This first brief Chronicle Digital video is from October of last year, but succinctly describes how Cape Town came to be in the predicament it now faces: an insufficient supply of potable running water for the city.

This second video from The Real News channel is from just a few weeks ago and presents updated information on the situation from Patrick Bond, professor of Political Economy at Wits University in South Africa. Currently the estimated “Day Zero” is April 20th. That’s when the plan would call for setting up 200 water distribution sites for this city of 4 million people.

Can California learn from the events that Cape Town is experiencing? Consider what effects a water shortage would have on issues such as food production, tourism and other aspects of the economy. In the Cape Town region 60% of the water is reserved for agriculture, chiefly for the cultivation of grapes for wine and rooibos (redbush) for herbal tea. Is that supportable given the limited resources?

When people begin to grasp the nature of this struggle for resources, and as corporations attempt to profit from this situation, how will people fight back? What weapons do the poor have?   [Read more…]