The ongoing
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
starting in 2015 affecting the
Eastern Cape region of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
is one of the worst droughts in the region's history. The drought led the
South African government
The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa.
Executive authori ...
to declare the region a "disaster area" in October 2019. A local
hydrologist
Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
, Gideon Groenewald, has stated that it could be the worst drought the area as experienced in one thousand years and has had serious negative socioeconomic impacts on the region. Heavy rains in 2019 were not enough to break the drought. Reasons cited for the severity of the drought include poor water management by local government, unpredictable rainfall patterns and vandalism of local infrastructure. Areas of the Eastern Cape that overlap with the Karroo, such as the area around
Graaff-Reinet
Graaff-Reinet is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the oldest town in the province. It is also the sixth-oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, Paarl and Swellendam. The town was the ...
, have been especially badly hit.
The drought took place at the same time as the
Cape Town water crisis.
See also
*
2018–21 Southern Africa drought
References
{{Reflist
Climate of South Africa
Droughts in Africa
2021 in South Africa
2020 in South Africa
2019 in South Africa
2018 in South Africa
2017 in South Africa
2016 in South Africa
2015 in South Africa
2015 disasters in South Africa
2021 disasters in South Africa
2010s disasters in South Africa
2020s disasters in South Africa
2021 in the environment
2020 in the environment
2019 in the environment
2018 in the environment
2017 in the environment
2016 in the environment
2015 in the environment
2021 droughts
2020 droughts
2019 droughts
2018 droughts
2017 droughts
2016 droughts
2015 droughts
Climate change in South Africa
Water scarcity