Icebergs towed from the Antarctic will not be able save Cape Town from running out of water.
After below-average winter rainfall, Cape Town’s dams are only two-thirds full and the city council says there is a strong possibility of a new drought cycle.Icebergs towed from the Antarctic will not save Cape Town from running out of water if it faces another Day Zero countdown.
The iceberg would contain 4.5 billion litres of water on arrival, lasting five days at summer consumption levels or supplying 1.8 million people with 25 litres each. Last winter they maxed out at only 87%, but this is still twice the amount of water the city had by the end of winter in 2017, when the plan emerged for a world-first effort to move icebergs over thousands of kilometres to relieve the drought.