Between 2015 and 2017, Cape Town endured increasingly severe drought—three consecutive wet seasons, April 1st to October 31st, were dry, leaving the city of around 3.8 million people facing “zero days.” By May 2017, the reservoirs had less than 10% capacity. On October 22nd, 2017, the water pressure was reduced, with the aim of reducing household water usage to 87 litres or 23 gallons per day, roughly equivalent to one ten-minute shower.
I began to receive emails and calls from colleagues in the sector asking whether, in these circumstances, it was responsible to travel to WTM Africa in the city. I thought that it was, and encouraged people to travel but to be very careful and consume as little water as possible. None of us could find out which hotels were using water most effectively. The hotel I stayed in had done nothing except remove the bath plugs. As I have pointed out here before, the green certificates do not provide this kind of essential information. In September 2018, with water levels in the dams around Cape Town close to 70%, the drought orders began to be lifted. Cape Town is cutting down invasive tree species, which are consuming too much water.
In Sao Paulo, which has serious water supply issues, there have been major demonstrations and water tankers are deployed to bring water to drought-hit communities.
Mumbai is dependent on 250 official suppliers and some 1,800 water tankers, which use water pumped from wells across the city. That water is, of course, primarily fossil water, as extraction reduces the levels in the aquifers. Mumbai lake levels are presently at 66% of capacity, a three-year low, although there are no current plans to reduce supply.
Climate change, increasing population and water consumption per head are all contributing to chronic and rising water insecurity. This is not just a developing world problem. The European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) warned that the 2022 drought could be the worst in 500 years with countries across Europe taking emergency measures as temperatures soared and water levels fell.
As the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance has pointed out “A quarter of the world’s population face ‘extremely high’ levels of water stress, and this leaves them highly vulnerable to the impact of drought or increases in water use.”
They recognise that “A hotel can use an average of 1,500 litres per room per day which can vastly exceed that of local populations in water-scarce destinations. In some locations, tourism uses over eight times more water per person on average than the local population. Even hotels located in regions with plenty of water could be having an impact if they are sourcing products or services from water-scarce locations.”
Drought and water scarcity also hit the bottom line. The SHA reports that “the water crisis in Cape Town in 2018 led to up to a $65 million shortfall in the region’s hospitality industry.”
Parts of Spain and the Canary Islands are experiencing major drought. With reports that reservoirs were at 34.6% capacity compared to 52% as of 1 February, on March 1st Tenerife declared a water emergency and introduced water restrictions including a ban on filling swimming pools and using drinking water for irrigation.
In February, Southern Africa saw temperatures of 4 to 5 degrees Celsius (around 7 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average. In a statement on March 18, Rand Water said the metro areas of Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg must reduce their water consumption to avert interrupted supply.
Mexico City may be months away from running out of water, according to CNN: “Around 60% of Mexico City’s water comes from its underground aquifer, but this has been so over-extracted that the city is sinking at a frightening rate — around 20 inches a year, according to recent research. And the aquifer is not being replenished anywhere near fast enough. The rainwater rolls off the city’s hard, impermeable surfaces, rather than sinking into the ground.”
