Cape of Good Hope

A few months back, I had the opportunity to visit South Africa. One of the most spectacular scenic place, I saw there was the Cape of Good Hope, which is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. It was interesting for me to learn more about the place. It was originally named the Cape of Storms by a Portuguese explorer. It was later renamed, by King John II of Portugal, the Cape of Good Hope, because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and East.

I was able to relate to the term “Cape of Good Hope” in the context of how Cape Town has prudently and diligently worked in managing the severe water crisis, they faced. I hope all of us remember that there was a news headline that grabbed the world attention a year back. The mayor of Cape Town, South Africa predicted in October 2017 that the city would run out of water by March 2018 and said we are approaching Day Zero. The idea of Day Zero was to focus everyone’s attention on managing water consumption as tightly as possible by appealing to the people to reduce usage. Day Zero, was supposed to be the day, when most of the city’s taps will be switched off literally. The consequences of reaching this point will be far reaching. For one, it will mean residents will have to stand in line to collect 25 litres of water per person per day.

Day Zero is a vital concept that is helping to strengthen the city’s ability in managing the water crisis. Their goal is to achieve an average supply of 50 litres per person per day. The city isn’t there yet, but they are progressively moving towards that.

Day Zero isn’t a fixed target date. They are managing to keep pushing the “Day Zero” and from what I heard FROM the locals, the Day Zero may not arrive till 2020, which is a very positive sign, that tells us sustained efforts can bring about drastic improvements.

Ever since this was announced the City has gone on high conservative mode, which was very much observable to me, as a tourist. I could see their water conservation methods everywhere. Most toilets were bio toilets, which mean water was not available for urinals, and hand sanitizers and napkins where used instead of tap water. Even the tap water had spray nozzles, which restricts the use of water. There were sand clocks, even in 5 star hotels, which served as a remainder to restrict the shower time to 3 minutes. Even bottled water is sold sparingly and they insist on not wasting water.

These are encouraging signs suggesting that the city will get through this difficult period. This is creating greater trust and confidence in the technical capacity of water management board along with the collective public and private efforts to reduce demand and avoid disaster.

While we tend to lose hope, that we may never be able to tide over the various environmental sustainability issues in the next few decades, the Cape Town has a story of Hope to tell us.

Let us take it as a good lesson to emulate and like the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”. Let’s be careful not to get into such a tricky situation. It is of course hard to imagine a life without water. Isn’t it?

   D. Senthil Kannan,

   Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

   Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

   Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com