Water restrictions: How much do you use?

With water restriction tariffs in place, if you use more than 20 000 litres, or 20 kilolitres, a month you could be fined 10 per cent or more on your bill.

The City of Johannesburg’s newly appointed MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Anthony Still, made the announcement saying residents will face hefty fines and possible water shedding if they fail to comply with the current Level 2 water restrictions.

The current water restriction tariffs, approved by the City in July, have already been implemented and will last until “the drought situation is over”.

The restriction tariffs are imposed in a stepped manner with 10 per cent tariff increase with consumption between 20 and 30 kilolitres a month. Thereafter a 20 per cent increase with consumption between 30 and 40 kilolitres a month and 30 per cent with consumption above 40 kilolitres a month.

So how much water is 20 kilolitres? How much can you use before being charged extra on your monthly tariff?

According to Water Wise, Rand Water’s awareness campaign, a family that uses water wisely will use 60 litres of water in a bath that’s 100 millimetres deep. They will use 72 litres for three four-minute showers, if they were to close the taps while soaping, and use 15 litres of water to cook daily.

A not-so-water-wise family will instead use 180 litres to bath, 210 litres to shower and also use 15 litres to cook daily.

On a daily basis, a water wise family of four will use 282 litres of water and the not-so-water-wise family of four will use 775 litres.

If your family uses 775 litres of water every day for 30 days, you end up using 23 250 litres. This will see you paying 10 per cent more on your tariff at the end of the month.

Water Wise said the amount of water available for use remains the same, and despite plans to increase storage capacity through the building of new dams or water transfer schemes, predictions are that the demand for water will outstrip supply by 2025.