Water dept cracks the whip

To help ensure there’s enough until the rainy season users have been given 20% less

THE Department of Water and Sanitation is cracking down on municipalities and will conduct audits this month to determine whether they are complying with water restrictions.

Amid a water security crisis in the metro, department regional head Rashid Khan yesterday announced an additional 10% curtailment on water for the agricultural sector until dams have filled up to 85% of their capacity.

As things stood yesterday, dam levels were at an effective 23% – enough for 121 days.

Khan said further water restrictions could be imposed if the department deemed it necessary.

“The water audit will not only be for the City of Cape Town, it will include all municipalities and tell us more on whether it’s working, because we found urban and agricultural water users have not been complying with restrictions.

“Should they require further restrictions, we will promulgate. “Users have been given 20% less from the system to help ensure there’s enough until the rainy season,” Khan said.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said this week that should dam levels drop to between 15 and 20%, water restrictions would be harsher.

The city’s contingency planning is also examining the option of intermittent supply, although this was a last resort as it could lead to air entering the pipe systems, which might cause burst water mains and quality deterioration.

Intermittent supply has also not been proven to result in real net savings of water, De Lille said.

“The city therefore prefers, as far as possible, to reduce demand through water restrictions. The city chose to rather pre-emptively implement water restrictions to try to avoid getting to the point where intermittent supply was unavoidable.”

De Lille yesterday welcomed the audit.

“We support any effort to conserve our water resources,” she said.

The average household uses about 20 000 litres of water a month, and high users can consume more than 50 000 litres a month.

De Lille previously said the city would continue to monitor the water usage of the 20 000 highest water consumers in formal residences as well as commercial, industrial, and government properties in all suburbs. Khan said a report compiled last month showed dam levels were down 40% compared with their levels at the same time last year.

“While there has been 1.2% and 2% (decline) week on week, historical records show that despite it being the longest period of below-average levels in decades, there is still an adequate supply until the next winter rainy season provided less water is used,” Khan said.

Even though the Vaal Dam in Gauteng had reached capacity, there are no rivers to connect the metro to it, and therefore Cape Town was unable to benefit. The department was also looking into additional water sources, including recycling of rain, grey and black water on a larger scale; and drilling of boreholes where there is significant potential in ground water.

Khan also said it was unlikely that Cape Town would be declared a disaster area. This after De Lille said she would ask the provincial government to declare the city a proactive disaster area because of decreasing dam levels.

This month marks National Water Week, which seeks to build on awareness, particularly relating to linkages between water services, supply, resource management and poverty eradication, and social and economic development.

The department said it would embark on campaigns at schools, businesses and churches.