'Expect to pay 20% more for water if you don't use it sparingly'

Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille.

Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille.

Published May 30, 2017

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Cape Town – Capetonians using more than 3,500 litres of water a month can expect to see a whopping 19.25% increase in their water bills from July.

The announcement came from Mother City mayor Patricia de Lille, who tabled the City of Cape Town budget on Tuesday.

"For consumers who use between 600 litres and 3,500 litres per month, the level 4 restriction tariff price increase will range between approximately six percent and 10% more for water compared with what they are currently paying on Level 3 restrictions," de Lille said.

"Only customers who are consuming water in the step tariffs of more than 3 ,500 litres or 5,000 litres per month will pay much higher tariff increases because it is intended to deter such high consumption during this time of drought."

De Lille said similar principles would apply to sanitation rates. Dam levels in the city are dangerous low at below 20%.

With the last 10% of dam water being unusable, this effectively means reservoirs feeding the city have less than 10% of potable water left.

The mayor said the city would be expanding its emergency water supply schemes as adequate rainfall has been virtually non-existent.

"This is going become the new normal for Cape Town," she said.

"There are many residents and businesses that have reduced their consumption. However, there are still some people who, no matter how many times and ways we say it, are still using too much water."

African News Agency

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