Image copyright AFP Image caption From next month residents in Cape Town will be limited to 50 litres of water per day

Residents in the South African city of Cape Town have been warned to "save water as if your life depends on it" to avoid the supply being shut off. CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Long lines of South Africans collect water daily from a natural spring pipeline in an upscale suburb of Cape Town, illustrating the harsh impact of a drought that authorities say could force the closure of most taps in the country’s second largest city in just over two months, an occasion ominously known as “Day Zero.”

The prospect that large sections of South Africa’s showcase city, famously perched near two oceans, might go without running water has induced anxiety as well as resolve among its nearly 4 million residents. Hide Caption 7 of 7

Even with the predicament they find themselves in, residents haven't dropped their water use significantly, Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille said. The original “Day Zero” was scheduled for April 21, but “due to a drop in the dam levels of 1.4%, Day Zero has, as of today, moved forward to 12 April 2018,” Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson said Tuesday, according to News24. “This is not the case and, while our water augmentation program will make Cape Town more water resilient in the future, it was never going to be enough to stop Day Zero.”

Cape Town, a major tourist destination and a city of 3.7 million people, has assessed 200 water collection points for residents as it prepares for the possible cutoff date.
Cape Town announces that they will reach their "zero day", when they run out of all available water reserves, on April 12, 2018.