WATCH: Cape Town plans to be African leader in water and sanitation services

Mayor Dan Plato said: “It must be emphasised that the full dams are an achievement we arrived at collectively.” Picture: Marvin Charles/Cape Argus

Mayor Dan Plato said: “It must be emphasised that the full dams are an achievement we arrived at collectively.” Picture: Marvin Charles/Cape Argus

Published Oct 28, 2020

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Cape Town - The City is on a mission to make Cape Town the first African city to be a world leader in water and sanitation services.

Yesterday, City officials visited the Wemmershoek Dam to brief the media on the water outlook over the next few years.

Mayor Dan Plato said: “It must be emphasised that the full dams are an achievement we arrived at collectively. Cape Town has always been a city of action. The measures put in place to conserve water were an indication of how determined the City was to not run out of water.” Plato said there were still many challenges that remained, but they were celebrating a victory.

“A victory which sees us being able to lift water restrictions - an act which seemed impossible three years ago. Having been so close to running out of water, we know the importance of every drop.

“Now, being in a much stronger position, residents can begin to relax water-saving efforts in good conscience,” he said.

Three years ago, the Wemmershoek Dam sank to its lowest level at 34.6% but is now sitting at 99.2% full.

The City decided last week to lower water restrictions in Cape Town and to move to the lowest tariff, being the no restriction, water-wise tariff from November 1.

Council is expected to adopt a report tomorrow.

Mayco member for water and sanitation, Xanthea Limberg, said: “The City’s new water programme will see an additional 300 million litres of water brought online through a combination of groundwater abstraction, desalination and water reuse.”

Limberg said the recently launched Water Strategy was a commitment to residents.

“The City’s water strategy is a long-term plan with very ambitious objectives to guide Cape Town towards becoming water resilient by 2030 and achieve a water sensitive status by 2040.”

Cape Argus

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City of Cape Town