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Thirsty Cities Drill For Water
October 13th, 2018
Via Circle of Blue, an article on the promise and peril of drilling for groundwater: In the mountains east of the city, just beyond the curving road up Sir Lowry’s Pass, workers maneuver heavy machinery to stab at the ground near Steenbras Dam, drilling deeply with steel pipes to bring forth water. They are trying […]
Read more »A Water Apartheid
July 10th, 2018
Via The Washington Post, an OpEd on Cape Town and the peril / promise of urban life in an era of climate change: A person can survive only about three to five days without access to water. What about a city? This is not a hypothetical question: The thirsty city threatens to be the most […]
Read more »Global Cities Facing Water Risks
June 15th, 2018
Via IWA’s The Source, an interesting look at some of the water challenges facing several of the world’s most at-risk cities: Water visions precede action. Yet it’s easy to offer “building blocks” to plan “sustainable urban water systems” that inform and govern “resilient and liveable cities.” What’s hard is showing how and where to implement […]
Read more »Divided By Drought: Water Scarcity Divides Rich and Poor
March 1st, 2018
Via The Washington Post, analysis of how Cape Town’s water crisis has highlighted the divide between rich and poor: What do you do when your city is running out of water? The answer, at least in one of the world’s most unequal countries, depends on how much money you have. Within the next few months, […]
Read more »The Politics of Drought
February 24th, 2018
Courtesy of The Economist, an article on Cape Town’s water crisis: AT THE edge of Khayelitsha, a township in Cape Town, Ntombi Mlityalwa is filling a huge old paint tin from a standpipe, with which she intends to do laundry. As water gushes, she says that it is not always so easy. The tap she is […]
Read more »Africa’s Manmade Water Crisis
February 20th, 2018
Via Project Syndicate, commentary on how the imminent shutdown of Cape Town’s piped water network should serve as a wake-up call for all of Africa to overhaul urban water-management systems but may not: About a decade ago, at a meeting of South African mayors convened by Lindiwe Hendricks, South Africa’s then-minister of water and environmental […]
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