Tap'd In

#42: Cape Town’s Day Zero – Lessons from the city that almost ran dry

Tap Season 1 Episode 42

In this episode of Tap’d In, hosts Jordan and Lana revisit one of the world’s most famous water crises: Cape Town’s near-“Day Zero” in 2018, when the city was on the brink of shutting off its taps. Drawing from National Geographic’s reporting, they explore how climate change, drought, and rapid population growth pushed the city to the edge, while racial and socioeconomic disparities deepened the impact—leaving poorer, majority-Black townships most vulnerable. Jordan and Lana break down the emergency measures that helped Cape Town narrowly avoid disaster, from aggressive conservation to temporary desalination, and place the crisis in a global context, asking: which cities could be next, and what can the world learn before the taps run dry?

Article:

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/why-cape-town-running-out-water-and-whos-next/



Links:

Tap: https://findtap.com/

PodSnacks (Podcast Summaries): https://www.podsnacks.org/