Cape Town - Water consumers across the province have been asked to use water sparingly heading into the peak summer tourism and holiday season.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said, “Overall, we are much better off than we've been for many years but we call on the public to take notice of the continuing challenges in some areas of the province and to use water responsibly.”
The latest average dam level for the Western Cape is 59.9% (in 2018 at the same time the level was 57.1%). Meanwhile the City of Cape Town dams are on average 77.8% full.
The City of Cape Town has said that residents water consumption has increased to 752 million litres/day for the week (9-15 December 2019).
Last Wednesday, City officially opened its second water collection point in Vredehoek to encourage more water-saving.
Mayco member for water and waste services Xanthea Limberg said: “We’ve all experienced a severe drought and one of the key lessons we learnt is the importance of diversifying our water supply and resources and tapping alternative sources such as spring water.”
Limberg said the significance of the water collection point was to encourage residents to make use of alternative water supply and she urged residents to be “water wise”. The spring water, however, is not for drinking purposes, because it has not been treated, but it can be used for other needs to offset the demand for non-potable water.
“There’s a misconception that because dam waters are sitting at above 80% we’re in a far better position. And yes, we have seen a recovery of dams, but the 2019 rainfall patterns have shown that we’re not completely out of the woods. Our rainfall patterns are largely aligned to what we’ve seen in 2016 and we have no certainty to get good rainfall,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bredell said the provincial disaster management centre is in constant contact with Eskom and can confirm that the likelihood for any load shedding for the coming week remains low at the moment.
“However, the electricity grid remains under pressure. We urge the public to keep electricity usage as low as possible to better enable Eskom to avoid having to load shed. If demand is kept low, Eskom is able to better stabilise the entire grid," he said.
The disaster management centre will remain activated throughout the holiday period.