The chronic water shortage in Cape Town and survival strategies

Sorensen, Paul

doi:10.1080/00207233.2017.1335019

Cited by 29 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Residents in Chitungwiza can limit activities that consume water such as watering their gardens in order to prioritise health promoting activities, including the regularly washing hands. Changes of behaviour regarding water use reduce the daily water use ( Sorensen, 2017 ), and allocate the available water for washing hands and surfaces. Prioritization of water use at the household level has been used in several cases during periods of droughts with positive results.…”

Section: What Are the Possible Solutions To Water Challenges In Chitumentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and the call for ‘Safe Hands’: Challenges facing the under-resourced municipalities that lack potable water access - A case study of Chitungwiza municipality, Zimbabwe

Zvobgo

2020

Water Research X

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Billions of people living in developing countries lack access to safe drinking water, not to mention water for handwashing, one of the most effective ways to contain the fast spreading novel coronavirus (COVID -19). The recent global spread of COVID-19 has fostered diverse initiatives such as the ‘Safe Hands’ challenge led by the World Health Organization. Individuals are encouraged to regularly wash their hands for 40–60 s under running water with soap. This call for ‘Safe Hands’ comes at a time when water insecurity and limited access to handwashing facilities in Africa is heightened. In this article, Chitungwiza city in Zimbabwe is used as a case study to assess the implications of the ‘Safe Hands’ challenge for poor municipalities in developing countries and characterize the challenges they face. To do so, interviews were conducted at water points/boreholes used by residents during Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 national lockdown. The calculation of water requirements for proper hand hygiene determined the capacity for water-stressed regions to effectively implement ‘Safe Hands’. On average, it was established that one person consumes an extra 4.5 L per day of water when they practice WHO ‘Safe Hands’ in the context of COVID-19. This increases domestic water demand in Chitungwiza by 9%. Due to water scarcity, people in Chitungwiza were experiencing challenges with practicing ‘Safe Hands’. With their ‘dry taps’ woes, they might not be able to meet the standards of this WHO challenge. Lack of soap also reduced the effectiveness of the ‘Safe Hands’ challenge. This paper proposes short- and long-term measures that would allow effective implementation of the ‘Safe Hands’ by means of sustainable potable water supply. These measures include extensive social awareness and temporary change of household water use behavior. Municipalities are recommended to establish public private partnerships (PPPs) to create immediate and long-term water investments. Structural and transformational reforms would enhance, through flexible planning, investments for both water infrastructure and governance. This narrative has the potential to improve the urban water systems resiliency against future pandemics.

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Section: What Are the Possible Solutions To Water Challenges In Chitumentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and the call for ‘Safe Hands’: Challenges facing the under-resourced municipalities that lack potable water access - A case study of Chitungwiza municipality, Zimbabwe

Zvobgo

2020

Water Research X

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“…At the time of writing it is estimated to be the worst drought in over a 100 years (Van Dam, 2017). The delayed onset of winter rainfall in 2017, the high demand for water by growing urban populations and the cumulative rainfall deficit have led to the imposition of water restrictions in cities across South Africa, including Cape Town and Johannesburg (Baudoin et al, 2017;Sorensen, 2017). Farmers have been forced to reduce the irrigation of fruit orchards and take lower-yielding areas out of production altogether (Dentlinger, 2017;Jansen, 2017).…”

Section: Fruitmentioning

confidence: 99%

The exposure of a fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain to global water-related risks

Hess

Sutcliffe

2018

Water International

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We have combined estimates of the UK's supply of fresh fruit and vegetables (1996-2015) with estimates of water requirements and water scarcity in producing countries, to identify where the supply is exposed to physical, regulatory and reputational water risks and how this has changed over time. Some 76% of the freshwater consumed in the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables to the UK is withdrawn overseas. The supply chain is particularly exposed to water risks in Spain,

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“…Southern African cities, being densely populated, urban environments with expanding populations as compared to the rest of the countryside, are vulnerable to harsh weather, climate variability, extreme climate events and associated risks among other factors [1]; [2]; [3]; [4]; [5]; [6]; [7]. For instance, droughts often experienced in cities like Cape Town and Windhoek and currently across the southern African region because of low rainfall levels this past rainy season of 2018/2019 have become more frequent, intense and widespread [8]; [9]) while variations in inter annual rainfall have increased in the past half century [10]. These extreme events are projected to likely increase in the future [11]; [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

City to city learning and knowledge exchange for climate resilience in southern Africa

et al. 2020

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Southern African cities face several challenges including management of rapid urbanization, rising populations, expanding informal settlements; adequate water and other service provision, and a host of governance challenges. Climate change and variability add a compounding effect to this complex, multi stressor context. Addressing the complexity requires an understanding of urban ecosystems functioning and interactions amongst the built and natural environment (climate) and human systems. In this paper we argue that learning is essential for cities to be resilient to current and future challenges. We profile the Future Resilience for African CiTies And Lands (FRACTAL) project which contributed towards climate resilient development by providing relevant climate information for decision-making at the city regional scale in southern Africa. Following FRACTAL's city-to-city learning approach of sharing good practices, knowledge and experiences framed around transdisciplinary research, the study cities of Harare, Lusaka, Windhoek and Durban conducted city learning exchange visits between 2017 and 2018. We used a mixed methods approach to collect and analyze historical climate and hydrological data and current socioeconomic and development data among the cities. A qualitative, in-depth, case study comparative analysis was used to identify similarities and differences as well as lessons drawn from the learning process during the city exchanges and these were complimented by desktop studies. Results showed water scarcity, large informal settlements, reliance on external water and energy sources, inadequate protection of ecologically sensitive resources and service provision as some of the common complications in the cities. Several lessons and transferable practices learnt from the cities included effective water conservation and waste management and the use of public-private partnerships in Windhoek, community engagements in Durban and Lusaka while lessons on decisive leadership in dealing with informal settlements emanated from Harare's limited informal settlements. Lastly, Durban's Adaptation Charter and integrated climate planning provided lessons for biodiversity protection and mainstreaming

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The chronic water shortage in Cape Town and survival strategies

Cited by 29 publications

References 1 publication

COVID-19 and the call for ‘Safe Hands’: Challenges facing the under-resourced municipalities that lack potable water access - A case study of Chitungwiza municipality, Zimbabwe

COVID-19 and the call for ‘Safe Hands’: Challenges facing the under-resourced municipalities that lack potable water access - A case study of Chitungwiza municipality, Zimbabwe

The exposure of a fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain to global water-related risks

City to city learning and knowledge exchange for climate resilience in southern Africa

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