Day Zero
Topic: Water Resources of India: Availability, Use and Conservation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Day Zero is the day a city's taps run dry because its reservoirs have fallen below the level from which water can be supplied. After that day, people must queue for water from tankers or collection points. The term is used as a warning. It shows how fast growing cities can use up their water when rains fail and groundwater is over-pumped.
Example
Chennai, on the Tamil Nadu coast, had its main reservoirs dry up in June 2019 and had to bring in water by tanker. In 2024 many borewells in Bengaluru, Karnataka, failed. Outside India, Cape Town in South Africa only just avoided Day Zero in 2018.
Don't confuse with
- Drought: a long period of below-normal rainfall over a region. Day Zero is the point at which a city's water supply fails, and it can follow from poor management as well as from low rain.