Water cuts as dams dry up

IN the event that the rate of the depletion of dams is increasing, the City will intensify water restriction rules further and drop pressures to inhibit high consumption.

The City also says it will intensify its engagements with the Department of Water and Sanitation. Water reserves in Cape Town and the province continue to decline and the city says there may only be about 135 days of useable water left, even if water consumption is massively reduced.

The City on Monday said that, as of February 13, dam levels had dropped to 36.2%, 1.2% down from a week ago. With the last 10% of a dam’s water not being useable, dam levels are effectively at 26.2%. The City of Cape Town has also now lowered its water consumption target from 800 million litres to 700 million litres for collective water usage per day.

Warning notices have been issued in the rates bills of some of the metro’s highest-use domestic, commercial and government department water users in an effort to further reduce consumption. According to January 2017 consumption figures, the highest water users are all using far above 50 000 litres per month, while out of the almost 1 million customers that the city supplies with water, most households are using an average of approximately 20 000 litres a month or less.

Cape Town mayor Partricia de Lille, as well her deputy, Ian Neilson, continue a regime of personally calling businesses, hotels and government departments unannounced to check up on their water use.

“The City has adjusted its target downwards from 800 million litres per day of collective use to 700 million litres per day of collective use. In December 2016, the target of 800 million litres per day was set and this was subject to seasonal variations that affect the evaporation rate of dams.

“These variations have caused us to lower the target now. In addition, we have struggled to meet the previous target and we will therefore need a monumental effort to reduce consumption further and to meet a target that is one hundred million litres lower,” De Lille said.

Xanthea Limberg, the City’s mayco member for informal settlements, water and waste services; and energy, said it must be emphasised that reducing consumption now remained the absolute key intervention and contingency measure that could be made.

“Although the City, in co-operation with residents and businesses across the metro, has managed to reduce consumption dramatically by approximately 400 million litres per day from about 1.2 billion litres per day for roughly the same time last year, consumption must be lowered further,” she said.

She said restrictions must be adhered to as they were contemplated to be introduced during the design of the supply system as a component of the operating rules.

“Our system is designed and modelled on the fact that the operating rule for drought years is to introduce the necessary levels of restriction to limit the demand in order to ensure sustainable supply.

“Those who will not reduce their consumption voluntarily will increasingly be forced to reduce consumption. The installation of water management devices would assist households, businesses and other users with more efficiently managing their water consumption,” she said.

MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell said the average water level for dams across the Western Cape had fallen to below 35%.

“Seeing dam levels dropping below 35% is hugely concerning. The Western Cape Disaster Management Centre is working closely with all stakeholders to address the situation as best we can. Several mitigation actions are already ongoing as well as studies into long-term measures to augment the province’s water challenges,” Bredell said.

He called on the public to continue using water responsibly. “We remain confident at this time that with the help of all role-players, we will manage to reach the rainfall season with water left in the system,” he said.

Reducing consumption now remains the key intervention

CAPE Town’s water shortage has long passed a crisis point, and this week, as residents absorbed the news that the city has only about 135 days of usable water left, the question being asked by increasing numbers of residents is: “What will happen if the rains don’t come soon?

The answer is frightening. By June we will be without water.

For the past few months, local government authorities have begged, cajoled and threatened residents to save water, to find innovative ways to water gardens, take showers and wash clothes. And they’ve introduced increasingly tough new measures to force people into using this precious commodity sparingly. But their best efforts have been to no avail.

On Monday, the City reported that dam levels had dropped to 36.2%. With the last 10% of water in a dam generally regarded as being unusable, dam levels are thus effectively at 26.2%. The City’s response to this deepening crisis has been to lower its water consumption target from 800 million litres to 700 millions litres per day for collective water usage. We don’t believe that this will help .... It’s time the City faces up to the fact that everything they’ve tried has failed. We all need to accept that water shortages are likely to deepen in the years ahead.

We need a two-pronged plan to tackle the problem. Its first part – and probably the most difficult at this point – is to find a short-term solution to enable the City to get around its present crisis. Its second part should revolve around finding ways in future to guarantee a regular water supply for residents and factories.

If by June, the rains have not arrived to start filling the dams, the City should begin appreciably reducing water pressure in household and industrial taps. If this doesn’t work, serious thought should then be given to drawing up a plan to stop water supply in selected areas at selected times.

In the longer term, the City will need to give much more thought to, say, better utilising its underground water supplies – and to decide whether desalination plants represent a viable alternative. Hard times lie ahead, but we all need to bite the bullet.

Everyone should realise that our future depends on how well we manage our precious water supplies.