Neighbourhood responses to drought in the Western Cape
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Date
2021-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
An extreme drought event occurred in the
Western Cape when the mean level of water supply
dams declined to 28% of capacity in August 2017
(Odendaal 2019). Our survey of 240 households and
71 businesses identified neighbourhood variations in
response to the drought and to local government
restrictions in water usage, and in the methods of
adaptation that were implemented to mitigate the
impact of the disaster. Whereas water consumption
declined dramatically in comparison with drought
responses in other contexts (Shaw et al. in Am Water
Works Assoc 84(10):34–41, 1992, https://doi.org/10.
1002/j.1551-8833.1992.tb05862.x; Miller and Buys in
Soc Nat Resour 21(3):244–257, 2008; Buurman et al.
in Int J Water Resour Dev 33(1):31–50, 2017, https://
doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2016.1138398; Okaka and
Odhiambo in S Afr Geogr J 100(3):378–393, 2018),
significant variations in attitude and behaviour
emerged between respondents of Western Cape
neighbourhoods with different socio-economic profiles. Middle class and older households and waterintensive businesses or organisations were more likely
to report substantial decreases in water usage and to be
critical of official interventions than were poorer or
younger households and small businesses.
Description
Keywords
Drought, Adaptation, Neighbourhood, Water restrictions, Conservation
Citation
Rule, S. et al. (2021). Neighbourhood responses to drought in the Western Cape. GeoJournal. 86. 10.1007/s10708-020-10185-5.