Cape Town - Collecting water at points manned by police and army personnel, and being rationed only enough water to drink could lie in Cape Town's future if consumption is not reduced.
At the current rate of consumption, Day Zero - when the city is no longer able to draw supply from its dams - will arrive in March 2018.
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille on Wednesday announced the three phases of the municipality's plan should disaster strike when the city runs out of water.
"The City of Cape Town has adopted a scenario called the New Normal where we are no longer only relying on rain water to fill our dams for our water supplies," De Lille said.
"As things stand now, if we all use the water left in our dams more sparingly (which as of Monday stands at 27.6% useable water), combined with other demand management measures which are under way, we can stretch out the number of days of water we have left in our dams to beyond March 2018."
And the rains won't come soon enough after a long, hot, dry forecast summer which will see dam levels decline rapidly, De Lille said.
"If consumption is not reduced to the required levels of 500 million litres of collective usage per day, we are looking at about March 2018 when supply of municipal water would not be available."
The City has a plan, though, De Lille said, which included two land-base desalination plants at Monwabisi and Strandfontein coming online in February 2018, and the introduction of recycled water through the Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Plant as of January/February 2018.
The City has already activated Phase 1 of its disaster plan, which includes pressure reduction in some areas.
"Our plan to avoid acute water shortages comprises three phases. The City has activated Phase 1, with water rationing through extreme pressure reduction (throttling)," De Lille said.
"This is a critical stage where we must all do everything we can to stretch the water supply in our dams. As water rationing is intensified, some areas will be affected for short periods of time. This will lead to intermittent, localised temporary water supply disruptions.
"This process does not result in a complete shutdown of the water reticulation system, but it will severely limit available water supply in the system per day."
Water users are to store up to five litres of drinking water for essential use.
Critical services such as clinics and hospitals should not be affected by supply constraints.
Phase 2 is a disaster stage.
Graphic: Lance Witten
"In Phase 2 we are only keeping a certain portion of the system alive close enough to water collection points. Residents will be able to collect a predefined quantity of drinking water per person per day from these collection sites.
"During this phase, the City would more actively assume control over the daily water supply available to households and businesses with more extreme rationing.
"Strategic commercial areas, high-density areas with significant risk of increased burden of disease and fires (such as the majority of informal settlements), and critical services (such as hospitals), where possible, would continue to receive drinking water through normal channels," she said.
The City’s law enforcement and policing resources, the police and the army would be deployed to ensure that general safety is maintained throughout the city in this phase.
Phase 3 is the extreme disaster phase.
"At this point, the City would be incapable of drawing water from its surface dams in the Western Cape Water Supply System. There would be a limited period in which the City can continue to supply water before complete water system failure.
"Non-surface drinking water supplies, sourced from groundwater abstraction from various aquifers and spring water, will be available for drinking purposes only. The City will distribute this drinking water to residents through water distribution points."
Phases 2 and 3 can be avoided if everyone cut their water use immediately, she said.
"The severity and duration of this drought could not have been predicted. As a City, we are managing the situation with absolutely every drought intervention that we have at our disposal," De Lille said.
"We have not let Cape Town down before and we do not intend to do so now."