1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Cape Town to become 1st major city to run out of water

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Small Town Guy, Jan 21, 2018.

  1. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I don't know if there are parallels (maybe -- I know South Africa is a cesspool of corruption), but New York's subway mess is a lesson in graft and political / labor union corruption. What various slimeballs have done to line people's pockets has made Boss Tweed look downright quaint.

    The NY Times did a great longform piece in December that was shocking. It's worth a read: The Most Expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth

    The quotes from the French working on the Paris subway system got me. When you are getting laughed at by people who wrote the book on graft and labor rules/run-up-costs-to-buy-off-constituent scams, you know you have gone astray.
     
    typefitter and YankeeFan like this.
  2. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

  3. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

  4. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Drought + Population + Incompetence/Corruption ... take away one and they might be able to handle the other two.
     
  5. SpeedTchr

    SpeedTchr Well-Known Member

  6. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Is desalination not an option?
     
  7. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

  8. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Interesting, we helped finance a documentary that deals with this very directly.
    Water scarcity in California is a direct parallel to this.
    California and South Africa are two of the five spots in the world with Mediterranean climates.
     
  9. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

  10. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Yeah. The Saudis are investing in it as well.

    So, why not Cape Town? I'm wondering if it's too expensive, or not efficient enough?

    Or, are they simply too dysfunctional to get going on it?
     
  11. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    Yeah, but.... (as with everything in SA).

    That's the crazy thing. The city is on two oceans. Seems like an obvious solution. But there wasn't enough planning years ago when experts were telling people there this day would probably come, so it took too long to get the plants even approved. And now they're under construction and will hopefully provide some relief once they're operational but there are still a lot of questions about them in the country.

    The idea that these 200 water distribution centers will operate smoothly is also fairly far-fetched, but who knows.

    Here's one story on some of the issues they've had.
    Can desalination save Cape Town from water crisis in nick of time?
     
  12. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Here's the relevant quote from the original story:

    Until recently, the city rejected the idea of a desalination plant as too costly, but it now has a slew of new water projects, including desalination plants, recycled water plants (which purify reclaimed water) and new efforts to tap groundwater. But all but one of these efforts are behind schedule, and experts fear they will not avert the arrival of Day Zero.
    “That was the mistake of Cape Town, ignoring those early warnings and relying only on water conservation and water demand management,” Bourblanc said. “It was based on normal rainfall conditions, and in South Africa, you can never rely on that. There was no other plan to quickly augment the water supply.”
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2018
    YankeeFan likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page