The City says it has no plans to restore the springs in Cape Town.
Following a petition calling for mayor Patricia de Lille to restore all local springs for public use, mayoral committee member for informal settlements, water, waste services and energy Xanthea Limberg said the City had investigated potential yield from these springs, but it represents only a tiny fraction of the City’s requirements.
The online petition has received 776 signature so far.
According to the Reclaim Camissa Trust, a citizen-scientist open source database exploring the use of water in planning, design and management around the city, in its research, it has located 32 springs in Cape Town.
Limberg said: “Water from these springs is in no way the silver bullet for our water shortage, and as such saving as much as possible remains key and the most effective way to immediately lessen the effect of a drought.
"Historical studies into the springs on Table Mountain have found that in most cases the yield of individual springs is too small
to justify the cost of treating the water to drinking standards when the same volumes and more could be procured more cheaply through other means.
“Therefore, where the yield from a particular spring is very small it is more effective to utilise this water for non-drinking purposes, ie to offset the use of drinking water, as this still takes some pressure off our dams,” Limberg said.
Limberg said the City had applied to the national Department of Water and Sanitation for a licence to use the spring water in this way.