Cape Town’s water restrictions will be “conservatively lowered” to Level 5 from 1 October 2018 as dam levels near 70%.

The water usage target will be increased from 50 litres to 70 litres per person per day and the daily collective consumption target will increase by 50 million litres to 500 million litres to ensure that water conservation efforts remain in place.

This will bring tariff relief of between 26.6% and 70% per kilolitre of water depending on the usage and tariff category.

The drop from the current Level 6B restrictions comes after good winter rainfall and water saving efforts by residents, resulting in the Western Cape Water Supply System’s dams reaching a capacity of 68% – a very significant improvement on the situation at the end of the previous winter, when they were at just 38% capacity.

According to the City of Cape Town, the relaxation of restrictions is a moderate proposal that is based on a hydrological risk assessment that indicates that it is safe to do so at the level of risk that is agreed upon.

“The City believes, with the full support of the other catchment users such as other municipalities and the agricultural sector, that an interim adjustment is fully justified and appropriate at this stage,” said Cape Town deputy executive mayor Alderman Ian Neilson. The appropriate relaxation of restrictions is expected to improve economic activity and provide tariff relief to households and businesses.

“Much work is planned over the next few years to augment the City’s water supply. Our water conservation awareness and demand management will continue as always,” said Neilson.

“Given the unpredictable nature of our rainfall, it is imperative that we diversify our supply for the future, and entrench the water-saving mind-set we have cultivated over the past year.”

Level 5 restrictions will result in the following:

• An increase in the personal water use limit from 50 litres per person per day to 70 litres per person per day
• A resetting of the overall City water usage target from 450 million litres per day to 500 million litres per day
• A relaxation of restrictions for commercial and industrial water users from a 45% to a 40% usage reduction
• A lowering of tariffs to Level 5 tariffs