The City of Cape Town on Monday, launched its water map and calls on residents to paint Cape Town green with their water-saving efforts in order to get through drought stage in the province.
“We thank all of our water savers who are working hard to avoid day zero which is estimated to kick in on the 22 of April. Some 54 percent of our consumers are saving water to avoid day zero,” the City said in a statement.
“We need absolutely everyone to come on board because the prospect of queuing daily for an allocation of 25 litres per person is a reality and we must do more to avoid it at all cost. Day zero comes when our dam levels reach 13.5 percent and most taps will be turned off.”
The water map marks residential properties using less than 10,500 litres per month with green dots. The map is a transparent tool and will assist in actively managing and reducing consumption to avoid day zero.
“The greener we go, the more we push day zero away. The map shows that many households across Cape Town are working hard to save water as part of the effort to get us through our worst drought,” said the City.
While consumers save, the City is pulling out all the stops to deliver additional water as fast as possible from groundwater, desalination and water reuse sources.
According to the City, at this critical stage, water consumption remains too high for too many homes. The residential sector uses approximately 65% of our water allocation.
“This sector holds the key to helping us avoid day zero.”
“Each household must reduce their consumption within the water restriction limits. Please check your consumption and ensure everyone in your household is using less than 87 litres per person per day,” the City said.
Households with higher consumption may have many people living on the property or may have an undetected water leak.
“The City continues its interventions with these users.”
“By making consumption information available, we believe it will assist residents and communities to better manage water consumption. It is crucial for everyone to play their part. The City will continue with extensive enforcement but it is not possible to police consumption at every household. If we do not change our behavior more, we are likely to face day zero. We can only change our current trajectory if everyone is on board,” said the City. (via African News Agency)
