Spectre of Day Zero: How South Africa is revising its water strategy
- September 3, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Spectre of Day Zero: How South Africa is revising its water strategy
Subject : Environment
Section: Climate change
- South Africa’s water and sanitation department is revising its decade-old National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS). Parts of the country face a water crisis, with Nelson Mandela Bay staring at a Day Zero situation.
- Version 2.6 of the National Water Resource Strategy-3 was published in an official government gazette July 29, 2022. It will be open to comments from public for 90 days. The new strategy proposed strengthened integrated water quality management.
Zero Day
- In late 2017, there were first mentions of plans for “Day Zero”, a shorthand reference for the day when the water level of the major dams supplying the City could fall below 13.5 percent.
- “Day Zero” would mark the start of Level 7 water restrictions, when municipal water supplies would be largely switched off and it was envisioned that residents could have to queue for their daily ration of water.