A severe drought has forced the city's municipality to limit water consumption to 50 litres per person per day in an effort to delay what has become known as Day Zero, which has been set for 12 April, when the water supply will be shut.
It isn't easy to reduce to just 50 litres a day per person: South Africa's WaterWise notes a typical shower uses 15 litres per minute, while a standard toilet consumes 15 litres per flush.
But failure to stick to the limit only means one thing: Day Zero will get even closer in the city of more than four million people.
Will Cape Town be the first city to run out of water?
A stone's throw from Newlands' famous stadiums, hundreds of concerned Capetonians queue, an hour before sunrise, outside the gates of the South African Breweries premises to collect what is fast becoming the city's most precious commodity - fresh water.
Just last month such scenes would not have played out, but the increasingly worrying possibility of the city's taps running dry has forced residents into rethinking their sourcing and use of water.
