The City of Cape Town says it is pulling out all the stops to go after residents who seemingly have no problem paying high tariffs for using excessive amounts of water.

According to the city collective usage is at 614 million litres a day which is 114 million litres above the 500 million litre limit. To combat excessive water usage the city has installed more than 50 water management devices on the properties of water users who cannot justify their excessive water usage.

“These water users who have failed to change their behaviour are the ones keeping us above 600 million litres of usage per day and firmly above our essential target of 500 million litres per day. As they are not heeding our calls, we will continue to roll out interventions to force them to lower their consumption,” says Councillor Xanthea Limberg the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services, and Energy.

Reduce or face fines

Limberg says households of between four and seven users should be able to stick below the 20 000 litre monthly limit quite comfortably if they are adhering to the 87 litres per person per day limit. As such domestic users who constantly use above 20 000 litres per month will face fines.

“But larger households, for instance of eight and more, will have to apply to the City via an affidavit to request an increase in water allocation. All allocations, across the board, are based on 87 litres per person per day,” Limberg explains.

Reducing collective water consumption to 500 million litres per day is one of the city’s key drought efforts.  In addition to this the city intends to bring on board 500 million litres per day of emergency water supply throughout the summer 2017/18 period.