Counting Down to Day Zero: Exploring Community-Based Water Management Strategies in Western Cape Province Drought, South Africa (2017/2018)

Abstract

AbstractThis research explored the various community-based water conservation and water management strategies employed in the face of the Western Cape Province Drought that occurred in the season period of 2017/2018. Specifically, the study analyzed the effectiveness of the water conservation strategies and assessed the implementation complexities of these strategies, as well as proffered interventions that can be adopted to ensure that water resources are optimally used as the countdown to Day Zero, set for 2020. In the process, findings of the study and analysis presented salient lessons to other countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, Middle East, and Europe that may be faced with similar natural disasters that threaten water supply and availability. The key concepts of Community-based Water Management (CBWM) and Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) constituted the conceptual framework of analysis. In terms of methodology, this study made use of questionnaires that were distributed to 29 purposively sampled respondents comprising officials in charge of water management and disaster management in the Western Cape Provincial Government, Western Cape district and local municipalities, and academics and/or researchers specializing in the four universities in Western Cape. From the gathered data, it was established that although there were notable challenges of resource constraints, conflicts of interests, infrastructure decay, information gaps, resistance to change, retrogressive community attitudes, policy inconsistences; community-based water management strategies assisted to complemented municipality-initiated efforts to reduce the risk of drought and mitigate the socio-economic impact of the natural disaster, thereby pushing further the envisaged Day Zero. The chapter recommends the strengthening of community-based water management strategies through the involvement of government and non-state actors as well as prioritization and alignment of community-based water management strategies with municipal, provincial, national and global frameworks and plans on disaster management and climate change adaptation to facilitate more robust coordination drought risk mitigation, responses, and preparedness.KeywordsCommunity-based water management strategiesDisaster managementDisaster risk reductionDay zeroWestern cape province