Trickle of water-saving needs to become a flood‚ warns Cape Town dam chief

01 December 2016 - 11:38 By Dave Chambers

Water restrictions are starting to work but there's a long way to go‚ the City of Cape Town said on Thursday. Consumption from November 14 to 21 was 854-million litres a day‚ around 4% lower than at the same time last year. But the target is a 10% reduction.“We are still using too much water and thus cannot guarantee that our dams won't be depleted to dangerous levels by the end of summer‚” said Ernest Sonnenberg‚ the mayoral committee member for utilities.“In the last week‚ the dam levels have declined from 55.8% to 54.5%.”Sonnenberg said that if the level three water restrictions imposed from November 1 succeeded in keeping summer consumption at winter levels‚ the city would get through summer without a full-blown water crisis.“We would also like to encourage all residents and industrial users to continue raising awareness around the issue and reporting water wastage where they see it‚” said Sonnenberg.“We are far from out of the woods but if we are able to maintain a sustained collective focus on the issue‚ this should result in us meeting our targets before too long.”– TMG Digital/Cape Town Bureau..

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