Hello, you're listening to more or less on the BBC World Service with me, Helen Ameriman,

Happy New Year.

And what better way to celebrate the start of 2019 than by looking back at some of the

fascinating statistics that cropped up in 2018?

So here's the second installment of our numbers of the year where we ask some friends of

the programme to wax lyrical about the digits that peaks their interest.

My number is 50.

First up, a man who needs little introduction to regular listeners.

So David Spiegelhalter, professor of the public understanding of risk at Cambridge University,

with a number from South Africa.

That's 50 litres per day.

This was the ration of water that was imposed on the residents of Cape Town earlier this

year.

Now Cape Town had a severe drought in 2015 to 2017.

It was estimated to be one in 300-year event using historical records.

And it's also had a 50% population growth in the last 10 years.

And earlier this year, the dams, the supply capdown, getting very low, the biggest reservoir

was only at 12% capacity.

And they decided when reservoirs overall hit 13.5% of capacity, that would be day zero,

which they literally would turn off the water for the whole city.

And everyone would have to rely on collection points for their water.

Now in mid-January, they set day zero as being 22nd of April, about 90 days away.

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