Cape Town, South Africa is almost out of Water

Cape Town, a major coastal city in South Africa, is going through one of the worst droughts in its history. After three years of persistent drought, the government has warned that the coastal city is almost out of water. Unless, something changes the city will  be forced to turn off most of its taps in June 2018 to preserve water for hospitals and other essential and urgent needs. The South Africans are call that date "Day Zero” – when the city will no longer have running water.

Cape Town is South Africa’s second largest city. When Day Zero arrives reservoirs will have run so low that the city will be forced to turn off municipal taps to its 3.74 million residents as a last measure to preserve some water. With all the taps turned off, residents would have to line up for water and be subjected to a strict water-rationing system of 6.6 gallons a day. The residents of Cape Town can forestall this event by limiting their consumption of water to 13 gallons a day per person now, but even that might not be enough.

According to the city government this crisis appears to have been caused by a combination of climate change- shifting weather patterns and city mismanagement. Municipal water comes primarily from surface reservoirs that rely entirely on rainwater, and were designed to withstand up to three years of lower-than-average rainfall. But the region is entering its fourth year of drought, and the city does not have major backup resources. They failed to have a backup plan.

On Wednesday, I went to Richmond to testify before the House Subcommittee on Counties, Cities, and Towns on behalf of SB 211 a bill Sponsored by Senator Richard Stuart. This bill would amend the enabling legislation for comprehensive planning to emphasize availability, quality and sustainability of groundwater and surface water resources on a County level as part of the comprehensive plan and hopefully allow Virginia to steer clear of the fate of Cape Town. The bill passed the subcommittee by a vote of 7 to 1.

Comprehensive planning is already required and is not new. Groundwater and surface water are protected under the current legislation. This bill makes one small change to current law: in preparation of a comprehensive plan, the local planning commission shall consider not only groundwater and surface water; but groundwater and surface water availability, quality and sustainability. This proposed change was endorsed by the Virginia Association of Conservation Districts Board of Directors on September 20, 2017 and ratified by the membership at their annual meeting in December 2017.

Virginia is dependent on groundwater. According to Virginia Tech there are approximately 1.7 million Virginians who get their water from a private well. In addition, according to the U.S. Geological Survey there are almost 750,000 Virginians who get their water from public and private community supply groundwater wells. In total that means that approximately 30% of Virginians are entirely dependent on groundwater for their drinking water.

Our other communities are dependent on surface water or a mix of groundwater and surface water. Surface and groundwater resources are limited. Having a comprehensive plan that lets people run out of water or has inadequate water to meet current or future zoning and planned development is not much of a plan.

Water resources can only be managed on a local level. There are already problems with availability, quality and sustainability of groundwater in Virginia in places such as Fauquier County, Loudoun County and the Coastal Plain. In addition, there is new information that was not previously available. Using their satellites, NASA can now measure groundwater depletion from space. They found that over the ten years (2003-2013) all of Virginia’s groundwater aquifers were being depleted, using groundwater faster than it was being recharged.

This bill requires the counties to consider both surface water and groundwater availability, quality and sustainability, in the preparation of their comprehensive plan. It is a necessary next step to ensure the availability of sustainable, good quality water to all Virginians.