A year ago, Cape town in South Africa suffered from a drought. The Hoteliers and restaurateurs have felt. In the meantime, has recovered from the holidays, but the water crisis is over, really?
Candle-Light-Dinner in Cape town in these days of commonplace – but not for romantic reasons. The city still remains dark, because the electricity is turned off since the beginning of the year by the South African power utility, Eskom. For safety reasons, so that the outdated and overburdened System does not suffer any sudden catastrophic failure.
This energy crisis brings back memories of the past year, as the city was looking for at the Cape of Good hope from the worst drought in its modern history. The water crisis made in the city to create so that the taps almost completely switched-off had to be – a scenario that was referred to as “Day Zero” (day-Zero).
In Cape town in 2018, has started an awareness-raising campaign to keep the Locals from Day Zero
Cape town, escaped this Day Zero, only slightly, but since the city now has to survive your next crisis, issues Locals and visitors alike, what the future will bring: “The city of Cape town are exhausted. We are sorry to find ourselves in the crisis. Of the water scarcity energy crisis. It is exhausting to have to always be prepared,” complains a Marketing professional Claudia Smargiasso, who lives in Blouberg, a tourist suburb of Cape town.
“The only difference between the two crises is that a drought lasts. In the case of the energy crisis, we at least know when the power is turned off, so that we can set up on it. But the drought you can’t plan, it hits you unprepared.”
A new way of life
According to the Smargiasso, the handling of the water crisis has led to a change in the behaviour of Domestic water consumption:
“People have adjusted to the fact that you have to deal with water sparingly. Although the restrictions have been lifted in the past year, we are still on our water consumption. And we don’t have to, because we know when the next drought will hit. This Region has always been a water-poor area. The question here is whether there will be another drought, but when she comes back.”
During the drought many rivers are in Cape town, such as the Liesbeek River dried up
Local months had time to get used to the new Situation in Cape town. Tourists, however, it is difficult to accept this new way of life. Smargiasso not told that many people fill their swimming Pools at home because they “have understood that it is a waste”. Tourists expect a certain level of comfort.
“My parents came last year to visit and did not understand the emergency. And some people seem to not understand what it means months of not bathing, but only for two minutes in the shower.”
Some of Cape town had to stand during the water crisis in a queue. The pressure in the pipes of their homes was temporarily too weak.
Tourism is recovering
“The hotel trade, the gastronomy and the retail trade suffered in the past year. I and my colleagues have experienced that,” complained Jeff Levy, owner of the “Head South Lodge” in Three Anchor Bay, in the heart of Cape town. The bookings at his Hotel had gone back during the drought. “Our Figures are now significantly above the previous year. That is very encouraging. I can’t say that we are again positioned quite as well as before the crisis. But, apparently, traveling at precisely the guests were supposed to come last year, but because of the water crisis did not, in this year to us.”
Levy said that he had rooms installed in his hotel signs to save water and buckets in the showers, so that the guests could rinse the collected water to the toilets.
“They all had really panic before the Day Zero. We know Cape town but welded together! We have shown the world how to handle such a crisis situation. But our measures have deterred the tourists.”
Cape town has emerged from the water crisis, the Prime Minister, Helen Zille
Weakness is strength
Helen Zille, the Premier of the Western Cape province, is confident that the people have drawn their Lessons from the crisis of last year, and Cape town on the best way to relax: “I can’t think of a Region of the world, which has overcome a crisis of this magnitude so quickly. In fact, there is no water crisis,” she affirms.
It draws the attention of the Locals but also to remain vigilant. Currently dominate water-saving measures of the level 3, which means a daily limit of 105 litres per Person. If this limit is exceeded, fines. Each budget will be strictly monitored.
“We must continue to conserve water and must not be careless. Climate scientists warn us that it is because of climate change becomes more and more difficult to predict the weather. We do not know when a drought will be. Therefore, water has the highest priority, save for us,” says Zille, who stresses that all Cape town must pull in the same direction, in order to regulate the water household better.
Claudia Smargiasso, however, says that the drought had made the different layers of society differently – some more, others less.
“The poor are used to it, with a bucket of water per day. One would ask, would answer: Of what a water crisis is here at all? For us, this is everyday life.”