Cape Town - Residents should brace for more stringent water restrictions as water use continues to peak above the 600 million litres a day target.
"The City of Cape Town is preparing for the imminent implementation of further intensified water restrictions. The envisaged Level 4b restrictions would adjust the water usage target downwards to 500 million litres of collective water use per day," the metro said in a statement on Monday.
"This comes as dam levels remain critically low, rainfall uncertainty great, and consumption levels still too high considering the need to start building reserves for the expected tough summer ahead."
Dam levels in the province recovered, but very slightly, over the past week in the light of rainfall, but remain way below the levels experienced this time last year.
"Dam storage levels are at 24.5 percent today, 26 June 2017. With the last 10 percent of a dam’s water mostly not being useable, dam levels are effectively at 14.5 percent. Consumption is 630 million litres per day. This is 30 million litres above the current usage target of 600 million litres per day."
The City says while it has not formally implemented the tougher water restrictions, Capetonians should start moving towards using even less water. Level 4b water restrictions sets a target of 500 million litres of water use a day.
"It is incredibly important that we focus on building our reserves at the moment. The danger does exist that we will start exceeding our water usage target due to the cooler conditions and the rainfall that is being experienced at times," said the City’s mayoral committee member for water and waste services, Xanthea Limberg.
"We must continue to use less than 100 litres of water per person per day in total, whether we are at home, work, school or elsewhere. It may take a few seasons of normal rainfall for the dams to recover and we must bear in mind that we are expecting an even tougher summer in 2018."
The city said it would continue with "proactive interventions". These interventions include pressure reduction in some areas and emergency work done to prevent water loss. People who contravene existing water restrictions could also face "tough action".