Water crisis: 'Fear factor' saved Cape Town and can work for Joburg, says mayor

As Johannesburg battles a water crisis, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says that what saved the metro from running out of clean drinking water six years ago was not an "engineering solution" but public support in reducing consumption.

The mayor, last week, shared some of the lessons that Johannesburg and other municipalities can learn from a severe drought that nearly saw Cape Town's taps run dry.

"The true resounding and outstanding success of Cape Town's ability to survive that terrible drought was its ability to mobilise public support for dramatically reducing water consumption.