One of my pet peeves is people wasting water. My brother tells me, ‘We in California have plenty of water due to large snow packs and the water restrictions are off’. What he doesn’t realize is that is not true, we still have a few towns that do not have water (Portola) and water rationing is still in effect in many cities like the City of San Diego.
He is a Climate Denier, despite that denial, the climate is changing and we in the United States take water for granted. This is how my brother views waterL when I asked him what the #1 thing we need to live.. he replied SEX.. if we are dead, because we have no water.. Sex is irrelevant. Water and the preservation of water is a god given right and he assumes it will always be there vs sex (he has been married for over 30 years)
We consumers must learn to economize water or the same thing that is happening in CapeTown could happen to us. This article in Capetown was printed in 1990 and predicted the end of water in Capetown in 1990. Guess what… that prediction is coming true today in CapeTown, South Africa as Zero Day approaches. 
CapeTown, South Africa has a population of over 4 million people. This is South Africa’s 2nd largest city and a top tourist destination. Tourism is over 9% of the GNP and if there is no water, why would tourist go there. Agriculture is 10% of the economy, if animals and plants are dying due to lack of water… what are the farmers and ranchers going to do, how will that effect the economy. This will cost South Africa.
California’s Drought cost the state: Researchers put the total economic loss at roughly $2.7 billion and 21,000 jobs statewide. (Source) We were never on a 13 liters a day restriction. Can you imagine living on 13 liters a day of water? Well the reality is most of world lives under horrendous water conditions:
71 percent of the global population, 4.3 billion people, were found to be living under conditions of moderate to severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. 66 percent, or 4.0 billion people, live under severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. (Source)
- 3 Years of the Worst drought in more than a century. For a global view of droughts see Drought Monitor
- Population Growth 4 million and growing. Infrastructure is not set up for water storage. In other words, there is not enough water storage for the population.
- Climate Change:
- Outdated dam system and water storage.
- 37% of clean, drinkable water is being lost through inefficient ways of using water such as leaking pipes, dripping taps (Reported in 2014 by News24) The article was on South Africa Looming Water Crisis.
- Politics (See Cape Towns Water Crisis Driven by Politics )
- Polluted Rivers which feed into the dams. (Times Live)
- Apathy of residents: 39% of Capetown users in January have adhered to water crisis. While they may have been shoring up, the reality is that Capetown did not even come close to their water goals.
As of February 1, South Africans can use less than 13 gallons of water a day or be charged a big fee. Of course water usage has probably gone up as Capetowners are storing up water in every single container they own in preparation for Zero Day. 
Bottom Line: As weather patterns continue to change, we are more likely to see situations such as this in all countries. Conserving and preserving water is a global issue and one that has never gone away and in fact the first ‘Water Wars’ go back 3,000 years. While our particular, city, state or country may have an abundance of water, that may change on a storm. We cannot wait until the last minute to implement changes, we and the rest of the world must start making changes and putting systems for conservation.
Resources
- CNN Cape Town Water Crisis
- Ground UP: What is Causing The CapeTown Water Crisis
- News24: CapeTown Water Crisis Help You to Understand The Basics
- The Conversation: Cape Town Water Crisis Driven by Politics More Than Drought
- Quartz: CapeTown’s Drought Levy
- News24: Drought has cost Grape Farmers