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On the ever-growing list of problems that the City of Cape Town has to deal with, you’ll find figuring out the balance between trying to stave off Day Zero without impacting on the tourism industry right up there.

I guess that’s the problem with being so beautiful, says the Mother City with a flick of her well-washed hair, but as Day Zero draws closer residents are looking at certain annual events with a microscope.

The Cape Town Cycle Tour is one such event, and yesterday saw Tour Director David Bellairs address the media at the Cullinan Hotel. He said the event will still take place on March 11, but that organisers had taken a number of steps in light of the water crisis.

These details via Times LIVE:

The Cape Town Cycle Tour will add two million litres of water to the city’s local water grid to offset the water footprint of an estimated 15‚000 participants from beyond the Western Cape’s borders.

Organisers of the tour…said they would purchase two million litres of spring water sourced from only licensed suppliers‚ outside of the drought ravaged province…

Portable toilets at the event will be using grey water sourced from water treatment facilities while ballasts for certain structures along the route will not use water for weight. Spring water and desalinated water will be used for drinking‚ said Bellairs. He said that the aim was to keep every participant’s water footprint below 50 litres a day in line with the city’s new water restrictions.

Spectators will also be warned against spraying water over participants and from setting up portable pools along the route.

Yeah folks, now is not the time to rock a portable pool along the route. You can bet your face will be plastered all over social media within the hour, and Capetonians aren’t in a forgiving mood at this moment in time.

Don’t be afraid to bring your own water if you’re driving down from another province, cyclists, because we’re off our high horses and basically begging for help.

Via a press release, the Cape Town Cycle Tour also sought to clarify what it’s all about:

The Cape Town Cycle Tour was established 41 years ago with the sole purpose of raising money for charity. It is not a commercial entity but a not-for-profit Trust…

Over the past 17 years, the Cycle Tour has raised in excess of R109-million for its two beneficiaries.  2018 will see in excess of R10-million distributed to them and numerous charities rely on this source of income. Furthermore, participants use the event as a platform to raise money for other charities which compounds the charitable impact of the event raises.

You can read the rest of that press release here.

Remember when you waved farewell to 2017, stoked to say adios to all that stress and worry? Ah yes, those were the days.

[sources:timeslive&ctct]