In September 2018, with dam levels close to 70 percent, the city began easing water restrictions, indicating that the worst of the water crisis was over. Good rains in 2020 effectively broke the drought and resulting water shortage when dam levels reached 95 percent.

While Cape Town famously avoided "Day Zero" in 2018, the city's water "problem" has not been "fixed" in a permanent sense; rather, it has become a managed, long-term crisis. In February 2026, South Africa officially declared a national disaster due to drought conditions across the Western Cape. Dam levels have once again dropped to around 50%, and residents have been urged to significantly curb consumption to avoid a return to strict 50-liter-per-day limits. While the city has invested in "future-proofing" through groundwater extraction and pressure management, the planned large-scale desalination plants are still years away from full operation. In 2026, the "Cape Town model" is one of data-driven resilience; the city monitors risk weekly, but with a growing population of 5 million and "below-average" rainfall predicted for the 2026 winter, the threat of water scarcity remains a high-priority challenge that requires constant public cooperation and infrastructure investment.