Cape Town to set up disaster operations HQ as the city faces Day Zero

South Africa's police and military will help secure water collection sites in drought-stricken Cape Town if authorities must turn off most taps on Day Zero, a date projected to fall in the first half of April, according to the city.

Some residents are supplementing water supply
by collecting from natural springs in the city.

Hospitals, key economic and industrial areas and densely populated areas with a higher risk of disease would be exempt from a water cut-off, municipal authorities said.

The authorities plan to open a disaster operations centre on Monday to prepare for a possible closure of taps in a city known internationally for its natural beauty and tourist attractions.

South Africa's second-biggest city ramped up contingency plans as the water crisis hurt tourism.

Politicians bickered over alleged failures to offset a looming disaster blamed on explosive population growth over the past two decades and several years of drought that scientists say was possibly exacerbated by man-made global warming.

Read the ABC News story - “Cape Town to set up disaster operations HQ as the city faces Day Zero.”