If you know how much water you use, you can start planning how to start using less.
According to Water Wise, Rand Water’s awareness campaign, a family that uses water wisely will use 60l of water in a bath that’s 100mm deep. They will use 72l for three four-minute showers if they were to close the taps while soaping, and use 15l of water to cook daily.
A not-so-water-wise family will instead use 180l to bath, 210l to shower and 15l to cook daily.
On a daily basis, a water wise family of four will use 282l of water and the not-so-water-wise family of four will use 775l.
If your family uses 775l of water every day for 30 days, you end up using 23 250l. Since Johannesburg Water charges users on a step-tariff basis, the more you use, the more you pay for each litre.
On top of a monthly basic charge, residents no longer receive 6kl water free. It now costs R7.14 for every kilolitre residents use under 6kl. Between 6 and 10kl residents pay R7.58 per kl and between 20 and 30kl it will cost R26.96 per kl.
Water Wise said the amount of water residents could use remained the same and despite plans to increase storage capacity through the building of new dams or water transfer schemes, predictions were that the demand for water would outstrip supply by 2025.
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