Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has called on residents to reduce their water consumption to help mitigate the impact of load shedding on water supply.
The municipality has set a maximum limit for collective water use in the metro at 850 million litres per day.
“The proactive maximum limit was set to help maintain the supply so we can keep our dams and reservoirs fuller for longer, and navigate the impact of prolonged high stages of load shedding, which is affecting water supply operations.
“Over summer, the collective water usage has increased significantly. We are currently using 969 million litres of water per day (MLD), which is 119MLD above the required target of 850MLD, and dam levels are dropping about 2.2% a week.
“We need all hands on deck to reduce this current rate of water use, to stay below the limit,” the City said.
Acting mayco member for Water and Sanitation Siseko Mbandezi said using less water would help with operational challenges.
“While City teams are monitoring the water supply operations and usage very closely, and doing all they can to maintain supply. We also need our residents to help us during this time by using less water.
“Cape Town has been enjoying hot weather over the festive season so residents are reminded of the restrictions related to pools, outdoor water use such as gardening, vehicle cleaning and other aspects that are in place at all times, to help save water because we are in a water-scarce region,” Mbandezi said.
Cape Times