Tougher water restrictions are set to be experienced in South Africa, Cape Town. This is because the dam levels have since dropped to 40% as at 23rd of January.
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According to Xanthea Limberg, the City Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services and Energy the residents in Cape Town have been taking all the necessary measures in order to reduce their water consumption.
The Water and Waste Services Directorate in conjunction with the Security Directorate are aiming to reach at least 20,000 of the city’s top water users in the enforcement and education operations.
The directorate is however faced with the challenge as some residents have not taken heed of the earlier warnings and have chosen to ignore all efforts towards conservation of water.
According to the latest statistics, dam levels have dropped to 40.4% as of 23 January 2017, while the average consumption is 80 million litres above the targeted 800 million litres of collective usage per day.
Residential home owners in formal areas are seen to be the heavy consumers of over 50 kilolitres per day. The council is set to conduct home-to-home visits and issue more fines where applicable and put in water restriction devices if the trend continues.
The Directorate intends to communicate to the high users of the punitive measures that will be taken against them if they do not heed to these warnings. They stand to face fines and water restriction devices installed in their compounds if a 20% reduction in their usage is not seen.
Even with well established water conservation policies, reduced water consumption is key.
The tough restrictions are meant to achieve sustainability in the long-run with a planning horizon of up to 30 years given the current drought situation
