Cape Town is lowering water restrictions and tariffs – here’s what you’ll now be paying

Cape Town’s mayor, Dan Plato, has announced that the city will be adjusting its water restrictions and tariffs from 1 December.

Water restrictions will be lowered from Level 5 to Level 3 recovery restrictions, which includes increasing the daily usage from 70 litres per person per day to 105 litres per person per day; or from 500 million litres to 650 million litres of collective usage per day.

Tariffs will also be lowered to Level 3. If for example, residents use less than 6,000 litres per month (Step 1) they can now expect to pay 35.5% less, the city said.

It added that it views 2019 as a recovery year after having successfully emerged from the unprecedented drought.

“This decision to lower restrictions comes after a meeting between the National Department of Water and Sanitation and the water users of the Western Cape Water Supply System, namely the agricultural sector, Western Cape Government, municipalities and the Cape Town metro regarding the water assessment for the year ahead,” it said.

“Based on national ggovernment’s assessment of the hydrological year, a saving of between 10% and 20% for urban water users has been proposed.

“However, the City has decided to implement a more cautious 30% saving to help with the recovery of the dams and to cater for the uncertainty that exists around rainfall volumes and frequency in 2019.”

Due to the extreme economic and rural hardship that has been suffered as a result of the drought, the agricultural sector will only reduce water usage by 10% as it too enters a period of recovery.

Tariff summary

The below is a guide to the most commonly-used water and sanitation tariffs for level 3 restrictions as provided by the City of Cape Town.

Alternatively, you can find all water and sanitation tariffs for 2017/18 and 2018/19 as linked.

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