Cities in drying climates face recurring Day Zero drinking-water shortfalls
#00173
Major cities from Cape Town to Chennai have come within weeks of running dry as droughts lengthen and demand grows. Emergency rationing, tanker dependence, and lost public trust follow, exposing how unprepared urban supply systems are for a drier climate.
#00175Day Zero by decay: leakage and underinvestment collapse urban supply without drought
Some cities run dry not from drought but from decades of underinvestment. Johannesburg loses ~45% of its water to leaks and illegal connections and endures rolling outages even when reservoirs hold water; Mexico City loses ~40%.
#00174Water crises hit the poor hardest through tanker markets and unequal rationing
When piped supply fails, informal tanker markets and rationing shift the burden to low-income households, who pay the highest unit prices for the least water. Chennai's poor got about 30 litres per person per day in 2019 while tanker prices roughly tripled.