No Day Zero for Cape Town

There will be “no Day Zero in 2019 if appropriate water restrictions are maintained”, Cape Town deputy mayor Ian Neilson announced yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference, Neilson said: “The levels of the dams supplying water to Cape Town have been rising consistently and significantly over the past six weeks. As at today, total dam storage capacity is at just over 43% and we still have more than two months of expected winter rainfall ahead of us.”

Neilson said that over the last few months, the collective water usage for Cape Town has been around 520 million litres per day.

This compared to the situation at the end of winter last year when dam levels were at 38% and the consumption was over 600 million litres per day.

“We are now in a position to state that not only have we managed to avoid Day Zero this year, but we will also safely get through summer in 2019,” said Neilson.

“While we hope at some point in the next few months to be in a position to relax the current restrictions, and the tariffs associated with them, this decision will have to wait until national government relaxes restrictions on releases from the water supply system.”

Neilson said he has requested a meeting with Minister of Water and Sanitation Gugile Nkwinti to discuss this and other matters pertaining to the city’s future water resilience as a matter of urgency.

The city says it is now necessary that they review their water supply strategy and augmentation plans to ensure that what worked in the period of the water crisis is also appropriate for longer-term sustainability and resilience.

“We are in the process of reassessing our new water programme, in particular, our future water mix and the role of permanent desalination in the supply mix. We are working closely with a number of local and international partners to ensure the best outcome,” said Neilson. – ANA