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May 7, 2018, 8:29 AM UTC / Updated May 7, 2018, 8:48 AM UTC

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The city of Cape Town may have staved off the worst of a water crisis thanks to 90-second showers, police enforcement and a strong dose of public shaming.

A historic three-year drought has forced residents of this coastal city of 4 million to radically change their relationship with water as city restrictions limit each person to using no more than 50 liters, or 13.2 gallons, a day.

“Showers are just joyless now,” said Andie Reeves, 27, an artist and writer in the city. “You just need to clean your body and get out.”

Reeves and her three roommates have all made drastic changes at home, from reusing washing machine water to flush toilets to bathing over a bucket, making a long relaxing bath time a thing of the past.

“I used to have a lot of ah-ha moments in the shower,” added Keren Setton, 26. “Now I just don't have those anymore.”

Cars have gone unwashed, toilets unflushed and gardens uncultivated in the all-hands-on-deck effort of Capetonians to save water, driven by social pressure as much as the city’s very public campaign.

Want to know which one of your neighbors is not abiding by the restrictions?

A map showing water usage by household in Cape Town.

The city's website publishes a map showing a street by street and house by house measure of water usage.

A dark green dot means your household is well within the restrictions; light green means you’re getting closer to the limit.

“When we waste water it’s not just something that affects me because you're contributing to a bigger problem that we're not being conscious enough and one day our water could be cut off,” said musician Savannah Brogneri, 25. “We have to be aware of how we're affecting other people.”

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The extraordinary efforts have paid off. The city has reduced water consumption by more than half since 2015 and has stalled the worst-case scenario known as “Day Zero,” when municipal taps would be shut off, for at least another year.