Despite declining dam levels from the warm summer weather the City of Cape Town says water consumption has remained on the conservative side for the past month.

The City says the average water usage, which has remained under 600 million litres of collective usage per day for the period which is likely due to the water-wise behavioural shifts which occurred during the drought crisis period and to the closure of some businesses and industry over the festive season.

According to the municipality this reduction has balanced the water usage associated with the arrival of visitors to Cape Town.

Xanthea Limberg, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste Services, says restrictions remain on a fairly strict drought recovery level as a precaution to deal with rainfall uncertainty in 2019 and 2020.

“We encourage Cape Town’s water ambassadors to maintain their water-wise approach during the drought recovery phase and as the metro moves towards becoming a more water-sensitive city in the near future,” Limberg explains.

“We see 2019 as a recovery year after having successfully emerged from the severe and unprecedented drought. Based on our own assessment, we will continue to follow a conservative approach in light of the rainfall uncertainty over the coming two years,” she continues.

“This is not only a period of recovery for our dams, but also for our economy as a whole as well as for our residents and businesses that truly made huge sacrifices to help us get Cape Town through the drought,” Limberg concludes.