The City of Cape Town will only start investigating where the top water guzzlers live and will not start exposing who they are.
Zara Nicholson‚ spokeswoman for mayor Patricia de Lille‚ said names of those who have contravened water restrictions will not be released as previously stated.
According to a statement issued by De Lille last week the ''identities of all customers who pay admission-of-guilt fines or who appear in court regarding contravention of Level 3B water restrictions will be made public''.
What the city intends to do later this week is to release the street names where water consumption is at its highest. Nicholson said the city fears it might face legal trouble for releasing names.
“There is a big possibility that they won’t pay the fine today or appear in court. People’s names will only be released once they’ve paid an admission of guilt fine or once they’ve appeared in court” said Nicholson.
“We are waiting for someone to pay the fine or appear in court. Depending on the fine we can release that we have issued fines in the following areas” says Nicholson.
Last week‚ De Lille personally delivered warning notices to some residents in Pinelands who contravened the city’s strict water restrictions.
Since the implementation of water restrictions the city has identified 20 000 individuals and organisations - which include households‚ government departments and commercial customers - who use excessive amounts of water.
“Out of the one million customers we provide with formal metered water connections‚ these formal households have been identified as having excessive use of over 50 000 litres per month. This is unacceptable. Their abuse of water means that we all will suffer” said Nicholson.
With dam levels in the Western Cape reaching 36‚2% - which in actual fact is 26‚2% as the last 10% of the dam is not useable - the City strongly urges people to drastically cut down on their water use and adhere to level 3B water restrictions.
- TMG Digital
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 