Capetonians have been through droughts before, but have somehow always come through them with minimal water restrictions and very welcome rain coming in time to save the situation. This is however not the case currently.

Struggling under Level 5 water restrictions, and with the dams that supply the greater part of the Western Cape sitting at only around 28.5% useable water as the region goes into the summer, the City of Cape Town has officially put into effect Phase 1 of the Water Shortages Disaster Plan.

Current consumption is at 585 million litres of collective usage per day, and with little or no rain to fill the dams, this is still way too high.

Mayco member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services and Energy Xanthea Limberg said: “Reducing water usage remains the most vital intervention to help see the city through the summer ahead. 

“With the help of almost half of Capetonians, as well as our pressure interventions, leak management programme and the installation of water management devices, we have brought usage down from more than 1.1 billion litres per day to the current volume – but further critical measures, such as pressure reduction, must be intensified to maintain reduced demand throughout summer.”

Water rationing has now been put into effect in the form of throttling the pressure of the water in the pipes, which authorities have warned may lead to water supply disruptions, particularly during peak water usage times in the mornings (5am – 9am) and in the evenings (5pm – 9pm) if usage is above the required levels.

Service will be restored once demand decreases to within the limitations of Level 5 water restrictions, and areas where the usage is in excess of the daily water limit, rationing via advanced pressure management will continue until the limit is reached.

Limberg said almost 7 000 water management devices had been fitted to the properties of delinquent water users.

“It is foreseen that between 130 and 240 million litres per day will be at some stage of production between December 2017 and May 2018. This includes land- and sea-based desalination, water reclamation, and groundwater abstraction projects, if all goes according to plan.”

Residents are being urged to keep between 5 and 10 litres of water available for drinking purposes only as well as additional water for pets.

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