Cape Town - Water flow to more than 41 000 indigent households in the City of Cape Town, who are alleged to be high-water users, is expected to be restricted this month.
The move has been slammed by the Stop CoCT organisation, which said the 15 000 kilolitre allocation per month was too little, and now vulnerable people were being classified as water abusers.
According to the City, despite warning letters to the households, water was still being “excessively used”.
In efforts to restrict the water consumption, the City is now planning to install flow-restricting discs some time this month.
The discs will remain at the households for about 12 months.
About 219 453 households are deemed as indigent and received an allocation of up to 15 000 kilolitres of water a month.
“Customers who receive basic water allocation at no cost, like indigent clients, forget to monitor their personal consumption and sometimes use more than 15kl a month without realising it.
“The City is implementing flow restriction to conserve water, as the City is no longer using Water Meter Devices (WDMs) as a way to restrict people’s use.
“Warning letters were issued to just over 41 000 indigent-registered customers. The City also delivered pamphlets (in all three languages) to all indigent customers during May and June 2022,” said Mayco member for Water and Sanitation Zahid Badroodien.
Badroodien, who couldn’t provide the exact costs to install the discs, said they will use existing internal teams and contractors.
“The dates will be confirmed shortly, and communicated through local councillors as well. Wasteful use of water is not good for Cape Town’s water security. We need to keep our dams fuller for longer.
“It’s also not fair for users who are not paying for services to use more than they need and allocated, at the expense of others. The policy for this was approved by Council in July 2021 after a public participation process and period,” said Badroodien.
Stop CoCT founder Sandra Dickson said the restriction would be unfair.
“This is exactly what we warned the City about, the limit of 15kl is little.
“Now they're classifying this vulnerable people as water abusers.
“They should have accessed their homes and checked how many people live per household because in some homes there are more than five or six people. It’s not that they are overusing water. This restriction will cause tremendous unhappiness.”
Meanwhile, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation, hydrological report showed that the average combined dam levels in the province's water supply system were at 76.26%, a decline from 98.11% during the same time last year.
The department's provincial head, Ntombizanele Bila-Mupariwa, said the province has received below normal rainfall in the past four months, and as such, dam storages were a concern compared to the last two years.
“The West Coast District Municipality has experienced a sharp decline in dam levels compared to the same time last year. The Clanwilliam Dam's current level is 58.08%, a significant decline from 99.63% last year. Theewaterskloof, the largest dam in the province, is at 76.76%, compared to 101% last year this time,” said Bila-Mupariwa.
She however said there was no need to panic just yet as the province was still in its rainy season.
Cape Times