City of Cape Town urges residents not to ease up on saving water

The city was currently focusing its attention on making residents and water users aware of the need to build water reserves during the winter months, especially in light of the harsh summer expected. This meant continuing to reduce water usage even though the weather was cooler and wetter, mayoral committee member for area south Eddie Andrews said on Saturday.

“The city’s dam levels remain critically lower than usual during the start of the winter and we don’t know when we’ll get rainfall or how much rain will fall,” he said.

Metro-wide, the city’s area-based mayoral committee members, as well as city staff, water inspectors, and law enforcement officers, were continuing to spread the message of saving water even in winter. This week, Andrews engaged with residents in Mitchells Plain to spread the message.

“Although our water-saving awareness drive was well received by residents we are alarmed at the number of people who are still not completely familiar with the water restriction requirements or ways in which they could save water.

“We need residents to take responsibility now and not to ease up during these winter months. Saving water needs to become our new normal and it is important that we hold each other accountable during this critical time. We will all be affected equally if we do not build up the necessary reserves, so I urge all residents across the metro to become water ambassadors for Cape Town and to report anyone who is still not abiding by the level 4b water restrictions,” Andrews said.

Level 4b restrictions were now in effect and the water usage target had been adjusted to 500 million litres of collective water use per day. The city’s water resilience task team had been set up to boost the city’s response to drought to ensure that acute water shortages were avoided, and to transform Cape Town’s water landscape into one that ultimately relied less on rainwater.

The city continued with all of its planned and proactive interventions, such as pressure reduction programmes and emergency work, as well as taking tough action on those who contravened the existing level 4b restrictions.

Residents could contact the city via email to water@capetown.gov.za for queries or to report contraventions of the water restrictions (evidence should be provided to assist the city’s enforcement efforts), or they could send an SMS to 31373.

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