South Africa calls on tourists not to cancel trips due to water challenges
(VOVWORLD) - South African Tourism (SAT) has urged tourists not to cancel their trips to South Africa due to water challenges. In a statement released on Friday, SAT assures that visitors will have enough water for use because of the recovery of water level in reservoirs and people’s tireless efforts in saving water.
 A water tap in Cape Town (Photo: CNN) |
The tourism agency advises tourists to use water responsibly although rain is predicted to come and drought to end. "The tourism industry and the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape are being forever transformed, creating solutions for the rest of the world. This is a global turning point on how to do responsible tourism," SAT explains. In Cape Town, a famous tourism attraction, everyone is limited to 50 litres of water per person per day. SAT said this amount of water is enough for basic daily use. The agency points out that since 1996, the World Health Organization has recommended that the international community adopts a figure of 50 litres per capita per day as a basic water requirement for domestic supply.
On April 3, Cape Town authority pushed back its estimate for “Day Zero,” when taps in the city run dry to 2019 from August of this year. This is good news for the global tourism iconic city, which suffered the worst drought in 100 years. Dam levels for the Western Cape province, which includes Cape Town, were at 19%, the highest level in months, according to South Africa’s Department of Water Affairs. Water level in Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg, Pretoria and much of South Africa’s industry, was at 94.7%. South Africa’s Hydro-Meteorological Agency forecasts Cape Town and Western Cape will have first winter rain in early May and the rain spell will run for 3 months.