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Cape Town’s water shortage is a preview of things to come

Cape Town's main water supply from the Theewaterskloof dam outside Grabouw, Cape Town, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. South Africa's drought-hit city of Cape Town plans to introduce new water restrictions on Thursday in an attempt to avoid what it calls "Day Zero," the day in mid-April when it might have to turn off most taps.
Cape Town's main water supply from the Theewaterskloof dam outside Grabouw, Cape Town, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. South Africa's drought-hit city of Cape Town plans to introduce new water restrictions on Thursday in an attempt to avoid what it calls "Day Zero," the day in mid-April when it might have to turn off most taps. Bram Janssen AP

A preview of our possible future is unfolding in Cape Town, South Africa. By mid-April the city will run out of water … completely. Kaput.

As the jet stream continues to move north, the Central Coast is getting less and less rainfall. We are in the middle of winter and it is tropical. El Niño and La Niña be damned, it is what it is.

So in the next couple of years SLO will add hundreds of new houses (three major projects with Righetti already underway) and apartments (Foothill at Chorro) and student housing (the monstrosity on campus going up on Grand Avenue) and various other “infill” projects. The horse is already out of the barn and halfway down the road. How much more risk are we willing to take?

Every person I talk to about this wonders why we allowed this stupidity to occur. Watch Cape Town next month and behold Southern California’s future. They’re hoping the riots won’t be too bad.

Bill Benica, San Luis Obispo

This story was originally published February 3, 2018 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Cape Town’s water shortage is a preview of things to come."

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