When the Taps Run Dry: A South African Christian's Reflection on the Water Crisis, Day Zero, and the God Who Holds the Rain

The Week the Reservoir Levels Fell

There was a week in 2018 when the world had one message for Cape Town. Day Zero is coming. The day when the taps in Cape Town would run dry. The day when the people of Cape Town would have had to queue at one of two hundred collection points to collect their daily water allowance of twenty-five litres per person. The day when the city of Cape Town would have been, in the words of one newspaper, the first major city in the world to run out of water.

Day Zero did not come. The rains came in June 2018. The dams filled. The crisis was averted. The story, however, did not end. The story moved to Johannesburg.

In Johannesburg, the water crisis has been slower, less dramatic, and longer than the Cape Town crisis. The reservoir levels at the Vaal Dam have fallen year after year. The Rand Water board has issued restrictions. The City of Johannesburg has issued warnings. The hosepipe bans have come and gone. The JoJo tanks have become part of the Sandton driveway. The midnight pump schedules have become the rhythm of the suburb. The water saving messages have become the background of the school run.

The Christian in Johannesburg in 2026 is living in a water crisis that has not yet become a Day Zero. The Christian in Johannesburg in 2026 has to decide what to do with the crisis. The crisis is real. The taps are real. The Bible is real.

This post is for the Christian in Johannesburg who has begun to wonder what the Bible actually says about water, about drought, about the God who holds the rain, and about the Christian who has to wash the dishes one day.

What the Bible Actually Says About Water

The Bible has a great deal to say about water. The Bible begins with water. The Bible ends with water. The Bible treats water as a gift, as a judge, as a baptism, as a thirst, and as a picture of the God who gives it.

Genesis 1:2 — The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Genesis 1:6-7 — And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it.

Genesis 2:10 — A river watering the garden flowed out of Eden.

Genesis 9:11 — Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood.

Exodus 14:21-22 — Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on the part of the dry ground.

Numbers 20:11 — Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Deuteronomy 11:11-12 — But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from the heavens. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it.

1 Kings 18:41-45 — Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And seven times the servant went up and reported, "There is nothing." The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." In a short time the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain came.

Psalm 147:8 — He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.

Isaiah 55:10-11 — As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty.

John 4:14 — But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. The water that I give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

John 7:38 — Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

Revelation 22:1 — Then the angel showed me the river of the life of God, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

The Bible treats water as one of the great gifts. The Bible treats drought as one of the great dangers. The Bible treats the God who gives the rain as the God who gives all good gifts. The Bible treats the Christian who lives through a water crisis as the Christian who has been invited to live by faith, and not by sight, for one more season.

What the Bible Says About Drought

The Bible is also honest about drought. The Bible has drought as one of the consequences of turning away from the God of the water. The Bible also has drought as one of the tests that the God will let the faithful go through.

Deuteronomy 28:23-24 — The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder.

1 Kings 17:1 — Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord I serve, the God of Israel, lives, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."

Psalm 32:4 — For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

Jeremiah 14:1-6 — This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and the cry goes up from Jerusalem. The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water. They return with their jars unfilled; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads. The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads. Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass. The wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyesight fails because there is no vegetation.*

Haggai 1:10-11 — Therefore, because of you, the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.

The Bible does not promise the Christian in Johannesburg a water crisis that never damns. The Bible does promise the Christian that will see the crisis, with all its questions, in the company of the God who sees.

What the Cape Town Story Teaches the Sandton Bible Study

The Cape Town story of 2018 has become a parable for the South African Christian in 2020. The story teaches several things at once.

The story teaches that the crisis can come. The story teaches that the crisis can be averted. The story teaches that the city that averts the crisis is not the same city as the city before the crisis. The story teaches that the Christian who lives through the crisis has a new vocabulary for water. The story teaches that the crisis is also a calling. The crisis is a calling to stewardship, to prayer, to neighbourliness, to witness.

The Sandton Bible study of the last three years has begun to use the Cape Town story as a parable. We have begun to use it in the Bible study. We have begun to use it in the prayer. We have begun to use it in the way we welcome a new member who has come from Cape Town. The story is a real story. The parable is a real parable.

What the Christian in Sandton Has Started Doing in the Water Crisis

In the last three years, the Wednesday evening Bible study in Sandton has changed shape during the water crisis. We do not cancel the Bible study. We do not change the topic to the water crisis. We do, however, change three things.

We begin the Bible study that Wednesday with a moment of thanksgiving for the water that has come out of the tap. The Christian in Sandton in 2026 has not had a Day Zero. The Christian in Sandton in 2026 has had the JoJo tank, the midnight pump schedule, the hosepipe ban, and the warning. The water that has come out of the tap is a gift. The prayer is real.

We read one of the Old Testament prophets of drought. We have read Elijah in 1 Kings 17. We have read Haggai 1. We have read Jeremiah 14. We have read the Psalm of the deer that pants for the water. The prophets of drought are real prophets. The water crisis is a real crisis. The Bible is real.

We pray, at the close of that week's Bible study, for the Rand Water board, for the reservoir levels, for the rains to come, for the neighbour who has to live with the crisis without the JoJo tank. The prayer is real. The rain is real. The God is real.

What the Christian Does About the JoJo Tank

The Christian in Sandton in 2026 has to live with the JoJo tank. The JoJo tank is part of the Sandton driveway. The JoJo tank is part of the Sandton children's Bible study. The JoJo tank is part of the Sandton prayer.

The Christian has to decide how to live with the JoJo tank. The Christian does not have to pretend the JoJo tank is not there. The Christian does have to think about the JoJo tank. The Christian does have to think about the neighbour who does not have the JoJo tank.

Luke 3:11 — Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.

1 John 3:17 — If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

Proverbs 21:13 — Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.

Amos 5:24 — But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

The Christian has the JoJo tank. The neighbour does not have the JoJo tank. The Christian has the choice. The Bible is clear about the choice.

A Short Prayer for the Water Crisis

Father, you are the God of the rain. You are the God of the reservoir. You are the God of the tap. You are the God of the JoJo tank. You are the God of the midnight pump schedule. You are the God of the warning. You are the God of the neighbour without the tank. We thank you for the water that has come out of the tap. We pray for the rain to come. We pray for the neighbour. We pray for the children who will live with the water crisis for a generation. We ask this in the name of the one who said, "I am the living water." Amen.

The Week After the Reservoir Levels Rise

The week after the reservoir levels rise, the warning ends. The hosepipe ban is lifted. The JoJo tank is empty. The midnight pump schedule is over. The school run is normal again.

The Christian in Johannesburg has to decide what to do with the JoJo tank after the crisis. Some Christians answer the crisis by dismantling the JoJo tank. Some Christians answer the crisis by keeping the JoJo tank.

The Bible is clear about the Christian after the crisis. The Christian does not have to dismantle the JoJo tank. The Christian does have to think about the neighbour. The Christian does have to pray. The Christian does have to be ready for the next crisis. The next crisis is coming. The next drought is coming. The next Day Zero is coming, somewhere.

Proverbs 6:6-8 — Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and the all hard worker: it has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Genesis 41:35-36 — They should collect all the surplus food of these good years that are coming and store it under the authority of Pharaoh, as food to be kept in the cities. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come on Egypt.

Matthew 25:13 — Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

The Christian in Johannesburg who has been through the water crisis of 2026 has a new responsibility. The Christian has to be ready for the next crisis. The Christian has to be a witness of the crisis. The Christian has to be a friend of the neighbour. The Christian has to be a steward of the water. The Christian has to be a pray-er of the rain.

An Invitation

If you are a Christian in Johannesburg who has begun to wonder what the Bible says about the water crisis, who has begun to wonder how to live with the JoJo tank, who has begun to wonder how to pray for the rain, who has begun to wonder what to teach the children about the crisis, the Wednesday evening Bible study in Sandton is open to you. The Bible study begins at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings. We meet at the Bible study room in Parkmore. The Bible is real. The water is real. The Jesus is real.

If you have come from Cape Town, or if you are a Christian who is also a neighbour of a Christian, or a neighbour of a job that the water crisis affects, the Bible study is open to you too. The city is real. The Bible is real. The friendship is real.