Water consumption in the City of Cape Town has dropped to just over 500 million litres a day (MLD) this year, a promising sign for the drought plagued city.
According to Cape Town Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson the city’s interventions, which include the implementation of Level 6B restrictions, the increasing roll-out of pressure management and the installation of water management devices, along with the water savings efforts of residents have helped to bring water consumption down as the city works to push back Day Zero. Giving an update on Cape Town’s water crisis on Thursday, Neilson said the increased roll-out of pressure management interventions alone has resulted in savings of 50 MLD over the past two months.Adhering to government restrictions
Despite the good news, Neilson urged the city to continue its water saving efforts. “Regardless of rainfall or water supply augmentation, Cape Town needs to continue striving to reduce average daily consumption to 450 million litres a day (MLD).” “This must be done not only to stretch our supplies as far as possible, but also because the National Department of Water and Sanitation has imposed a 45% restriction on the City’s water use for the current hydrological year (1 November 2017 – 31 October 2018),”he explained.“If we do not adhere to this restriction, there is a chance that the National Department may impose even more stringent restrictions on Cape Town in November 2018,”he added.
