South Africa drought 2015-2018

Introduction

Between 2015 and 2018, South Africa experienced an ongoing drought, with fears that officials would declare Day Zero and completely shut off water in Cape Town.

Hazards

Drought

Country and region

South Africa

Knowledge base

Themes

Hazards

Region & country

Content type

Update

13 September 2022

South Africa’s increasing water stress requires urgent informed actions

Progress has been made since 2015 on a global scale in terms of increasing access to water of an acceptable quality and to sanitation services. But 2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water.

Conversation Media Group, the

Update

11 October 2019

What science tells us about fire hazards facing Cape Town and its surrounds

Scientists provide context and background to the fire hazards in Cape Town, and suggest steps that can be taken to help mitigate runaway fires in the region.

Conversation Media Group, the

Update

3 April 2019

What Cape Town’s drought can teach other cities about climate adaptation

Local governments must improve data collection and communication, engagement with experts and flexible adaptive decision making in order to strengthen urban water resilience and adapt better to climate risks. Effective water management also requires systems of mutual accountability between municipal, provincial and national government.

Conversation Media Group, the

Documents and publications

2019

Unpacking the Cape Town drought: Lessons learned

This paper aims to understand what happened in the Cape Town drought with a view to learning lessons that are translatable to other contexts. Due to the complex nature of the drought only certain aspects are investigated in depth in this paper namely the

African Centre for Cities

Update

27 February 2019

South Africa: Cape Town has a plan to manage its water. But there are big gaps

After its severe 2015-2018 drought, Cape Town has released a draft strategy for water supply and management in the city and the wider region. But the strategy does not account for the uncertainty of future climate trends, economic activities, population growth, water demand and infrastructure investment needs. The draft also fails to mention the lessons learnt.

Conversation Media Group, the

Update

18 September 2018

Building a water resilient city: Cape Town through the drought

Even though Cape Town's drought persists, the city has announced a marginal reduction in consumption restrictions. In Cape Town, as in other cities, resilience challenges are opportunities for transformative growth. Since joining the 100RC Network, Cape Town has prioritized the long-term resilience of both its water system and urban ecosystem.

100 Resilient Cities

Update

13 June 2018

South Africa: national state of disaster expires

South Africa's government has confirmed that the national state of disaster that was declared three months ago has lapsed in terms of legislation. Assessments have shown that the drought is entering the resilience phase, which entails improving the identification, funding, coordination and management of resilience-building projects to reduce drought vulnerability.

South African Governement News Agency

Research briefs

29 May 2018

Making sense of the situation in Cape Town

A new report has found that Cape Town's massive water shortage, while exceptional, is characteristic of longer-term weather patterns. With climate change spurring more and more extreme weather events, severe shortages could become an increasingly regular occurrence in the future.

European Commission Joint Research Centre

Documents and publications

2018

Drought and water crisis in Southern Africa

This report is divided into two parts. Part I provides an analysis of the drought situation in Western Cape, South Africa, as of January 2018. Part II presents an analysis of the medium to long-term spatial patterns and temporal behaviour of climate

European Commission Joint Research Centre

Update

26 April 2018

Will Cape Town escape its water-starved fate?

Despite ramped-up conservation efforts and hopes lifted by a few recent rainstorms, residents of the South African metropolis still face the possibility of a water doomsday. The city still finds itself in the middle of a perfect, dry storm, one in which years of drought coupled with rapid population growth have set the stage for a catastrophe.

Eos - AGU