Record water savings coupled with recent heavy rains have helped Cape Town build a water buffer for the summer ahead to help the City’s dams recover from the extreme drought.

According to the City average water consumption for the past week reached a record low of 481 million litres per day, while dam levels improve significantly by 5.6% to 48.3% of storage capacity due to heavy rains.

Ian Neilson, the City’s Executive Deputy Mayor says every bit of water that is saved now will become a buffer against the heat and wind of the summer months ahead. “The less we use, the better chance our dams have of recovering from the severe drought,” he adds.

Neilson notes that any decision by the City of Cape Town to lower current water restrictions and thus the tariffs associated with them is dependent on National Government relaxing the restriction on water releases from the dams.

“The City believes that current conditions warrant a relaxation of restrictions. New water and sanitation tariffs have kicked in and the City reminds all water users that you pay less if you use less.”

“We must ensure that we stay on the water-saving path,’ said the City’s Executive Deputy Mayor, Neilson concludes.