Dam levels continue steady rise as restrictions are lowered

Dam levels continue steady rise as restrictions are lowered

Dam levels continue to improve and have risen 1,9% over the last week to 75,9% of storage capacity.

The average water consumption for the past week is up slightly from 511 million litres per day to 520 million litres per day.

Drips refracting the view of the Wellington waterfront from an old tap.

Water restrictions and tariffs have been lowered from Level 6b and Level 6 respectively to Level 5 from today, 1 October 2018, due to the encouraging dam recovery and the conservation efforts by Capetonians.

This is an interim measure to provide some relief to the City of Cape Town’s customers. Level 6b restrictions and Level 6 tariffs were there to cater to an extreme situation. The situation has changed materially due to good rainfall, the solid recovery of Cape Town’s dams and the great conservation efforts by residents and businesses.

Normally, the national government makes its determination on the water situation going forward in December. The City, however, believes that it is unfair to wait until December to make an announcement about water restrictions as this will lead to our customers having to pay the highest tariff for an unnecessarily long period of time.

The key elements of Level 5 restrictions are as follows:

  • An increase in the personal water use limit from 50 litres per person per day to 70 litres per person per day
  • A resetting of the overall City water usage target from 450 million litres per day to 500 million litres per day
  • A relaxation of restrictions for commercial and industrial water users from a 45% to a 40% usage reduction
  • A lowering of tariffs to Level 5 tariffs:

Residential tariffs (ex VAT)

  • 0 – 6 kL: Down 26,6% from R28,90/kL to R21,19/kL
  • 6 – 10,5 kL: Down 25% from R46/kL to R34,43/kL
  • 10 – 35 kL : Down 56% from R120,27/kL to R52,39/kL
  • Above 35 kL: Down 70% from R1 000/kL to R300/kL

Commercial and Industrial tariffs

  • Down 18% from R45,75/kL to R37,50/kL

Level 5 restriction don’ts

  • No watering/irrigation with municipal water is allowed. Nurseries or customers involved in agricultural activities, or those with gardens of historical significance, may apply for exemption
  • No topping up (manual or automatic) of swimming pools with municipal drinking water is allowed
  • No washing of vehicles, including cars, taxis, trailers, caravans or boats allowed with municipal drinking water
  • No washing or hosing down of hard surfaces with municipal water
  • The use of municipal drinking water for ornamental fountains or water features is prohibited
  • All private swimming pools must be fitted with a cover
  • The use of any portable or temporary play pools is prohibited
  • Should borehole/wellpoint water be used for outdoor purposes, including garden use, topping up of swimming pools and hosing down of surfaces, it should only be done for a maximum of one hour on Tuesdays and Saturdays before 09:00 and after 18:00. However, the City discourages the use of this water for these purposes to prevent the over-abstraction of aquifers
  • The operation of spray parks is prohibited
  • No new landscaping or sports fields may be established except if irrigated only with non-drinking water

Please visit www.capetown.gov.za/thinkwater for all water-related information, such as the Level 5 guidelines.

Curated community news and content content for Chas Everitt Cape Town South

Numerous Amendments to Water By-laws

Numerous Amendments to Water By-laws

The City of Cape Town last month approved a number of amendments to the Water By-law. In addition to noting the amendments, the City encourages residents to familiarise themselves with what is required of them in terms of this legislation.

Read more below:

On 31 May 2018, Council voted to approve a number of proposed amendments to the Water By-law. These changes were aimed mainly at improving clarity, as well as preparing the City for a more water-scarce future.

Residents should please note that this amendment does not replace the Level 6 Water Restrictions. Rather, water restrictions are implemented in addition to this by-law, when necessary.

Changes most relevant to the general public include the following:

· Landlords must now keep record of consumption for each residential unit in a multi-tenant complex/block of flats, and inform the City if contraventions of water restrictions are taking place

· New developments must install water conservation and demand management systems, or alternative water systems, and these must be approved by the City before development proceeds

· The City’s oversight of plumbers has been strengthened by allowing the City to not only remove plumbers from its register but institute legal action if they are found to have transgressed the Water By-law

· Updates have been made to align the By-law with new legislation, standards and technical specifications.

· A prepayment meter is now an option, in addition to the WMD, as a Council water meter. While this technology is not yet at a stage of development for uptake by the City, having this item of legislation in the By-law allows the City to make use of it in the event that it becomes appropriate and necessary.

· Potable (drinking) water storage tanks must be impervious to sunlight to prevent the growth of bacteria

· No cross-connection must exist on private property between potable and non-potable water systems

· No irrigation of gardens is allowed between 09:00 and 18:00, including from boreholes and well-points. Previously no irrigation was allowed 10:00 and 16:00, and did not include borehole water. Watering gardens in the heat of the day can result in significant water lost to evaporation

· Maximum capacity for toilet cisterns and shower head flow has been lowered. Toilets are now only allowed a maximum 6 litre cistern volume (down from 9 litres), and water from shower heads must flow out at no more than 7 litres per minute (down from 9.5 litres/minute)

· All pools must be fitted with a cover to avoid evaporation when not in use

Read more

Water meter readings

Water meter readings

From the City of Cape Town:

Your home or business is connected to the City’s water network through a water meter, which usually sits in a small chamber under the pavement outside your property. We read your water meter once a month to calculate your monthly water and sewerage use.

How the City reads your water meter

The meter is read by a different person each month. We take a meter reading using a handheld computer terminal that contains core information about the property, such as the erf number and the address.

If we cannot read your meter (due to your gate being locked or other circumstances) and you do not submit your water reading, your bill will be an estimate based on your previous water use. All cost estimates will be reversed, if necessary, when we get an actual reading.

DID YOU KNOW?Well-run City: Each year, we replace about 9 000 old or malfunctioning water meters. 

You can help us get an accurate reading for your water meter by doing the following:

  • Make sure you know where your water meter is located.
  • Make sure it is not obstructed (e.g. by sand or weeds) and is easy to read.
  • Your water meter should be accessible to City officials at all times.
  • If your water meter is behind locked gates, or if dogs prevent the meter readers from taking a reading, you can submit the reading yourself (see below).
  • Alternatively, ask the City to relocate your meter to the outside of your house, via the City’s Service Requests application.

How to read your water meter

You can submit your water meter reading by calling 0860 103 089 or entering it online via your municipal account on our e-Services portal.

No matter the type of water meter, black numbers represent kilolitres and red numbers represent litres. As you are charged per kilolitre, only supply the black numbers when submitting your reading.

DID YOU KNOW?

Inclusive City: The City has installed free-call phones at some City facilities to allow you to make enquiries and request services at no cost.

Water and sanitation tariffs

All formal properties have water meters, which we use to read your water consumption and calculate your monthly bill. However, there are different tariffs for residences, businesses, and other organisations.

  • Understand the cost of water and sanitation in your home
  • Understand the cost of water and sanitation for your business or organisation

Report problems with your water meter

If your water meter is not being read regularly, is malfunctioning or needs to be relocated to outside of your property, please contact the City’s 24-hour call centre:

  • Call us on 0860 103 089 (choose option 2: water-related faults)
  • SMS: 31373 (max of 160 characters)
  • Whatsapp: 063 407 3699
  • Email: water@capetown.gov.za

You can also go to our service requests portal and report or request an issue online. If you need some help with how to place a service request or report an issue, please see Submit a service request.

For More Information

This post is sponsored by Chas Everitt Cape Town South

Water Saving a Worthwhile Investment in Cape Town Property

Water Saving a Worthwhile Investment in Cape Town Property

“Water saving features such as storage tanks, water efficiency devices, and boreholes in particular are unsurprisingly proving to be major selling features in Cape Town South, as property buyers are looking at the water problem as a long-term issue”, says Andre de Villiers, veteran Southern Suburbs real estate agent and owner of the Cape Town South group of four Chas Everitt offices.

“We are accordingly highlighting properties that we are marketing that feature such benefits as they definitely an attraction and we are of the opinion that for those interested in selling their property any such measures are well worth the additional investment to enhance the appeal and increase the competitive appeal and to protect one’s property value. We had a similar situation with load shedding and power saving devices not that long ago but with water-related issues there seems to be a greater value attached as it is not being seen as a temporary problem.”

“Pools are being seen as far less of an advantage and more of a hassle to be dealt with and water-wise gardens are also attracting a lot of positive discussions,” said de Villiers.

This post is sponsored by Chas Everitt Cape Town South

Day Zero now likely to happen – NEW EMERGENCY MEASURES

Day Zero now likely to happen – NEW EMERGENCY MEASURES

From the City of Cape Town.

18 JANUARY 2018

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S EXECUTIVE MAYOR PATRICIA DE LILLE

In summary:

  • Day Zero is now likely
  • 60% of Capetonians won’t save water and we must now force them
  • Punitive tariff to force high users to reduce demand
  • 50 litres per person per day for the next 150 days
  • Drought Charge likely to be scrapped by Council

We have reached a point of no return. Despite our urging for months, 60% of Capetonians are callously using more than 87 litres per day. It is quite unbelievable that a majority of people do not seem to care and are sending all of us headlong towards Day Zero. At this point we must assume that they will not change their behaviour and that the chance of reaching Day Zero on 21 April 2018 is now very likely.

The people who are still wasting water seem to believe that Day Zero just can’t happen or that the City’s seven augmentation projects – set to produce around 200 million litres per day – will be enough to save us. This is not the case and, while our water augmentation programme will make Cape Town more water resilient in the future, it was never going to be enough to stop Day Zero.

The crisis has reached a new severity, necessitating a series of new emergency measures:

A punitive tariff

We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them. We have listened to the comments of thousands of residents asking for fairness. Council will on Friday be voting on a punitive tariff that will charge residents exponentially higher rates for water usage above 6 000 litres per month.

The table below outlines the difference between the current and the proposed punitive tariffs:

Consumption per month Current Tariffs – total household water bill New Tariff – total household water bill
6 000 litres

 

R28.44 R145.98
10 500 litres R109.50 R390.82
20 000 litres

 

R361.06 R1 536.28
35 000 litres

 

R1 050.04 R6 939.57
50 000 litres

 

R2 888.81 R20 619.57

I will personally fight to ensure that the proposed punitive tariff exempts those who are using less than 6 000 litres per month.

Provision will be made for households larger than four people to ensure that they are not unfairly penalised. We ask residents to contact the City beforehand on water@capetown.gov.za or enquire at their nearest walk-in centre.

The proposed Drought Charge is likely to be dropped after a massive outcry from Capetonians that it was unfair. I understand that response and it has personally been a tough lesson for the City. I just want you to know that the City proposed the charge because we wanted to keep delivering important and essential services during this crisis. I wanted to continue making Cape Town a city that delivers opportunities for all. We are now going to have to make deep cuts to important projects.

50 litres per day for 150 days

We will be moving to level 6B restrictions with a new limit of 50 litres per person per day to make up for the many months of missing the 500 million litre per day collective consumption target. The new restrictions will come into effect on 1 February 2018.

The new daily collective consumption target is now 450 million litres per day. This will be in place for 150 days after which the City will reassess the situation.

Level 6B restrictions will also limit irrigation using boreholes and wellpoints.

Advanced Day Zero preparation

The City has also advanced its planning for Day Zero with approximately 200 sites having been assessed. The City will be announcing everyone’s local collection points from next week so that communities can begin preparing for that eventuality.

We will also be making detailed Day Zero contingency plans available soon to answer all questions that residents and businesses might have.

In terms of the City’s work, we have been working hard to reduce demand through advanced pressure management, massively ramping up the installation of water management devices at high consumption households.  Our teams are also significantly intensifying the leak detection and repair programme, and we are rolling out education and awareness campaigns and extending our use of the treated effluent system which offsets the use of the drinking water for non-potable purposes.

Teams are working around the clock to deliver the emergency plan for desalination, groundwater and water reuse. But, as I have already said, this alone will simply not be enough to avoid Day Zero without savings from all residents.

Cape Town, this is the moment where we can bring about the fundamental behaviour change that is needed to save us all from running out of water.

The time to act for everyone’s sake is now.

So if we reduce the demand enough now, we can still get our water delivered to our houses and not have to queue daily for our allocation.

For more information

This post was sponsored by Chas Everitt Cape Town South

 

Cape Town Water Crisis: What you’ll have to pay in ‘water tax’

Cape Town Water Crisis: What you’ll have to pay in ‘water tax’

Source: The South African

Date: 2017-12-05

It is all but confirmed that from February next year, Cape Town will be introducing a “water tax” or a water levy or a water surcharge. Call it whatever you will.

The purpose of the charge is to raise more capital for long-term drought solutions. But it’s also a bit of a Catch22. Since the City is generating less income from water – with everybody saving so much – they are collecting less revenue. Thus meaning less money to pay for solutions.

But just how much will you have to pay?

Let’s take a look.

 

 

Cape Town’s proposed water levy charges

Residential property value (in ZAR) Water tax (ZAR)
400k none
600k 35
800k 45
1m 50
2m 115
3m 170
4m 225
5m 280
6m 340
7m 420
10m 565
20m 1120
50m 2800

But really, if your property is valued at R4 million, we’re pretty sure you can afford the R200 a month to pay your surcharge. Weren’t you spending that on filling your pool before restrictions anyway?

The City of Cape Town is searching for an additional R1bn per year while the dams recover from the unprecedented drought conditions.

Cape Town’s water use has spiked over the last few weeks. With rainy season well and truly over and the tourist season set to begin, it’s crunch time to avoid day zero.

More Information

This post is sponsored by Chas Everitt Cape Town South

Removal of alien vegetation at Wemmershoek Dam will help City save water and stretch supply

Removal of alien vegetation at Wemmershoek Dam will help City save water and stretch supply

From: City of Cape Town

Date: 15 November 2017

Today I visited the Wemmershoek Dam to view the progress made on removing alien vegetation in the catchment area. Alien vegetation around the dam and in the catchment areas uses a huge amount of water and clearing this vegetation will assist the city to conserve water that would have otherwise been used by these trees.

Over the last year, a City of Cape Town-appointed contractor has cut down over 50 hectares of pine trees from a city plantation used for commercial and industrial purposes. The remaining 110 hectares will be cleared over the next year. Removing these remaining plantations will improve stream flow into the dam and could secure an extra week or month worth of water supply for the city.

At Wemmershoek, the saving will be approximately 1 million litres per day when all pine trees are removed.

A process is now under way to ensure that we harvest the remaining plantation in a shorter period in order to minimize the potential loss of water. We will also be in contact with neighbouring land owners to ensure that the catchment area outside our boundary stays free of alien vegetation to secure a sustainable run-off into the Wemmershoek Dam.

This project forms part of our water resilience programme aimed at building up the city’s dam storage amid a persistent drought crisis.

This week dam storage levels declined by 1% to 36,8% and only 26,8% of that water is useable.

Collective water usage by the residents of Cape Town currently stands at 582 million litres per day. This is 82 million litres above the target usage of 500 million litres per day that we require to see the city through the drought.

We appreciate the water-saving efforts of Capetonians and I would like to thank Team Cape Town for their assistance. There are still many more residents and businesses that have to come on board to enhance our water-saving efforts. We can only make it through this drought with the help of each and every resident doing their part while the City works as fast as possible to bring additional supply online.

The City has implemented a successful vegetation control programme for more than 10 years and there are resources to continue the programme in the future.

As the City works on expediting all additional supply schemes, it is vital that water-saving by residents and businesses continues so that we can boost our joint efforts to beat the drought. Only by working together, will we ensure that we do not run out of water.

More Information

This post is sponsored by Chas Everitt Cape Town  South

Save Water – Stop Eating Meat!

Save Water – Stop Eating Meat!
To make a burger, first, you need 2498 litres of water …
 
Our severe drought in the Western Cape has made a lot of us more aware of our ‘water footprint’, the amount of fresh water we use plus the amount used for the goods and services we consume every day.
 
The obvious contributors to our water footprint are washing, cooking and bathing. But the biggest contributor to our water footprint is our diet!
 
While these are US figures they are indeed fascinating and there is no reason to think they are not compatible where comparable!
 
“On average, the water we use in our households is about 98 gallons a day, says a U.S. Geological Survey. The industrial goods we use — paper, cotton, clothes — that’s about another 44 gallons a day. But it takes more than 1,000 gallons of water a day per person to produce the food (and drinks) in the average U.S. diet, according to several sources. More than 53 gallons of water go into making 1 cup of orange juice, for example.”
Just to get a sense of how much water goes into growing and processing what we eat, here’s a list of the water footprint of some common foods, via National Geographic:
 
“A 1/3-pound burger requires 660 gallons of water. Most of this water is for producing beef.
1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water, which includes irrigation of the grains and grasses in feed, plus water for drinking and processing.
1 slice of bread requires 11 gallons of water. Most of this water is for producing wheat (see below).
1 pound of wheat requires 132 gallons of water.
1 gallon of beer requires 68 gallons of water or 19.8 gallons of water for 1 cup. Most of that water is for growing barley (see below).
1 pound of barley requires 198 gallons of water.
1 gallon of wine requires 1,008 gallons of water (mostly for growing the grapes), or 63.4 gallons of water for 1 cup.
1 apple requires 18 gallons of water. It takes 59.4 gallons of water to produce 1 cup of apple juice.
1 orange requires 13 gallons of water. It takes 53.1 gallons of water for 1 cup of orange juice.
1 pound of chicken requires 468 gallons of water.
1 pound of pork requires 576 gallons of water.
1 pound of sheep requires 731 gallons of water.
1 pound of goat requires 127 gallons of water.
1 pound of rice requires 449 gallons of water.
1 pound of corn requires 108 gallons of water.
1 pound of soybeans requires 216 gallons of water.
1 pound of potatoes requires 119 gallons of water.
1 egg requires 53 gallons of water.
1 gallon of milk requires 880 gallons of water or 54.9 gallons of water for 1 cup. That includes water for raising and grazing cattle, and bottling and processing.
1 pound of cheese requires 600 gallons of water. On average it requires 1.2 gallons of milk to make 1 pound of cheese.
1 pound of chocolate requires 3,170 gallons of water.

Notice of immediate implementation of water rationing across Cape Town

Notice of immediate implementation of water rationing across Cape Town

31 October 2017

The City of Cape Town has activated water rationing to forcibly lower water usage in line with water restrictions across the metro as phase 1 of its critical water shortages disaster plan.

Water usage remains dangerously high above required levels.

Rationing will lead to intermittent supply, likely during peak water consumption hours in the mornings and evenings. It won’t result in a complete shutdown, but some areas may experience short water outages. Service will be restored as quickly as possible. Please note the following key points:

  • Please keep up to 5 litres of water available for essential use only during rationing.
  • Please do not store excessive municipal water.
  • Definitive timetables of the outages cannot be provided as water systems must be managed flexibly to avoid damage to critical infrastructure.
  • When you experience a loss of water supply and before you contact our call centre, please check your neighbour’s supply first to see whether it is likely a case of rationing.
  • If you reside in or operate from multi-storey buildings, ensure that the water supply system (booster pumps and roof-top storage) is in working order in compliance with the Water By-law.
  • The City is not liable for any impact on or damage to private infrastructure resulting from the rationing or associated operations.
  • Please ensure that all taps are closed when not in use to prevent damage/flooding when the supply is restored. Ensure that you take the necessary steps, such as speaking to your insurer if possible, to mitigate potential damage and for fire prevention.
  • When supply is restored, the water may appear to be cloudy from the extreme pressure reduction exercise. Please do not waste the initial water. Use it for flushing.

Water management devices are also being installed city-wide to limit excessive consumption.

Further restriction levels and usage targets will be announced at short notice and as necessary to drive down consumption to a safe level. Critical services such as clinics and hospitals will be largely unaffected. This phase is intended to help us avoid more extreme phases of the disaster plan.

Phases of the critical water shortages disaster plan

Phase 1: Activated: water rationing through extreme pressure reduction and limiting supply
Phase 2: Disaster restrictions (water collection points)
Phase 3: Full-scale disaster implementation (extreme rationing at distribution points)

Cape Town is situated in a water-scarce region. Climatic unpredictability, such as this protracted drought, must be seen as the New Normal which affects all aspects of our lives. In Cape Town, the Western Cape, and many other parts of South Africa, this severe drought continues.

Please visit www.capetown.gov.za/thinkwater for all further information required, including information on the Water By-law. We will only get through this together.

Let’s Save, Cape Town! Together.

Yours faithfully

Achmat Ebrahim
CITY MANAGER – CITY OF CAPE TOWN


This post is sponsored by Chas Everitt Cape Town South 

Mayor De Lille visits desalination plant site at V&A Waterfront

Mayor De Lille visits desalination plant site at V&A Waterfront

Today I visited the site of one of the City of Cape Town’s modular land-based desalination plants. The plant will produce 2 million litres of water per day and this water will be fed into the City’s water distribution network by February 2018.

Last week I made a commitment to communicate directly with all Capetonians about the City’s work to secure alternative water sources.  My message is clear: we have a plan, we will supply water but Capetonians, your help is vital and so we need you to keep saving.  I want to thank and commend Capetonians for their great efforts and for being partners on this journey by saving water.  We managed to bring consumption down to 585 million litres of collective use per day from pre-restriction consumption levels of 1,1 billion litres per day.

We will not allow a well-run city to run out of water.

The City is securing our water resilience through saving and bringing more alternative water sources into our network.  One such water source is the temporary desalination plant the City is building on East Pier Road in the V&A Waterfront.  An open-air parking lot opposite the heliports will be converted into a desalination plant that will produce 2 million litres of water every day.  The V&A Waterfront made the land available to the City at no cost. This is a good example how government and business can work together to ensure our water resilience.  Water will be abstracted from the ocean on the harbour side of the pier, treated at the desalination plant and treated clean water will be pumped into the City’s water network near the site.  The location of the site makes it easy for the City to provide services to the desalination plant. The City will provide electricity in November 2017 and construction will start soon after.

The desalination plant is in addition to the eight other modular land-based desalination plants the City is implementing.

These are for the following sites:

  • Hout Bay – to produce 4 million litres per day
  • Granger Bay – to produce 8 million litres of water per day
  • Red Hill/Dido Valley – to produce 2 million litres of water per day
  • Strandfontein – to produce 7 million litres per day
  • Monwabisi – to produce 7 million litres per day
  • Harmony Park – to produce 8 million litres per day
  • Cape Town Harbour – to produce 50 million litres per day
  • The universal sites – to produce 20 million litres per day

On Friday the City awarded the tenders to the desalination plants at Strandfontein and Monwabisi.  The City is also working on groundwater abstraction at Atlantis and Silwerstroom, Cape Flats Aquifer, Cape Peninsula and Hottentots-Holland aquifers.  The City has already managed to increase the production capacity of the existing Atlantis and Silwerstroom aquifer by 5 million litres per day. This will increase incrementally to 25 million litres per day.  At the Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works, the pipeline work has already started and the yield will rise incrementally from this source to produce 10 million litres per day.  I am continually assessing the City’s solutions to provide alternative water sources while Capetonians continue to save.

We are not only building water resilience in the immediate future, but also looking ahead to the years to come and how we ensure water security beyond 2018.

Issued by: Media Office, City of Cape Town

Media enquiries: Xolani Koyana, Spokesperson for the Executive Mayor – Patricia de Lille, City of Cape Town, Tel: 021 400 5007 or Cell: 071 740 2219, Email: xolani.koyana@capetown.gov.za 


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