drought in Capetown/Western Cape
 

How significant is the drought for travellers aside from dirty unwashed rental cars?Are the locals suffering.Are they really going to turn off the taps in Capetown on April 22?

Cape Town is currently going through a drought and we are on level 6b restrictions but restrictions are mainly on local residents. It is aimed at cutting down water use so short showers and dirty cars. Buying drinking water if you can and not excessively doing laundry or using dishwashers. Visitors are being asked to try and "think like a local" and not waste water. The city is still "open for business" and a beautiful city to live in and visit. The official western cape and Cape Town tourism organisation released a statement (pretty up to date). I read a helpful post on a bog on the safari365 site if that helps!

I was in Cape Town last October, and am returning in April for my daughter's wedding, so have been monitoring the situation as closely as I can. We have many guests coming for the wedding, some as far as the UK and US as well as from other parts of SA. Currently "zero day", when the taps are supposed to be turned off, is 16th April, but that is a flexible date. As of today the daily limit for water is 50 litres per person, and if that limit is observed, "zero day" may be avoided while waiting for rains to fill the reservoirs.

Thanks for the info.I am checking news daily in the Capetown newspaper online.We are only there 4-8 April so will probably avoid Zero day.It is unfortunate that apparently not all Capetown residents are abiding by the water restrictions.It is one of our favourite cities to visit,we are lucky we are not residents but we feel for the locals.

The City of Cape Town has just announced that "zero day" has been moved back to mid-May, so those of us travelling there in April should find water running through the taps and not have to queue at distribution points. There will still be 6B restrictions (50L per person per day).
https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news...d-may-13112173