The City of Cape Town has warned that it may have to re-introduce water restrictions, if residents do not cut down on their daily water usage.

The municipality says water usage continues to climb to pre-drought levels. For this reason, the City has called on residents and businesses to use the national resource sparingly this Summer season – and has set a daily use target of 850 million litres, to mitigate the risk of another below average winter rainfall, and to assist reliability of water supply in light of rolling power cuts.

Dam levels are currently at 62%, which is nearly 25% lower compared to a year ago.

Sustained high stages of load-shedding impacts the City’s ability to build up reserves in its reservoirs and reticulate drinking water.

Read more: Loadshedding: Use less water now

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says staying within the 850 million litre daily target will help Cape Town maintain supply during sustained high stages of load-shedding, and put the municipality in a better position next Summer, if there is below-average rainfall this Winter.

“Cape Town’s water usage has been steadily climbing in recent months to where it is now back at pre-drought levels. We are asking residents to be water wise. This is due to the risk of more below average Winter rainfall this year and the impact that very high stages of load shedding over protracted periods of time are having on our drinking water production.”

Sustained high stages of load-shedding impacts the City’s ability to build up reserves in its reservoirs and reticulate drinking water.

“If we don’t meet the proactive water savings target, this may increase the need for water restrictions down the line, which we would ideally want to avoid,” said Hill-Lewis

What you can do to save H2O:

1. Find and fix leaks.
2. Only flush toilets when necessary.
3. Take shorter showers or small baths.
4. Only wash clothes and dishes when really needed.
5. Turn off taps when not using the flow.
6. Close the hose when washing the car.
7. Use a controlling device at the end of the hose.
8. Only water gardens before 9am and after 6pm, to avoid evaporation losses.
9. Supervise use of water for children’s play, and cooling in hot summer months.
10. Cover built-in and fold away pools when not in use, to avoid evaporation losses.

For more information, you can visit www.capetown.gov.za/savewater