The University of Cape Town, in response to Day Zero, has set up a Water Task Team to address and manage the impact of the drought on UCT.
The city's water use exceeds 600-million litres per day, despite constant calls on consumers to cut down, and at current rates will see Day Zero implemented on April 21 – at which point, Capetonians will have no choice about saving water.
"The university has set up a Water Task Team to address and manage the impact of the drought on UCT. The team has implemented a number of initiatives already, including raising awareness and publishing articles on the water crisis in Cape Town", said Professor Loretta Feris in a statement.
"We are in the process of appointing a consulting company and added capacity to assist us in developing detailed contingency plans for UCT's response to Day Zero. This will include plans for different scenarios we might face at Day Zero – such as no water, restricted water supply, or the use of alternate water sources.
"We are also creating a 'water desk', to which questions from staff and students on water issues can be directed for swift response. These contingency plans for Day Zero will be shared with the campus community in time.
"We strongly appeal to all members of the UCT community to step up our water-saving measures, use the increasingly limited water responsibly and sparingly, and support water-saving initiatives and campaigns at our university".
Despite Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille repeatedly appealing to residents to do more to save water, saying: "If we save water together, we can avoid Day Zero", the possibility has now turned into a probability, as the day when most of the city's taps are closed edges ever closer.