Cape town, South Africa is battling the worst water shortage in 113 years.
Credit: Getty

Residents of Cape Town, South Africa, are bracing for Day Zero.

That’s the day that the city of 4 million’s municipal water supply will be cut off for most households and businesses, an unprecedented measure aimed at preserving water after a severe drought that has emptied reservoirs.

Since February, the city’s residents have lived with restrictions of 13.2 gallons of water a day per person, or roughly enough for a brief shower and three toilet flushes, as the Wall Street Journal has reported. Once Day Zero arrives, recently moved back to 2019 from July 9, 2018, residents will be forced to line up at collection points secured by the military.

Experts say this dystopian scene could be played out in other major cities in the coming years, as demand for water continues to increase with population growth and as climate change makes already-dry regions still dryer.

Roughly 3.6 billion people, or nearly half the current global population, live […]