Cape Town - Since the implementation of Level 4 restrictions in June 1, the City of Cape Town has issued 109 fines of up to R5 000 to residents found wasting water.
Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy mayoral committee member Xanthea Limberg said a maximum fine of R10 000 or a jail sentence had not yet been handed down yet.
"The City has been monitoring metro-wide high users since January 2017. Our statistics as at May 2017 show that each month’s top 100 high-user list has been reduced by about 80% due to the City’s engagement with these users and subsequent corrective measures that have been implemented," Limberg said.
"They have reduced consumption because they have fixed leaks – where we can we have assisted and where there were other reasons for the high consumption, many have also corrected this. The stubborn high users, as well as other high users, are now being targeted."
The Western Cape's dam levels increased by 1 percentage point to a storage level of 26.4%, effectively leaving the city with 16.4% of stored water left because the last 10% of the water stored is difficult to extract.
The levels of dams feeding the city are currently at:
Berg River Dam - 38.8%
Steenbras Lower - 29.4%
Steenbras Upper - 71.2%
Theewaterskloof - 20.7%
Voëlvlei - 20.5%
Wemmershoek - 36.4%
Daily collective water consumption remains 113 million litres above the target of 500 million litres a day, in spite of the implementation of Level 4b restrictions which limits water consumption to cooking, cleaning and drinking with each person expected to use 87 litres or less per day.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said: "It was pleasing to note reported rainfall measurements of up to 50mm in some areas in the Western Cape. This, in addition to good snowfall, should have a good impact on dam levels, however we are still a long way from where we need to be."
Under Level 4b restrictions, filling or topping up of pools with potable water was not allowed but non-potable water, such as borehole water could still be used.
Limberg also said Water and Sanitation Management Department planners were investigating "whether the legislative framework allows for the temporary banning of new pools unless it can be proven that they will be filled with non-potable water".
Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Janine Myburgh said: "These are challenging times for the swimming pool business, but there are also opportunities. People are investing in pool covers to reduce evaporation when summer comes. Fixing leaks has become a priority and there are now services which deliver recycled but safe water by road tanker to pool owners."
Pool cleaning specialist Mark Felmore said the water crisis has had a negative impact on business. However, despite winter being a slow season, the rain allowed for people to clean their pools, which meant he saw some business improvement.
Pool owners were also fitting down pipes to fill their pools with rainwater and some had also invested in backwash storage tanks, he said.