Day Zero as it has been dubbed is the day that Cape Town’s water supply will be switched off, and residents must go to one of over 200 sites across the city in order to receive a rationed water supply.
Should Day Zero occur, some 4 million residents would be left without water and forced to queue for their quota.
South Africa’s second largest city has asked residents to limit their water use, requiring them to use just 50 litres of water per person per day, a further decrease on the previous restriction of 87 litres per day.
Officials hope to avoid Day Zero through residents own restrictions on the amount of water used.
Cape Town has been suffering the worst drought in a century for over three years. Growing population and changing climate have exacerbated the problem significantly.
On the government’s website, the water shortage is blamed on lack of rainfall and fast declining dam levels.
Despite the urgency and prediction that Cape Town officials could inflict Day Zero as soon as May 2018, most residents aren’t sticking to the water restrictions.
According to the Cape Town government website: “Although many Capetonians are diligently saving water, there are many that are not.”
City officials are working to upgrade Cape Town’s water system and implement a water recycling system.
The city’s current progress on securing alternative water sources is at 62 percent, whilst dams supplying Cape Town are at 25.5 percent.
Many fear riots could break out in the South African city should Day Zero be brought into effect, as social tensions increase in line with the decreasing availability of water.
Cape Town isn’t the only city in recent times to suffer a water crisis. In 2015 San Paulo, Brazil imposed similar water restrictions on its residents and narrowly avoided disaster.