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Capetonians urged to shower for 2 minutes only as water crisis increases

While the rest of the country has mostly relaxed the water restrictions implemented last year, Cape Town is looking at hiking level three water restrictions up to level four and has urged residents to use less water.

With dam levels now standing at 21.2%, the city has issued a critical warning to all water users to cut all non-essential use of water immediately.

The city’s Mayoral Committee is expected to recommend to council the implementation of Level four water restrictions today. This would entail a ban on all use of municipal water for outside and non-essential purposes.

This would mean water would only be used for drinking, cooking and washing. “Although we continue to work non-stop to force consumption down, overall use remains catastrophically high. This is not a request,” said Cape Town MMC for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services and Energy, Councillor Xanthea Limberg.

“Rain or shine, we are now at a point where all consumers must use below 100 litres per day. Stop flushing toilets when not necessary, shower for less than two minutes a day or use a wet cloth for a ‘wipe-down’, collect all would-be wasted water and use it to fill up toilet cisterns, among others,” she added.

Among other water saving operations, dredging operations have started at the Voëlvlei Dam to prepare for low-level extraction of water. The city is engaging with the lead authority, the National Department of Water and Sanitation, as a matter of urgency to request dredging operations at Theewaterskloof Dam too.

Cape Town said it has to bring consumption down to 100 million litres of water per day and urged businesses to start implementing contingency and alternative water measures in their own operations.

[Image – CC OpenIcons]

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