The City of Cape Town on Wednesday approved Level 4 water restrictions, which limits residents to 100 litres of water per person per day.<\/p>\n
It also bans all use of municipal water for outside and non-essential use. The restrictions come into effect from Thursday.<\/p>\n
Mayor Patricia de Lille warned that she had asked council to support further restrictions, 4B, that can be implemented in the next 60 days.<\/p>\n
This level would be more closely aligned with a 500 million litre per day goal, and be based on daily demand and supply, with no more public pools and spray pools, and water purely for drinking, cooking and washing.<\/p>\n
Currently, the city uses about 666 million litres of water a day.<\/p>\n
“We really are hoping that if the worst comes to the worst, the city will bring in – truck in water. We will make sure that the modular desalination plant comes on as soon as possible,” she told reporters.<\/p>\n
“The best still is for people to save water.”<\/p>\n
Every citizen had to decide how to “budget” their 100l.<\/p>\n
This meant not showering for longer than two minutes, not flushing the toilet more than three to five times a day, and using greywater wherever possible.<\/p>\n
“We need a new relationship with water. The days of plentiful water supply in Cape Town are over,” said De Lille.<\/p>\n
“We need to embrace the fact that water scarcity is the new normal and all our future planning must accept that we are living in a drought stricken area.”<\/p>\n
Resilience was one of the key principles included in the Integrated Development Plan for 2017 – 2022, passed by the council on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Bottled water scams<\/strong><\/p>\n The mayor said various small-scale augmentation schemes were being put into place, including drawing water from the Table Mountain Group aquifer and the Cape Flats aquifer, and small-scale desalination at Koeberg.<\/p>\n A water resilience task team, made up of city officials, would be established under the city’s new Chief Resilience Officer.<\/p>\n A water resilience advisory committee would also be formed to give advice to the mayor, task team and mayoral committee.<\/p>\n “This committee will include a variety of stakeholders and experts, ranging from academics to members of communities.”<\/p>\n De Lille said they had not yet asked for help from provincial and national officials.<\/p>\n She would set up a meeting with Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane to “discuss exactly what role national can play”.<\/p>\n Officials emphasised that there was nothing wrong with the quality of water coming out of the city’s taps and that it was perfectly safe to drink.<\/p>\n People were warned about scams that encouraged them to buy bottled water.<\/p>\n De Lille thanked the city’s inhabitants for all they had done so far to save water.<\/p>\n