Water consumption levels have successfully decreased in City of Cape Town. As of last week, the city managed to use only 685 million litres per day, after setting a 700 million litre per day target.

Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for informal settlements, water and waste services, and energy said: “We cannot emphasise strongly enough how critical it is that we do not relax our water-saving efforts over the next year at least. One winter of average rainfall will not get us out of this predicament.”

As of Monday this week, the combined average dam levels  for the Western Cape Water Supply System(WCWSS) are at  22.90%, a notable decline as compared to 29.32% same time last year. With the last 10% of a dam’s water mostly non-useable, dam levels are effectively at 12,90%.

“It is incredibly encouraging to see that collective water consumption has dropped to below the target for the first time since water restrictions were implemented, but the good news comes with the warning to keep on saving water,” the city said in a statement.

Limberg said that while Cape Town has seen little rain in the past week, residents should not increase their water usage as the city still runs the very real risk of consumers making a decision to use more water, especially with the “bit of rain that we’ve had recently”.

She added that hot weather was expected again this week and that this would inevitably impact water use. “We really cannot afford for consumption to increase at this stage,” she said. “To give our residents an idea of the seriousness of the situation, we will be lowering the consumption target to 600 million litres soon.”

The city said it would continue to accelerate its emergency water schemes and extensive pressure reduction programmes, as well as reduce water losses through leakage in the pipework of the distribution system.

Possible flooding

Last week, the Western Cape Province’s dam levels averaged at 22.1%, however on Wednesday MEC for local government Anton Bredell said the province should prepare for possible flooding with the onset of winter rains.

Bredell advised motorists to clear out gutters, downpipes and runoff channels around their dwellings to ensure water can runoff freely and easily. “These small proactive measures may help protect families from flooding,” he said.

Despite this possible threat, he emphasised that water must still be used sparingly.