In early 2018, Cape Town was 90 days away from "Day Zero" — the point at which municipal water would be turned off entirely and residents would queue at military-guarded collection points for 25 litres per person per day. It would have been the first time a major city in the modern world completely ran out of water.
Dam levels fell below 15%. The city implemented Level 6B water restrictions — the most severe in its history — limiting residents to 50 litres per day. Agriculture, which consumes the bulk of the Western Cape's water allocation, faced devastating restrictions. The tourism industry was shattered by international media coverage.
The crisis exposed catastrophic intergovernmental failure. The DA-run city had for years requested R35 million from the ANC-controlled Department of Water and Sanitation to augment supply — including desalination plants and groundwater extraction. The DWS refused. The city accused national government of using water as a political weapon. National government accused the city of failing to plan for drought. Both were partially right. The city had underinvested in alternative supply for years. National government had systematically underfunded water infrastructure nationwide. The result was that 4 million people came within weeks of having no water — not because of drought alone, but because of institutional failure at every level of government.