Although Day Zero has been pushed out to 2019, we’re still in a water crisis and water-saving efforts in the Cape Town Central City and beyond must continue.
Day Zero is when dam levels will be so low, taps will run dry and Cape Town residents will have to queue for drinking water daily.
According to a statement issued on 16 April by the City of Cape Town’s Executive Deputy Mayor, Alderman Ian Neilson, our collective consumption over the past week (9 to 15 April) was 542 million litres of water per day. This is up from an average of 516 million litres last week: “We need to reduce our total consumption to 450 million litres per day to keep within the allocation provided to the City by the National Department of Water and Sanitation. This requires individuals to use no more than 50 litres per person per day. We must achieve this target to stretch the available water supplies as far as possible into the winter months and through the remainder of the year. We have made great progress so far, but we are not yet out of the woods. We must continue to keep our usage as low as possible.”
The City’s Director of Enterprise & Investment, Lance Greyling, shares similar sentiments.
“We must not lose the mindset of water saving that we have all become accustomed to recently. Given the unpredictability of the weather due to climate change, it is unfortunately not beyond the realms of possibility that we could have another year of the worst rainfall in recorded history, although of course, we are all hoping that this is certainly not the case.
“It is important that we keep consumption to a lower level and even push to reach our target of 450 million litres per day in order to buy us the necessary buffer for the next summer season. In this regard, I would encourage all businesses and households to install whatever rainwater harvesting technologies are available so that we are able to capture and utilise as much of the winter rains as possible.”
At present, Level 6b water restrictions are still in place and will remain at least until the end of winter. To adhere to Level 6b water restrictions, take note of the following:
- A daily limit of 50 litres or less per person whether at home, work, or school applies.
- Borehole water use for outdoor purposes is discouraged to preserve groundwater resources.
- Commercial properties need to reduce usage by 45% compared with the corresponding period in 2015 (pre-drought).
- Residential units using more than 10 500 litres per month will be fined or have water management devices installed on their properties.
- No hosing down of paved surfaces with municipal drinking water.
- No irrigation or watering with municipal drinking water allowed.
- No use of portable play pools.
- No washing of vehicles, trailers, caravans or boats with municipal drinking water allowed.
- Private swimming pools may not be topped up or filled with municipal drinking water.
- Water features may not use municipal drinking water.
- Residents are encouraged to install water-efficient parts to minimise water use at all taps, shower-heads and other plumbing mechanisms.
Image by City of Cape Town