De Lille’s urgent water measures

“A SERIOUS crisis,” is how mayor Patricia de Lille described Cape Town’s rapidly diminishing water supply, with the municipality set to look for help from the national government as regional dam levels dropped to an effective 23% of usable water this week.

During a media briefing yesterday, the mayor said she’d engage the provincial environmental affairs department for the city to be officially declared an emergency disaster area.

De Lille also said there were several long-term collaborative water supply initiatives with the national government in place to keep a full-blown water disaster at bay.

The drought, which had gripped large parts of the province since 2015, had also meant big business for companies specialising in alternative water supply sources.

The city council said that before the announcement of Level 2 restrictions on January 1 last year, there had been approximately 1 500 boreholes registered, bringing the estimated total of registered boreholes since 2011 to 5 000.

Mayoral committee member for water affairs Xanthea Limberg said residents were reminded that the registration of a borehole was compulsory in terms of the water restrictions, and, once registered, applicants would receive the necessary signage free of charge.

Sanddrift East resident Aubrey Woudberg, 73, who has been living in the area since 1980, said he installed his borehole 33 years ago after spotting an advert in a newspaper.

“I have quite a big garden and have always been cautious not to waste water, so I then decided to have a borehole installed on the property,” Woudberg said.

“I think the entire family is glad we have a borehole, and we also use the water to fill up the swimming pool.”

There was a downside, he cautioned.

“It (the borehole) does help a lot to keep my garden pretty, but the more you run it, the higher your electricity bill is going to be.”

Gabby de Wet, co-owner of De Wets Wellpoints and Boreholes, said installing a wellpoint was a cheaper option as it was “generally more affordable” and quicker to install. –