The Well That Feeds a Thousand Taps

In 2018, Cape Town, South Africa, counted down to what officials called "Day Zero" — the day the city's reservoirs would run dry. Four million residents queued at distribution points with jugs and buckets, rationed to fifty liters a day. People stopped watering gardens, flushing toilets, washing cars. The city lived in the grip of thirst. But beneath the parched suburbs, hydrologists discovered something remarkable: deep aquifers, ancient underground rivers that had been flowing for centuries, untouched.…