Statement by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille
Preserving our precious water resources is everyone’s
responsibility
We live in a water-scarce country with the harsh effects of climate change
already being felt.
Because the City’s dam levels are lower than the norm for this time of year,
the City of Cape Town implemented Level 2 restrictions (20% savings) to
preserve the long-term sustainability of this resource.
As of 1 January 2016, customers are being charged according to a tariff
designed to be revenue-neutral when applied to the 10% reduced
consumption levels.
In other words, if the customer reduces their consumption by 10%, their bill
should remain at a similar rand value.
The first 6 kilolitres a month free to all residents and the additional free 350
litres per day for qualifying indigent customers will not be affected by water
restrictions.
The increases have been calibrated to have a smaller impact on small
domestic consumers and households that use water efficiently. Customers
who use large amounts of water will face larger price increases.
The City would like to remind residents that these are not punitive measures,
but rather the City taking the necessary and proactive steps to protect our
water supplies and guard against finding ourselves in full-blown crisis, as has
been the case in other municipalities.
Climate change projections for Cape Town, as we have already seen,
indicate a decrease in the annual average rainfall along with an increase in
temperatures, which results in higher evaporation rates.
These changes are already placing increasing pressure on the City’s water
supplies.
In light of climatic conditions worsening and a continued increase in
urbanisation, the City needs to continually advance its water conservation
and demand management programme as this is the most cost-effective and
proactive means of improving water security.
We have implemented an effective Water Conservation and Water Demand
Management (WCWDM) programme since 2007 which has resulted in
significant water savings.
This programme was internationally recognised at COP21 in December as
the winner in the Adaptation Implementation Category in the 2015 C40
Cities Awards in Paris.
While we are proud of the results that this programme has achieved over a
number of years, it is now more pressing than ever to increase our individual
efforts to save as much water as we can.
Our dams are at 42,5% capacity and with predicted low levels of rainfall,
the onus is now on all residents to be aware of the dire situation and the
need to use water even more sparingly.
In December 2015, the City rolled out a new initiative to inform and
encourage residents to move to water saving practices.
Ten full-time Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers were
employed as liaison officers to engage with consumers on the Level 2
water restrictions and on how they can reduce their water consumption.
The EPWP workers have been trained in terms of the City’s Water By-law
and have been placed at some of the major nurseries across the city to
engage with visitors and staff.
These workers are sharing water saving tips and advising residents on
alternatives such as moving to water-wise or indigenous plants.
Since December 2015 this outreach project has reached, on average, 9 000
customers at nine nurseries on a monthly basis.
This campaign is in addition to ongoing initiatives by the City where teams are
sent to schools, churches, hotels, shopping malls and business districts to raise
awareness across the city about water conservation.
This latest initiative has also allowed the City to continue creating meaningful
job opportunities as more than 1 000 EPWP workers have been trained to
conduct ongoing door-to-door awareness drives.
The liaison officers have found that there is still a lot of confusion about the
water restrictions such as times and duration for watering gardens, especially
for larger properties, as well as confusion around the use of alternative water
resources.
Residents can contact the 24-hour water technical operation centre on 0860
103 089 or send an SMS to 31373 for water enquiries.
Customers have welcomed the initiative as informative, while our partners at
the various nurseries have also thanked the City for rolling out this campaign
as it has assisted them in their water saving programmes.
As the Mayor of Cape Town, I need the help of all residents as we face this
challenge. We can only make meaningful change if we all adapt our
water usage and behavior so that we can protect this precious scarce
resource, build resilience, and minimise the impacts of climate change.
By taking decisive action to conserve water, we can become more water
secure and continue to make progress possible together.
All water restrictions details can be viewed here:
https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/MediaReleases/Pages/ReminderWaterrest
rictionsimplemented1January2016.aspx