The government of Cape Town is ratifying a string of measures that include desalination, tariff hikes, and wastewater reuse has they buckle down and attempt to alleviate the consequences of a drought that has brought the city’s water supply to the breaking point – the metropolis only enough water to for less than a hundred days.
The central government has decided to forego long-term initiatives like long-term desalination plans in order to focus their efforts on prioritizing transfer and storage infrastructure, while also trying to reduce water consumption in the hopes that the water supply can hold out until the winter rains arrives to replenish the local surface and groundwater water sources.
The campaign, which involves naming and shaming the ones who use excessive water, gained momentum when it was revealed that the government authorities were thinking of removing the 6m³ of free water allowance a month every household gets and increasing the water tariffs by almost 20 per cent for those who use more than 50m³ a month.
Sources: Times Live; Eyewitness News; South African Broadcasting Corporation
