9-point summary: The Cape Town water crisis was the consequence of a severe 3-year drought affecting most of the winter-rainfall zone (WRZ) of South Africa and especially the Boland Mountain Catchment (BMC) that supplies water to Cape Town’s supply dams (see Piotr’s detailed analyses on drought severity and drivers) The Western Cape Province has 3… Read more »
Much has been argued about the causes of the 2017 Cape Town’s water crisis. Is it the drought? Is it climate change? Is it population growth? Is it lack of foresight by the national government or the local government? Is it the rich? Is it the poor? Is it farmers? Or industry? Or invasive trees?… Read more »
This is a blog about my experience coordinating, engaging with students and participating in activities for the EGS4038F Course Field Trip. The field trip took place over the weekend of the 12th and 13th of May 2018. Coordinating this event facilitated introductions to the students and provided me with the opportunity to work more closely… Read more »
Having fingers in all “pies” is becoming the life for most scientists,the need to understand information needs,emotions and society in general is fast growing in the quest to answer questions such as: Why is it so difficult to get through to people using scientific facts? Why do people go all out to defend what… Read more »
This is an article I wrote on invitation from Bulletin of Atomic Scientist (weird, I know, but physicists are very interested in changing climate, and from that – it is not a long road to our drought). I look here at the drought from the perspective of a couple of months. The story is written… Read more »
The sooner we know the answer, the sooner we can prepare for summer 2019 By Peter Johnston and Piotr Wolski 15 March 2018 The approaching autumn and winter season in Cape Town is being keenly awaited to see if it will bring sufficient rain to end, or at least alleviate, the drought. If… Read more »
“If the answer to climate change in cities is about a better understanding of policy, values and justice, should we be looking to IPCC for information? Will data and technology give us the answers?” The intervention above one was of the more poignant offered during the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conference on climate… Read more »
Peter Johnston, University of Cape Town Much has been written about the ongoing drought and critical water shortages in the city of Cape Town. Residents are bracing themselves for Day Zero – the moment at which most of the city’s domestic taps will run dry. But there’s also a great deal to worry about beyond… Read more »
I was asked to write a short piece for an independent Russian (!) media outlet—to be translated—to contribute to answering the title question from a climatological perspective. I’ve been asked to post this to the blog here, having made adapted it slightly for a more South African audience: It is important to distinguish between the… Read more »