UCT drafts plans to survive Day Zero

Contingency plans are being drawn up to enable the University of Cape Town to keep functioning if the taps run dry in the Mother City.

Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Loretta Feris appealed in a written communique to staff and students to contribute to water-saving efforts in “every way possible‚ every day on campus”.

Acknowledging that Cape Town could run out of water by mid-April 2018‚ she said the university was developing contingency plans‚ which included mapping water metres on campus‚ installing digital water metres and creating a detailed water management plan.

“We are now also engaging with multiple stakeholders‚ and particularly the City‚ on how UCT could continue operations if Cape Town reached Day Zero‚” she said.

“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‚ the use of alternate water sources.

“I 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.

We are getting better at managing water on campus. But we can and should be doing even more.”