Cape Town residents have been advised to reduce water consumption after the recorded daily water usage showed amounts of well above the target of 500m litres per day.
According to the City, water usage has shot up to 643m litres per day, an amount that is exceeding the city’s target of 500m liters of collective water use per day by 143m liters. The City said that the people thinking that life could go on as before due to the recent rains are mistaken, as no significant difference has been felt on the water front with reference to the dam levels.
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In a statement released by the city, the rainfall has made a very small impact on the dam levels as the city remains 143m liters over the 500 million litre target per day. This means that if the status quo is maintained the city of Cape Town could be looking at a future where water will be unheard of.
Furthermore, the lower than average rainfall, coupled with unacceptably high consumption, the worse the situation gets. The residents who are not utilizing water properly are also contributing to the situation.
Presently, the dam storage levels are at 27,4% compared to last year’s 47.6%. However, of this percentage, 17.4% is usable water, which happens to be very low for this time of the year. Useable water at this time of year is usually at 37.6%.
The Level 4b water restrictions imposed earlier on this year require all water users to use less than 87 litres of water per person per day in total, irrespective of whether they are at home, work or elsewhere.
Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy, Xanthea Limberg, warned the people who are not saving water regardless of the knowledge about the city water crisis should know that measures are being put in place to ensure that should worse come to worst they will come up with a process to restrict water supply entirely.
