The City of Johannesburg metropolitan area is required by the Department of Water and Sanitation to reduce its water usage by 15% with immediate effect. This is due to the ongoing drought and unseasonable heat this Spring‚ the city announced on Monday.“We do not want to go to level 3 water restrictions. Residents are encouraged to start saving water immediately‚” Johannesburg Water said.See table below for Level 2 water restriction tariff to domestic customers #Waterrestrictionspic.twitter.com/ZWVLVCHRSU— Johannesburg Water (@JHBWater) September 5, 2016async “If the residents of the City of Johannesburg do not reduce their water usage‚ there will be water shedding‚” it warned.“Johannesburg Water will throttle the system in the evenings from 8pm-4am in areas where there is high demand when residents are sleeping.”Level 2 water restrictions have been in place in the city since November 2015‚ which placed limits on watering of gardens in daylight hours and banned filling up of swimming pools with municipal water. Washing of cars with hose pipes is also restricted and residents are not allowed to use sprinklers at all times - only buckets.If residents do not comply with the water restrictions‚ they will be fined. The fine will be added to their billing‚ Johannesburg Water said.Member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for Environment‚ Infrastructure Services Department‚ councillor Anthony Still‚ told a news briefing on Monday that the water levels in the integrated Vaal River system have dropped below the threshold level of 60%.The Vaal River itself is at 33.2%.Still said Johannesburg Water would continue with the rollout of low flush toilets‚ as they use significantly less water.In a national update‚ the Department of Water and Sanitation said at the end of August that water restrictions must remain in place‚ although dam levels across the country are steady‚ with some rising slightly due to recent rain and snowfall in the Western Cape and Free State.“This very slight increase is still insignificant when compared to last year at the same time when the average dam levels were at 72.7%‚” the department said.“The back of the drought is therefore still not broken.”The department monitors the country's 211 dams on a weekly basis. It said 13 dams were less than 10% full‚ while 59 had water levels below 40%.Twenty-three dams were above 100%...