Water tariffs are not a cash cow for city

THE letter, (“Another cash cow for City”Cape Argus, July 9), refers.

The writer has unfortunately misinterpreted the situation around tariffs, water restrictions and Cape Town’s position in a water-scarce region.

The city’s request to the national Department of Water and Sanitation to have a risk-based discussion on when and how water restriction levels are to be managed, as we have been communicating, is based on a comprehensive overview of the water situation, consumer behaviour and prevailing economic conditions in Cape Town. We have not proposed an abandonment of restrictions. We anticipate that some level of restrictions will need to remain even if the dams were to fill completely.

To give our consumers some hope and relief, we have communicated our intention to propose lower restrictions, and the associated tariffs, in the near future but that this decision is dependent on the national government assessment of the situation, and its decision about the gazetted restrictions. We have cautioned that we must all continue to conserve water so that we can build a buffer for the summer ahead. The city does not make a profit on the sale of water. Income is used only for water services. The tariffs are certainly not a cash cow for the municipality as has been claimed. When restrictions are lowered, more water is sold, and so the tariffs are lowered to achieve the same total income.

We continue to use all channels at our disposal to drive the conservation message.

We are also communicating that the new tariffs will make water wastage a costly affair.

We are, however, confident that most of our residents are thinking twice about what they use our valuable drinking water for.

It is important to send the signal that we are open for business even though we are in a waterscarce region. That is why we are focusing much attention on our resilience, how we will diversify our water supply mix and how we will drive our water demand and conservation efforts further. IAN NEILSON Deputy executive mayor City of Cape Town