Cape Town delays Day Zero after water savings

CAPETONIANS can breathe a sigh of relief. Day Zero has been pushed back to June 4.

Yesterday, city officials attributed the push-back of Day Zero from the middle of May to the decline in water usage by the agricultural sector and also the continued commitment by residents who have significantly lowered their water consumption.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson urged residents to continue lowering their water consumption to meet the target of 450 million litres a day, which equates to 50 litres a person a day

“Over the past week‚ consumption has been lowered to 526 million litres per day,” Neilson said.

“This is the first time that the weekly average usage has remained under 550 million litres, due to the City’s pressure management interventions and the efforts by our residents to use as little water as possible.”

However‚ he said at 24.9% dam levels were significantly lower in comparison to last year at this time when the figure was 36.1% and the previous year when it was 43.3%.

“Though the dam levels are much lower than a year ago‚ we have more information and more control over the system that supplies water to the city,” he said.

“Our continued interactions with the national Department of Water and Sanitation have led to much-improved data-sharing and analysis‚ allowing for more reliable modelling and dramatically improved control over dam levels.”

DA leader Mmusi Maimane tweeted yesterday: “I can officially announce that #DayZero has been pushed back to 4 June 2018! Thanks to the efforts of Cape Town residents‚ consumption dropped to 526 million litres per day. Let’s keep reducing consumption. We can #DefeatDayZero!”

“This is the first time that weekly average usage has remained under 550 million litres! A year ago‚ consumption was at over 800 million litres per day. Two years ago‚ it was over one billion litres per day.”

Neilson said the city would continue with curbs on high-water users. – TimesLIVE