Cape Town’s profligate water users get new ‘day zero’ warning
Day zero has been moved three weeks closer after a week of over-use of water, with a further 40,000 water-management devices being installed in December
Day zero has moved three weeks closer after seven days of profligate water use‚ the City of Cape Town warned on Tuesday.April 29 is the latest anticipated date for when taps will run dry‚ but if water consumption continued to rise the date could be as early as March 18‚ said water and sanitation director Peter Flower, adding: "This is a terrifying prospect." The city’s 4-million residents got through 641-million litres of water a day in the past week‚ 28% more than the target of 500-million litres. Dam levels fell by 1.1 percentage points to 33%‚ and the city council said only one-third of residents were saving enough water."Residential customers remain the largest portion of water users. If we can bring consumption down to 500-million litres per day‚ we will be able to avoid day zero‚" said Flower.Level 6 water restrictions, which come into effect on January 1, mean all households that use more than 10‚500 litres of water a month — or 350 litres a day — will have a water-management...
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