Cape Town Cracks Down on Water Waste as Dam Levels Plummet
Cape Town’s water security is teetering on the brink of disaster as dam levels continue to plummet to less than desired quantities.
The city council yesterday officially raised restrictions to Level 3B in the hope that harsher measures would drive down water consumption when they kick in on February 1.
Collective dam levels had dropped to 39.9% this week, which meant there was only 29.9% of water left to use as the last 10% would be impossible to extract.
The Level 3B restrictions come as a result of the severe drought being experienced and the repeated failure of the public to reach the intended water savings target of 800 million litres of water use per day, Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for water services, said on Thursday.
Limberg said the average consumption was 80 million litres above this target this week.
Michael Jansen