Cape Town – Cape Town's collective dam quantities are bordering on emergency level as the city council ponders raising water restrictions from Level 3b to Level 4 from the beginning of next month.
The municipality has around only 12% of usable water left in its dams amid diminishing quantities.
Mayco member for water services Xanthea Limberg said she would later this month implore the council to hike restrictions to Level 4.
“Any such proposal must first serve before the mayoral committee, which would have to recommend the proposal to council,” Limberg explained, adding that a proposed Level 4 tariff increase had been included in the draft budget for the 2017/18 financial year.
If approved, Level 4 water restrictions would include the banning of the use of potable water for all residential outdoor use.
Residents will also not be allowed to fill or top up swimming pools, while the municipality would only use non-potable water to irrigate public parks and gardens. Of the city’s six major dams, Theewaterskloof was the least full, at just over 15% while Upper Steenbras recorded updated levels of just under 57%.
The municipality had previously assured residents the “necessary adjustments” were being made to ensure water was treated to acceptable standards as the quality depreciated as a consequence of plummeting dam levels.
Average water levels for dams across the province were at about 20%, Limberg said.