South Africa Water Crisis: Cape Town to run out of water in less than three months

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Europe

Now to South Africa, where there's not enough water. The city of Cape Town will run out of water on April 12th, dubbed "Day Zero". Cape Town is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg. It is home to about 6 million people. Rene Del Carme tells us more on the shortages.

Devastating, disastrous and unprecedented. That's how many have described the worst drought to hit Cape Town. The first major city in the world to run out of water. And as Capetonians brace themselves for the harsh reality of Day Zero, city officials and politicians are still urging them to try and save every drop of water.

MMUSI MAIMANE LEADER, DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE "It is now that we have to do everything that we can. The only way we will defeat Day Zero is to use less water. This is for all of us. We have to do this."

HELEN ZILLE PREMIER, WESTERN CAPE "I always say we have to save water as though our lives depend on it, because they do."

Capetonians have been asked to use a maximum of 50 litres of water per person per day as of the 1st of February.

This is to try and prevent a Day Zero situation, when they will be expected to get by on only 25 litres per person per day.

MMUSI MAIMANE LEADER, DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE "This is a natural disaster. This is our greatest moment. And I want to ask all of us, let us now, in this hour, stand together united, to defeat Day Zero. And we can and we will and we shall."

RENE DEL CARME CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA "Cape Town's informal settlements where people have always shared communal taps and toilets over the years will not be directly affected by 'Day Zero' water restrictions, but residents in and around the city and in suburbs have to queue at the water collection points. RENE DEL CARME, CGTN, Cape Town, South Africa."