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Cape Town, South
Africa is in the throes of a years-long drought that could earn it a
truly alarming distinction: it may become the first major city in
the developed world to run out of water.
What’s going
on?
South Africa is
experiencing its worst drought in a century. The six dams that
supply Cape Town’s water have dropped
to just 15.2 percent capacity of usable water – down from 77
percent in September 2015.
How is this
climate change related?
As our world
warms, precipitation patterns are changing, leaving many places
without the amount of rainfall they need to replenish rivers, dams,
and reservoirs. Climate change further worsens drought because as
temperatures rise, evaporation increases. And when this evaporation
happens over land, soils dry out.
To learn more
about how climate change increases the risk of drought and affects
the water cycle, download
our Climate Change and the Water Cycle: Four Big Questions
Answered e-book.
In the e-book, we
explain how climate change increases the risk of severe drought,
which is exactly what Cape Town residents are experiencing. While
all of Cape Town’s citizens are feeling the impact of the drought,
the
city’s lower-income residents are bearing the brunt.
Ready to take
action? Start by downloading Climate
Change and the Water Cycle: Four Big Questions Answered to
learn more about what’s happening to the water cycle and what you
can do to make a difference for the future of our planet.
- Your friends at Climate Reality
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