By Brett Walton

Circle of Blue – December 20, 2017

Two months ago, as winter in the Southern Hemisphere turned to spring, authorities in Cape Town grew nervous. After the driest three-year period on record the six main reservoirs that supply water to South Africa’s second-largest city were uncomfortably low. Winter rains, paltry as they were, had been no help, and the summer dry season was approaching. To avoid draining the reservoirs, the city’s leaders needed to act.

So in late October they drew up a plan to ration what little water remained. Four million residents were asked to whittle consumption to the bone. The city set a target of just 87 liters (23 gallons) per person per day for all household needs, an amount equivalent to scarcely more than one 10-minute shower. Conservation of that magnitude is an unprecedented goal for a city of Cape Town’s size, living standards, and economic stature. Despite repeated pleas it has not been achieved.

Cape Town’s water crisis is emblematic of a year and of an era. The pace of life is quickening. There is a change in the rate of change, and the superlatives biggest, driest, wettest, hottest, most severe are being employed with unsettling frequency to describe seemingly concurrent waves of treacherous drought, catastrophic fire, and engulfing flood.

The story of water in 2017 was one of trial and response. America’s water utilities, for instance, are caught between two forces: a need to reinvest in aging systems and income stagnation among the bottom 20 percent that is calling into question the affordability of water service for the poor. Overseas, the risks to life and health are more immediate. Authorities in southern India contend with falling groundwater tables, crop failures, and farmer suicides. In Iraq, the impediment is an environment despoiled by war and infrastructure rotting from neglect. In Yemen, an estimated 1 million people have been sickened by the worst cholera outbreak in recent times.

Across continents Circle of Blue found people and governments battered at the frontlines this year by powerful storms and by dangerous circumstances of their own making. Permissive land use codes in Houston worsened the damage from Hurricane Harvey’s outrageous August downpour, a 50-inch deluge in which Texans were overpowered by a flood of shortsighted policies. Texas representatives promote a $61 billion rebuilding plan, but it is not yet clear if they will learn the lessons from what went wrong. Three months after Hurricane Maria wrecked Puerto Rico, to cite a case of emergency response failure, residents are still advised to boil their tap water — though not all have electricity to heat a kettle.

Several notable trends emerged from Circle of Blue’s reporting: water stress caused conflicts in India, Africa, and the Middle East to flare, like a squirt of gasoline to a flame. Large water and energy systems — from hydropower dams and coal power plants to the utilities that operate them — faced civic protest or financial headwinds, forcing some to change course. At the same time, public concern is growing over groundwater and drinking water pollution, both nationally and abroad.