Published in the journal Nature Sustainability, a new study found socioeconomic disparity to be just as influential as climate change and population growth when it comes to explaining why the water supply in so many cities is shrinking.

For the purposes of the study, researchers zeroed in on just one location, Cape Town, South Africa.

Even 25 years after South Africa's apartheid ended, Cape Town is still segregated in distinct geographic lines, making it easier to track water usage among income groups, Savelli said. The city also experienced a major drought from 2015 to 2017, a crisis so severe that the city narrowly averted "Day Zero," when it believed water sources would dry up entirely.

Despite only representing about 14% of the population, the wealthiest residents used more than half of the water (51%) consumed by the entire city.

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