Cape Town, South Africa

The City of Cape Town, home to 4.5 million people, is South Africa’s second-most populated city and one of its fastest-growing metropolitan regions. The Mediterranean climate (hot, dry, drought-prone summers and mild, rainy winters) combined with its near-total reliance on surface water exacerbates the city’s vulnerability to drought and extreme climate events.

The infrastructure for water delivery throughout Cape Town is outdated, resulting in inefficient service delivery. The city has formulated plans to manage all water systems—stormwater, groundwater, greywater, blackwater, canals, rivers, etc. The city commissioned two temporary desalination plants—the Strandfontein and the Monwabisi plants, each yielding 7 Ml/day—and is currently assessing the feasibility of constructing a permanent water desalination plant that would yield between 50–150 Ml/day at a total cost of R6–7 billion (City of Cape Town, 2020). Cape Town has also committed to two water reuse programs: the Reuse Demonstration Plant (to yield 10 Ml/day) and the Faure New Water Scheme (to yield 70–100 Ml/day).

Cape Town is internationally documented as the city that faced one of the world’s first severe urban water crises (during 2015 and 2018) and for its campaigns around preventing the worst-case scenario—switching off nearly all municipal water delivery—often referred to as “Day Zero.” Cape Town’s experience with avoiding a “Day Zero” catastrophe brought to light the multi-layered, complex challenges that other cities will likely confront in the 21st century.