Cape Town Water Crisis
Executive summary
In 2018, the cape town ran out of water supply, and the residents, about 4 million, found it difficult to get clean water for domestic and industrial use. In response to the high demand for water, the city management came up with stringent regulations to ensure people get a little water to use. For the five months of water shortage, the city residents were only getting 25 liters per day. The water was collected from other sources in different parts of the city—the crises emanated from social, political, and physical factors. In the first place, the town experienced a prolonged throughout, which was not witnessed before making the main dam dry. The drought might have resulted from climatic changes the country had been experienced in the recent past. The second factor was a continuous increase of about 79%, which did not keep pace with the water supply. As the population was overgrowing, the city management failed to increase water supply to cater to rising demand. Lastly, political factors might have played a significant role in the water crisis that was witnessed. For instance, there was discontent between the administration of water cape town and government authorities. The administration of water cape town was influenced by the opposition part –Democratic alliance, which played a role in creating an artificial water shortage.
The affected stakeholders included the government, city management, residents, and politicians. The lesson learned from the CT water crisis would always remind the government not to gamble with its citizens’ lives. The water shortages witnessed were predicted, and the management failed to put in place measures to prevent it. The other countries learned a lesson from what happened in the CT, and now they can take precautionary measures to deal with any similar situation in the future. What happened in CT is avoidable if relevant stakeholders play their roles in advance.
Four Forces Analysis
The four forces analysis involves the following factors: science and technology, governance, market and economy, and public behavior. All four forces played a significant role in the water crisis witnessed in Cape Town. Science and technology are vital in weather forecasting, and it would have provided data on climate conditions being seen and its impact on people. If the drought were predictable, it would advise city management to drill additional boreholes to provide water for the city residents. Secondly, governance played a role in the artificial water shortage. For instance, water management was under the opposition; thus, the problem was created artificially to punish the government. Thirdly, market and economy issues have to do with the government’s failure to increase water supply to keep pace with the growing population. Consequently, the public failure to prepare for the pandemic as it waited for the shortage to pretend as if the problem was not anticipated.
Recommendations
The government should provide additional water reservoirs to keep pace with the rapidly growing city population of cape town. Secondly, water management should be left in the hands of the opposition party, which can intentionally create a water crisis to criticize the state for its failures. Other countries having acute water shortages should make it a priority by investing more in water management. For example, they should come up with environmental conservation measures to check on climate change. The CT water crisis case is relevant to the united states policymaker to take water management issues seriously. They should always plan by having additional water reservoirs to keep pace with the rapidly growing population.
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