'If you don't turn off your taps we'll do it for you' - Water guzzlers warned

People who ignore water restrictions may have their supply restricted‚ says Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille.

The city council met on Thursday to approve more stringent water restrictions from February 1.

Its plan includes "door-to-door visits‚ issuing more fines where applicable‚ and installing water-restriction devices if usage on properties continues to be high”.

De Lille said the city council was targeting the 20‚000 biggest residential consumers.

Dam levels are at 40%‚ but in practical terms‚ De Lille said the city’s dams were only 30% full “since we cannot extract the last 10%”.

• READ MORE: Capetonians prove they're useless at saving‚ even when there are no rainy daysCapetonians have failed miserably — yet again — to meet the city council target for water savings. 

With dam levels typically falling by two percentage points a week at the height of summer‚ this means that without savings the water will run out in about 105 days.

“Make no mistake‚ this is a serious situation that we must all work together to address‚ urgently.

“Saving water is not optional‚” De Lille told the council's first meeting of the year.

As a result of non-compliance with water restrictions‚ the city council had collected an extra R254-million from water sales.

“But we can’t use this money to buy more water.

“Because of your abuse‚ we will all suffer.”

- TMG Digital/TimesLIVE