago.
Megan said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 04:57 PM
Its strange to think there is a sea but you can't use that water because of the lack of resource solution, would be good to hope that soon someone could resolve this issue by use of sea water. I think this is also a business idea for many companies world wide.
Cornelie said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 02:05 PM
It is really scary to think that a big city like that not to have water. And yet people are still moving to Cape Town the population is getting bigger and the water issue worse.
Liz said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 01:58 PM
Day zero has now been moved to early July which gives a little hope. It is terrifying that residents do not realise how big of a deal the problem actually is and this will definitely impact tourism and consequently our economy negatively.
Courtney said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 11:33 AM
I lived in Cape Town last year. The water shortage is very bad. I really do feel sorry for the people living there. You can go without electricity but never without water.
Henrietta said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 08:42 AM
This is really bad news. My sister in law lives in Cape Town and she even said things are going bad. When they had a few drizzling drops a few days ago they we in their element. It sad to see how bad it has become in Cape Town and I agree, I don't think a lot of people in Cape Town realize the severity of the situation. They going to need a miracle and soon.
Jadine E said:
on Wednesday 28-Feb-18 07:18 AM
When it comes to reality like this it always seems as if the worst get shown on tv (Cape Town) and not how there are many other communities who have it far worse.
Prishani said:
on Tuesday 27-Feb-18 05:08 PM
I am all for creating awareness around the situation, however I think the media will always take the worse from every situation. It would be expected that Cape Town will lose tourism as a result of the water shortage. It’s a scary reality.
Daniella said:
on Tuesday 27-Feb-18 02:29 PM
The water crisis really shouldn't be taken lightly! However I really don't understand how they can have an entire ocean and still haven't used reverse osmosis. anyway I really hope that at the end of the day we can all learn from Cape Towns Mistakes.
Thabitha said:
on Tuesday 27-Feb-18 11:08 AM
The whole world needs to pray for Cape Town the mother nature is something else it is so scary water is life, my question is why are they not aware of the serious problem they are facing they will continue miss using water because they are not fully aware.
Angelique Jurgens said:
on Tuesday 27-Feb-18 08:32 AM
I just cannot imagine doing any normal daily activity without water. Can you imagine how glamorous the stench is about to come? We should learn from this and conserve our water too so that one day we (joburgers) are not in that same predicament. Education is definitely key. I remember when I was young I went to a water conservation expo and I thought "Really, will water ever run out?" well perhaps they need to have more of those expo's and perhaps it should be proper instilled in schools - prevention is always better than cure.
Michelle D said:
on Tuesday 27-Feb-18 08:22 AM
The government should have focused on the Cape Town water shortage much sooner. There could have been possible aids to the water shortage such as desalination of sea water and ground water access (which they have now just begun to utilize). Now, with day zero approaching, it will be a struggle to afford these aids enough time and funding so as to allow them to effectively battle the water shortage and its consequences. That being said, rather late than never and it is time for effective measures to be taken. Seeing as Cape Town is imperative to South African tourism, the fall of Cape Town would be detrimental to the rest of the country and its economy.
Lucretia said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 04:36 PM
It is quite scary when one listens to the news as to how badly the water shortage really is. The thing that still amazes me though is when there are burst pipes, etc, the municipality takes forever to sort this out and, the amount of water wasted is astronomical. When will anyone learn that every drop counts. I was at Dischem over the weekend and when at the tills they ask if you want to donate water to the Cape. I said yes and they swiped a "Cape Town water" item onto my bill for R15.00. More than this though is education, we simply have to educate people to use water sparingly and switch off taps and get their dripping taps fixed. It really worries me.
Shristi said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 01:19 PM
I feel so bad for them but at the same time it is amazing to see how many people and organisations are stepping up and doing their bit to help Cape Town by collecting water and sending it to them. Its high time the government steps up and does something rather than playing the blame game!
Liat Grindler said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 11:50 AM
Cape town's municipality should be more concerned about the water shortage, I do not think that there has been an effective system to try and combat the water shortage. I have read articles that explain how various countries have the technology to prevent the water shortage however, because of politics- South Africa wont admit the problem and accept the help which is needed. I do think the water shortage has been undermined and people will only see the reality when there is no water at al.
Bianca R said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 11:13 AM
I know of a few people who live in Cape Town and they are just so desperate for rain, this has been a long-coming problem and if measure were put in place by our government years ago, this could have been avoided. On the other hand, there are of course those who believe that they do not have to comply with the restrictions and continue to abuse the very little water that is left - the water supply to those people should just be cut completely!
Jadine Richards said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 11:01 AM
The situation in Cape Town is so sad. I was there over the festive period and was shocked to hear how the locals believed that nothing was wrong and still enjoyed normal 20 minute showers. Its good that arrests were made because people need to take crises such as these seriously.
Mathilda Du Preez said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 10:18 AM
Desalination is the answer ,This is the only way we can insure that there will be drinking water no matter the weather and not only for Cape Town but for other places in South Africa that might have water shortages in the future
They actually spoke about this on Carte Blanche
It’s very expensive to build a MGD seawater desalination plant approximately $32 million (R368, 932,800.00)
But South Africa has to think long term solution
fikile said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 10:10 AM
we all know how important water is and in most cases people miss use it and never think that they will need it, all in good times. its very important to save water and always make sure that it is well taken care off. water is the most important thing in world that you can't live without, everything else we can survive without but not water
patrick said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 09:24 AM
It shows how important water makes a huge impact n our lives . The problem is spreading to Port Elizabeth . Desalting of water although is expensive could save us from all of this problem .
Sinead said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 09:21 AM
I knew it was bad but I didn't think it was that bad.
Friends of mine that went down to Cape Town for December actually mentioned how it didn't rain for like 7 months and then on New Years Eve, it decided to storm (while they were at an outdoor event) and everyone was soaked.
We can only hope and pray for more storms like that to solve the water shortage. Is there really nothing we can do to help though? No one has has actually come up with any proper solutions yet.
Brenda Du Toit said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 09:04 AM
This is very sad i feel very sorry for them.We need to all pray for Cape Town and we need to stand together to help where we can .Cape Town is one of the most popular holiday destinations in our County and now there is hardly water if you want to go on holiday there.
Alexis said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:58 AM
really do hope that they get some rain and soon. whether or not it is global warming or just mother nature being her usual kind self...no one with know. I mean JHB had a scare what was it last year or the year before. however people should respect the rules and it is good that they were reprimanded for their stupidity - I mean there is a serious issue and you are worried whether or not your car is clean...I mean really
Clare said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:56 AM
This is a Natural disaster and should be taken very seriously, but I believe that the Government is blaming each other on this situation rather then thinking of Solutions to Fix it Day Zero I real and its on it way we need to all pray for Cape Town and hope that the water situation gets resolved.
Sarah said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:40 AM
I can believe it is world wide news, The city council has referred to the day that the taps will be turned off as “Day Zero,” and have set up a website to encourage residents to use less than 50 L per day. In comparison, a shower typically uses 2 gallons per minute, and so a 6 minute shower is the same as the entire amount of water someone in Cape Town has for all their activities.
Melissa said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:37 AM
I really feel so bad for them. That's why all of us must stand together and help where we can
Bianca N said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:36 AM
This is a terrible thing to happen. I feel incredibly bad for all the people struggling in Cape Town, and it is so sad that one of the most beautiful places in our country is affected by something like this.
Nina said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:26 AM
I think it is a massive wake up call for the entire country. After this everyone should be saving water, doesn't matter where in SA you live. It is quite sad that we have been warned by experts, but unfortunately it seems that it fell on deaf ears, as not much was done to prevent this from happening.
Natasha said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:19 AM
It is soooo bad i feel so sorry for them.Alot of people is actually taking water to them,but i dont know how long its going to last. I feel sorry for the animals because are they allowed to drink water or what. Just hope this ends soon.
Jessica Apfel said:
on Monday 26-Feb-18 08:04 AM
Cape Town has long been praised for being a fantastically run city, and no doubt there are certain splendours that aren't here in JHB - such as a great transport systmen, but we cannot disregard the fact that these water problems aren't 'new' news. Warnings date back to 2010 - and Zille explained that they built a new dam to address it then - but was it enough? It may all well be too little too late. I really wonder what will happen when day zero is upon us?
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
