Cape Town - Water management devices had been installed on 71 private properties where water guzzlers had either failed to adhere
to water restrictions or to
justify their high usage, the
City said.
Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for water services, said: “This forms part of our ongoing efforts to forcibly reduce the water usage of excessive users who are placing their own interests above those of Cape Town. It is clear that almost one in two users are adhering to the restriction of 87 litres per person per day, but a large percentage of the rest of the water users are seemingly not bothered by the restrictions or the higher water tariffs.”
Dam storage levels are at 37.5%, with usable water at 27.5%. Collective consumption is at 624 million litres of water per day. This is 124 million litres above the target of 500 million litres.
“Our recently implemented Level 5 restrictions also look at ways to force usage down among water users who are not changing their behaviour. This is especially important as we head towards what we are all expecting to be an incredibly difficult summer season for 2017/18,” said Limberg.
She stressed that drought efforts continued to be centred around reducing water usage to 500 million litres.
Plans were also afoot to bring on board an additional emergency supply of 500 million litres per day to see the city through as much of the summer as possible, Limberg said.
The City reminded residents to reduce water flow on their property through adjusting stopcocks or water control
taps.