Severe Drought Situation
• Western Cape Province (South Africa) is going through a severe drought, affecting in particular urban areas of Cape Town and its water supply.
• The current drought is the consequence of a sustained below-average monthly rainfall since 2015, which intensified in the last wet season (April-September 2017). This event is highlighted by the long-term indicators of precipitation anomalies (SPI-24) produced by the JRC Global Drought Observatory (GDO).
• Cape Town’s water supply is in critical emergency (water cuts and rationing). The “zero-water” day has been established as 9 July 2018 by Cape Town water authorities.
• Very little precipitation is expected before April.