Cape Town – The City has been called on to immediately revise its water tariffs following a directive from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) for other local authorities supplied with water from the Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS) to lift water restrictions on September 30.
“As a result of the water weighted storage of the system dam reaching 88% on 1 September 2020, all restrictions are repealed,” the directive from regional acting head, Simphiwe Mashicila stated.
“As per the Government Gazettes in December 2017 and December 2018 on local water restrictions within this area of supply stipulated that, ‘These notices are effective from the date of publication in the gazette and shall remain in force until the WCWSS recovers to above 85% at which point the Western Cape Regional Head must lift the restrictions’.”
Civic organisation Stop COCT called on the City to immediately revise its entire water tariff, water levy and water restriction policies.
“The Central Department of Water Services already lifted the Water restrictions for the Western Cape catchment area in September 2020. Yet the City of Cape Town persists with their high tariffs, water levy and some water restrictions.
“In 2019 the City renamed the Level 3 tariff block to Level one - inherently we are still paying level 3 tariffs while the City claims they ‘decreased’ the water tariffs.”
“STOP COCT calls on every person in Cape Town to support the call for the City of Cape Town to immediately start the process of revising its entire water tariff, water levy and water restriction policies. Proper public participation should be allowed by the City,” Stop COCT said.
The City said it was still considering lowering tariffs and removing restrictions.
“As communicated in recent weeks, consultations around appropriate tariffs and restrictions for the 2020/21 hydrological year (which runs from November 1 to October 31) are currently taking place. The lowest level, the no restriction, water-wise tariff which is under consideration, will provide some additional relief if implemented. It should be noted that the lowering of tariffs must be balanced against the extra funds needed to build resilience against climate change, by investing in future water sources,” said Mayco Member for Water and Waste, Xanthea Limberg.
DWS spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said: “It must be acknowledged that the municipalities are autonomous in their decision-making in respect of setting their own local restriction levels and determination of tariffs; and secondly municipalities have varied inherent factors that contribute to the cost of service delivery in their areas of jurisdiction.”
Yesterday, dam levels stood at 100.5%.
* This article was amended to reflect that other Western Cape municipalities, not the City of Cape Town, were issued with a notice from DWS.
Cape Times