Dam levels still ‘critical’

THE City is considering implementing next level water restrictions after dam levels have only risen about 5% since the recent storm.

Critical warnings for water usage are still in place, said Water and Waste Services Mayco member Xanthea Limberg yesterday, as dam levels have remained lower than usual since the start of winter.

Dam storage levels were at 24.5% yesterday. With the last 10% of a dam’s water mostly not being useable, this meant dam levels are effectively at 14.5%.

“As we do not know how rainfall will pan out, we need to make sure that we save water while we have it. We realise that it is difficult to keep on saving water, especially when the rain falls and the temperature drops, but we cannot afford to let our guard down,” Limberg said.

Residents have been urged to continue using less than 100 litres a person a day.

“It may take a few seasons of normal rainfall for the dams to recover and we must bear in mind that we are expecting an even tougher summer in 2018. It is therefore important to build up our reserves,” she said.

“We plan to have a smallscale desalination plant operational during this year. This is subject to the Request for Information that was issued recently and timeframes are therefore not available at present. It must be borne in mind that what is envisioned to be produced from a small plant at first, is approximately a yield of 2 million litres per day which will pave the way for accelerated full-scale implementation,” she said.

The envisaged Level 4b restrictions would adjust the water usage target downwards to 500 million litres of collective water use a day.

The City requested consumers to start moving towards the target of 500 million litres.