Water, Green - Cape Town Running Out Of Water

A terrible three-year drought has turned Cape Town, South Africa's reservoirs into barren deserts, raising the possibility that it will become the first city of the modern era to literally run out of water.

The before and after photo shows the gravity of the situation:  The top is the lake formed by the Theewaterskloof Dam as it appeared in 2014 - the bottom is the ghastly wasteland remaining today.

There is less than 90 days of water remaining.  "Zero Day", the day that taps are due to run dry, was projected to be 22 April; that has been moved up a day to 21 April.  Once that date hits, "the City will be forced to turn off most of the taps and every resident will have to queue for 25 liters of water per day," say Cape Town officials.  The first of 200 water rationing stations has already gone on-line.

"It is important that all residents must continue to save water, despite the City's work to secure new water sources," tweeted Mayor Patricia de Lille.  "I cannot stress it enough: all residents must save water and use less than 87 litres per day."

Agriculture has been told to reduce its water usage by 60 percent, and forget about swimming pools and car washes.

"The City of Cape Town is working around the clock to bring new water supplies online but we need the buy in from all residents," Mayor de Lille added, referring to urgent efforts to build desalination plants.

Climatologists refer to the three-year drought as a "once in a millennium" event.  But it's exasperated by Cape Town's rapid growth; the city's population has doubled in 20 years.