City’s water allocation curbed

THE National Department of Water and Sanitation has imposed a 45% restriction on the City’s water use, failing which even more stringent restrictions could hit the metro.

The City has been allocated 174 700 megalitres for the year, which is 489 megalitres of water per day.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said yesterday consumption over the past week averaged 516 megalitres of water per day, and the City had already received a warning letter from the department.

With winter rainfall still being unpredictable, the City also announced yesterday that Day Zero would remain on July 9 for now, and that residents had to continue reducing their usage.

“If we relax, it will put us in a dangerous position. We don’t know if it will rain, or if it does, how much it will rain.

“We want to avoid Day Zero. Consumption over the past week averaged 516 megalitres per day, with dam levels dropping 0.4% to 24%.

“The City needs to continue reducing consumption in line with Level 6B water restrictions if we are to avoid Day Zero.

“It is important to note that previously we did not preemptively assume the effects of any of these interventions on Day Zero projections, but rather fed them into the model as they occurred,” Neilson said.

The various projects under construction and those already completed would augment the City’s water supply by around 180 megalitres, of which about 150 megalitres would be sourced from groundwater, 16 megalitres from temporary desalination, 10 megalitres from water reuse and 4 megalitres from the City’s springs.

The City’s three smallscale

We don’t know when it will rain, or if it does, how much it will rain

emergency desalination plants would add about 16 million litres of water a day into the system by May.

The Strandfontein plant was on track to supply its first water this month. Monwabisi would also add 7 million litres of water per day, and would reach full production in May.

The plant at the V&A Waterfront would add 2 million litres of water a day, and was anticipated to go online during the second half of March.

The Cape Flats aquifer was on track, and drilling at the Table Mountain Group aquifers began in November last year.

Both projects were expected to come online by June.

The aquifer at Atlantis was already producing 12 million litres a day, and a further 20 million litres of water was expected a day between May and October.

Neilson said: “If conditions are favourable, we hope at some future point to be in a secure enough position to consider relaxing the current Level 6B water restrictions. Right now, our best hope of getting to that point is to continue saving water.”

He said preparation for Day Zero was continuing and the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre would continue working to finalise its operational plan.