Cape Town - As national water week begins the City has reported a rise in Cape Town dam levels to 75.4%, after having fallen to 74.5% the previous week.
Mayco member for water and waste Xanthea Limberg said: “The capacity of dams supplying the Cape Town metro increased by 0.9% in the last week and daily water consumption for the same period decreased to 740 million litres per day, compared to 803 million litres the week before.
“Meanwhile, in recognition of National Water Week, which began on Monday, residents are reminded to continue using water responsibly so that together, we can protect and conserve this very precious resource.
“Cape Town has demonstrated to the world that we have the ability to come together and overcome even the most serious drought in our history. Even today our water consumption remains much lower than before the drought, indicating a fundamental shift in our attitude to water,” said Limberg.
Meanwhile, Department of Water and Sanitation acting provincial head Boniswa Hene said the department would be running a National Water Week campaign.
Ordinarily, the campaign is celebrated through face-to-face big events which attract big crowds in communal areas such as malls, taxi ranks and schools. However, due to Covid-19 pandemic regulations, the activities will be scaled down this year
“The key objective of the campaign is to highlight the importance of water and to actively engage stakeholders to find solutions to water challenges facing South Africa.
“This year’s theme, ’Valuing Water’, is very relevant in view of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic. We owe it to ourselves to value this precious resource in a responsible and accountable manner,” said Hene.
Cape Argus