The City of Cape Town has warned residents against stock piling water amid the drought as it could bring Day Zero closer once again.

According to the municipality stockpiling water will prevent the City from stretching its water supply into the winter months and beyond.

Xanthea Limberg the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy said in a statement that the dams supplying the City of Cape Town are critically low at 24.7% of capacity as such it cannot afford any action that could jeopardise the little bit of water the City has left.

“This is irrespective of the fact that Day Zero has moved out to 4 June 2018. The stockpiling of municipal water threatens our water-saving effort and residents are urged not to engage in this practice,” she added.

Stockpiling an illegal act

She explained that water users should use no more than 50 litres per person per day. “This is absolutely necessary for us to reduce our collective usage to 450 million litres per day and to ensure that we stretch our water supplies into the winter months and beyond.”

“However, if you are getting by with less than your 50 litres and stockpiling that, it goes against the new relationship with water that we are all trying to establish.”

Limberg noted that using or stockpiling municipal water above the daily allocation, is an illegal act and will bring Day Zero closer again. “This will also mean that you will pay hefty tariffs for high municipal water usage,” she concluded.