Cape Town’s water greedy households face fines and water cuts

Johannesburg has introduced water shedding in a number of suburbs with high water usage and on Friday Cape Town has introduced stringent regulations.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said households with exceptionally high water consumption levels will be targeted. She said that 20 000 homes use 50 kilolitres a month.

A mix of law enforcement officers‚ councillors and other officials will first discuss with the water gobblers the reasons they need cut their consumption.

If they fail to reduce their consumption levels to the maximum limit of 30 kilolitres‚ these residents will get steep fines or have their water usage cut to 350 litres a day.

Most of the transgressors live in formal residential areas.

One Cape Town resident‚ Jacqueline Williams‚ took the message to heart.

“I was driving home one afternoon and I heard someone on the radio mention that she showers with a bucket to catch water and then recycles it in her garden‚" she said. "My husband laughed when I asked him to buy me buckets but two weeks later he commented on how much our family had been able to collect." Williams then decided to introduce water saving at her place of work. She’s the general manager at Townhouse hotel.

Buckets are in each room and guests are encouraged to shower with them. The hotel staff use the grey water on the pavement and traffic island gardens and trees.

Williams says guests are doing their bit to save water and “we’ve even had a few suggestions from guests”.