WATER RESERVED FOR THE RICH
I knew I was in for a journey when I stepped off a 23 hour plane ride (with only a two hour stop in between two long legs of international flying) and rather quickly rushed to the restroom, only to use the facilities then realize there was no way for me to wash my hands. Most of the water in the airport had been turned off — only a few faucets sprayed a thin mist that barely wet your hands.
Before taking flight to Cape Town, South Africa in June of 2018, I was immersed in a weekly seminar course that prepared us for the study abroad trip we were all about to embark on. During that course, we had many days in which we took the time to look at the latest water shortage projections and talk about ways in which we, as American students, can help alleviate some of the water shortage symptoms. I was well versed in the language of water and the politics that surrounded such a precious commodity and thought I was prepared for my month long stay in the city — however, I was severely mistaken.
By the time I arrived in Cape Town, each person was limited to using only about 13 gallons of water a day. To compare, the US government estimates that each American citizen uses about 90 gallons of water a day. That meant that I had to reduce my water usage by about 77 gallons every single day and as a result, I was always hyper aware of the faucets running, toilets flushing and showers “warming up”. The recommended usage of 13 gallons a day (which is actually lower than what the United Nations recommends for domestic water usage) is enough to brush one’s teeth twice, flush the toilet one time a day, wash their hands twice, cook a single meal, wash one sink full of dishes (or laundry — but not both) and a 1 minute 30 second shower.
Despite how bad the government was making it seem, Cape Town’s water crisis — like so many things in the world — did not affect everyone equally.
Cape Town is a city somewhat divided. Within the center, there are the “elite” and rich who bring monetary wealth to the economy — these are typically white descendants of the colonizers. On the outskirts, there are those who reside in townships which are often slums or shacktowns that have been grossly neglected by public officials because they are typically colored (a ethnic classification unique to South Africans) or black communities. When visiting the shops, hotels, restaurants within the center there is rarely a shortage of water. At most, there will be a sign that says “when it’s yellow, let it mellow” which means to only flush when absolutely necessary and to forego handwashing in favor of a bottle of sanitizer. When visiting a popular restaurant in Langa, a township, we listened to first hand accounts of racial tensions regarding water from members of that community. They recalled times when the government would purposefully limit the water allocated to their area of the city to the point where people would have to wait in lines for hours to get a bucket for usage.
The lack of access to water in these communities was a stark contrast to my hotel with the other students in the program. We stayed in Greenspoint, which is a more affluent neighborhood only a short Uber ride to the water’s edge and million dollar beachfront properties. Everyday, we were fortunate enough to receive copious amounts of hot, clean water from our faucets. In order to conserve water, we put buckets in the shower to catch any run off before its wasted and the housekeepers used that water when cleaning the bathroom and flushing the toilets. In my first few days there, I assumed most of the city was like that and that the government was simply being overdramatic with their signage and limitations of water in the airport bathrooms in order to shock tourists and business travelers.
During my trip, I was fortunate enough to be hired as an intern with YMCA Athlone, which is a colored community outside of the city center. There, I was put into a role as a home health aide which means I was dispatched into the community and went into people’s homes to perform various small medical procedures and observations. In many of the homes I went to, there were about 8 people living in a 2 bedroom home with no running water and electricity that gave out every time it rained. These people often exhibited many symptoms that come from water restriction: dehydration, chronic headaches and poor hygiene to name a few. So many of those individuals were great people, who were simply limited by government regulations that favored the rich and white over the poor and brown. After visiting a few homes in the townships, I quickly realized that my Greenspoint hotel experience was the exception and not the norm. My access to clean water was bolstered by my proximity to whiteness as a student of the University of Texas and status as an American foreigner. If I were born in Cape Town, the odds of me accessing clean water on a regular basis during drought restrictions would be slim to none.
Although at times the government attempted to shift blame on regular citizens, the water crisis actually stemmed from a combination of things: poor planning on the government’s part and a few years of drought were amongst the largest contributors. The city has known for a very long time that their crisis management plans were not sufficient enough for the number of citizens and tourists that come into the city each day, yet they continued to downplay the minor issue until it became a very serious concern. And yet, even though it is the first major city to “run out” of clean water, there are already other cities experiencing similar things.
Mexico City, Melbourne and Sao Paulo are amongst the latest to also declare water shortages. Residents within these cities have already begun noticing limits to their water supply due to extensive drought. According to the United Nations, inconsistent access to water affects every four out of 10 people worldwide — which is a staggering amount when you consider the level of development we consider ourselves to have accomplished as a global community. Nearly 2,100,000,000 humans do not have a way of accessing safely managed drinking water. It does not come to anyone’s surprise that the majority of these cases occur in unprotected populations such as the poor and elderly. Steps must be taken to ensure that everyone, regardless of age, social status, education, gender or racial identifier, should have access to the same level of clean water. In our current society, water isn’t considered a human right but I personally, believe it is and should be regarded as such.
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Smith, Laila, and Susan Hanson. “Access to water for the urban poor in Cape Town: where equity meets cost recovery.” Urban Studies 40.8 (2003): 1517–1548.
Ziervogel, Gina, Moliehi Shale, and Minlei Du. “Climate change adaptation in a developing country context: The case of urban water supply in Cape Town.” Climate and Development 2.2 (2010): 94–110.
McDonald, David Alexander, and Greg Ruiters, eds. The age of commodity: Water privatization in Southern Africa. Earthscan, 2005.
“Water.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/water/.
“Cape Town: What It’s Like to Live Through Water Crisis.” Time, Time, time.com/cape-town-south-africa-water-crisis/
