Cape Town - The Mother City has successfully managed to avoid Day Zero - the day the city's taps run dry - arriving at the end of March 2018, but that doesn't mean Cape Town is out of the woods yet.
Due to the City's augmentation strategies and the collective savings of the city's residents, Day Zero has been pushed back to May 13, 2018.
Capetonians were urged by Mayor Patricia de Lille to reduce usage to 87 litres per person per day - collective usage for the city of 500 million litres per day - in order to avoid Day Zero from arriving at the end of March.
"I am pleased to announce that due to the efforts of the City of Cape Town and the residents of Cape Town, Day Zero has moved to 13 May 2018. Many Capetonians have heeded the call to reduce their consumption dramatically and we thank you," De Lille said.
When Day Zero arrives, Cape Town's residents will have to collect water from centres like this. Picture: Supplied/City of Cape Town
"The City is also doing its bit. As we bring additional supply online from February onwards with more new water coming online in the months thereafter, Day Zero will be pushed further."
Some key areas would stay connected to the water infrastructure, albeit "extremely limited", De Lille said, once Day Zero hits. It's calculated that when the city's collective dam storage drops to 13.5%, almost all taps would be shut off.
So what happens when Day Zero does eventually arrive?
* Residents will have to collect a predefined quantity of drinking water per person per day from approximately 200 sites collection sites across the city.
* Residents will be able to collect 25 litres per person per day
* Each site is expected to service up to 20 000 people per day
* The City's Water and Sanitation Department will try to limi the impact on sanitation services to limit the risk of disease
* SAPS and the National Defence Force are being consulted to help maintain law and order with Law Enforcement at collection points
The City was also conducting preparedness exercises to ensure water collection points do not get out of hand, De Lille said.
Mayor Patricia De Lille demonsrates how Capetonians will have to fetch water at collection points once Day Zero hits the Mother City. Picture: Supplied/City of Cape Town
"Day Zero can be avoided. Capetonians have done amazing work to save water. Most residents are saving water but we need every single person to use the prescribed 87 litres per person per day. If we don’t have everyone restricting their water consumption, we will reach Day Zero in May."