Countdown to Cape Town's Day Zero

Starting April 12, there is a chance all non-emergency water taps will be shut off.

Water will be shut off once the reservoir level reaches 13.5 percent. As of Jan. 31, the reservoir level is at 26 percent.

Cape Town residents will line up at one of 200 points in the city to retrieve 25 liters (6.6 gallons) per person.

On Feb. 1, Cape Town's government impletemed a strict 50 liter (13.2 gallon) per person per day limit on water consumption.

The plan is to reduce the city's water usage to 500 million liters (132 million gallons) per day. This is half of the water the city used in 2016.

With only rain water as their source of water, and the fact that Cape Town is currently suffering the worst drought in more than 100 years, water was bound to run out soon.

Due to the beaches and the culture, tourism outweights the locals by a lot - for every Capetonian, there are 5 tourists. The population of the city is over 400,000 people with more than 2 million tourists per year.

El Niño winds hit above Cape Town this year, which means heavy rainfall landed north of the city, whereas the city recieved the hot and dry winds.

The climate is changing around the world. In 2017 alone, the United States was hit with three major deadly hurricanes (Harvey, Irma and Maria) within a few months of each other that cost the country billions of dollars. Earthquakes are destroying Mexico, wildfires are setting California ablaze and high temperatures are causing Australia to set records of how hot the country is.

The tourism industry employs 4.5 percent of Cape Town's workforce

Tourism is a $3.2 billion industry in Cape Town

With Day Zero approaching, hotels and restaurants are asking tourists to change their habits and live like a Capetonian.

Hotels are asking guests to not request daily fresh towels and linens, not to take baths and limit their showers to less than two minutes. While some hotels are cutting steam rooms and hot tubs, others are offering discounts for not requesting ice or glasses.

Restaurants are now using disposable cups and eliminating table linens.

The province's tourism promotion group, Wesgro, has equipped a water war room. Wesgro implemented the war room in order to convince investors Day Zero can be delayed if tourists and Capetonians save even more water.

Enver Dumin, the chief executive officer of Cape Town Tourism, said there have already been major cancellations and postponements.

A major postponement is the London-based, large non-profit group, Global Sourcing Association. The group postponed their major March conference in hopes the city will resolve the water situation.

In 1992, former President George H.W. Bush passed the Energy Policy Act. A major point of the act was to drop toilet flushes from 3.5-5 gallons per flush to 1.6 gallons per flush.

States who are facing water shortages like California and Texas, have dropped the number of gallons per flush to 1.28 gallons per flush and 0.5 gallons per flush, respectively.

Other efforts like water faucet pressure and shower head pressure are strictly monitored by the government.

Unlike most issues in America, this is not a divisive topic. Every party is working toward cutting down water usage.

The daily number of gallons used per day by each Houstonian ranges from 84 gallons to 92 gallons, depending on where they spend most of their day. Metropolitan areas and apartment complexes use more water than suburban houses.

Major cities, including Houston, San Antonio and Dallas are currently facing water shortages. However, by setting up long term conservation efforts decades ago, the fear of no water is not as eminent.

However, Sandbranch, a small suburb of Dallas, has not had running water in more than 30 years. The city of less than 500 uses recycled water and bottled water if they can afford it.