As at Monday 26 March, our collective consumption was 522 million litres of water per day. That’s 43 million litres lower than the previous week.
The City of Cape Town has thanked its water users for getting back on track as we push to get down to the required 450 million litres of collective daily water usage, or 50 litres per person per day. We need to achieve this target in order to stretch the available water supplies through the rest of the year.
The more water we use, the faster our dam levels decline. In the past week, dam levels have fallen by 0,5% to 22,2% despite the rain that was received, primarily on 24 March 2018.
In the face of a severe drought, Capetonians have helped achieve what no other city has done. In the last 18 months, by changing our relationship with water, residents have reduced their usage from 1.1 billion litres to under 540 million litres per day. While we’ve been able to move the immediate threat of DayZero to 2019, we need to keep saving our precious water.
Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, recently explained the notion of ‘resilient cities’, something he announced during his budget speech in parliament. He added that Cape Town has certainly proven to be an example of such a place, owing to continued water saving methods implemented in both the private sector and by committed residents.
If you are unsure about your own usage, visit the City of Cape Town’s website. The recently added water map gives a visual of areas and usage, making it easy for you to scroll over your own neighbourhood, and examine your habits. Remember to join our movement, by adding your name to the biggest online water saving initiative in the Western Cape, The Smile Water Warriors Page on Facebook.
