The world's first major city at risk of running out of water has pushed back its 'Day Zero' for the third time - in an apparent sign their strategy is working

Andrea Willmore/Shutterstock

Cape Town in South Africa.

• Cape Town, a major city on South Africa's coast, is going through one of the worst droughts in its history.
• Officials have designated a date on which most taps will be turned off and everyone will be subjected to a strict water-rationing system.
• It's known as "Day Zero."
• Day Zero has been rescheduled for the fourth time to July 9, 2018.

Cape Town has postponed the date on which it would run out of water - again.

After three years of persistent drought, the government has warned that the coastal city would be forced to turn off most of its taps in 2018 - a date also known as "Day Zero."

The new Day Zero is now July 9, 2018, the government's official Day Zero tracker said on Tuesday.

The date was previously set at June 4, so the latest update has postponed it by 35 days.

For the past several months, Cape Town citizens have been told to drastically cut their water consumption, a tactic which the city says is starting to work.

City of Cape Town

Cape Town's water dashboard as at February 20, 2018.

Officials also said they were able to push back the day after organising a large transfer of water from elsewhere in the country to their dam systems.

The city originally set Day Zero at April 21, before moving it forward to April 12, backward to May 11, and back again to June 4.

Should the day come, most of the city's taps will be turned off, and around 20,000 residents would have to queue for water and be subjected to a strict water-rationing system.

natsmason/Instagram

An Instagram photo of drought-ridden Cape Town.

Earlier this year Cape Town's government called on citizens to limit their water usage to 50 litres per day. A five-minute shower uses around 45 litres.

To meet the challenge, residents have been storing water in jugs and collecting free water from local breweries.

Officials have also recommended that people collect and reuse their bathing water for their toilets, limit showers to two minutes, and wash their hands with hand sanitiser instead of water.

The government is worried that if people can't conserve enough water to avoid the shutoff, there will be anarchy in the city, which is home to 4 million people.

Helen Zille, the premier of the Western Cape province, said earlier this year that the challenge faced by the city "exceeds anything a major city has had to face anywhere in the world since the Second World War or 9/11."