Cape Town, one of the biggest cities in South Africa and a famed tourist attraction, is warning its residents that they will soon have to queue for water. The drought-stricken city announced on Thursday that it will begin marking 200 collection points where its 3.7 million residents will be required to queue for a rationed supply of water on “Day Zero” – currently forecast to be April 21. If it happens, Cape Town would become the first major city in the world to shut down entirely the supply of running water in all of its homes.
As part of the latest emergency measures, city officials next week will begin announcing the 200 collection points where residents will be required to queue after Day Zero, she said. The city has suffered two consecutive years of severe drought. By some scientific calculations, the severity of the drought is so rare that it would normally happen only once in a millennium.
