While Australia has long been buffeted by bushfires, drought and floods, it’s the additional impact of global climate change that is making water scarcity, there and elsewhere in the world, a reality.South Africa narrowly averted its Day Zero last year after prolonged low rainfall and a particularly brutal drought gripped the city of Cape Town: The city’s water supply was close to being shut off as its freshwater reservoir hovered just above 13.5 percent of full capacity.Scientists from the Grantham Institute at the University of Cape Town in London and the Imperial College, who co-authored a paper on Cape Town’s Day Zero, say that climate change will make water shortages more common in cities around the world.
While Australia has long been buffeted by bushfires, drought and floods, it’s the additional impact of global climate change that is making water scarcity, there and elsewhere in the world, a reality.South Africa narrowly averted its Day Zero last year after prolonged low rainfall and a particularly brutal drought gripped the city of Cape Town: The city’s water supply was close to being shut off as its freshwater reservoir hovered just above 13.5 percent of full capacity.Scientists from the Grantham Institute at the Imperial College in London and the University of Cape Town, who co-authored a paper on Cape Town’s Day Zero, say that climate change will make water shortages more common in cities around the world.