The City of Tshwane has announced a number of stringent measures to be implemented in response to residents’ failure to cut down on their water consumption. Executive mayor Solly Msimanga announced the interventions on Tuesday under the theme “Thiba Komelelo” - meaning “stop the drought”.Among them are the following:- Throttling the water supply system by partially closing main water outlet valves at reservoirs so that flow is restricted and reservoirs can maintain good levels; - Throttling the main water network pipes to restrict flow;- Implementing scheduled water shedding;- Installing flow restrictors to high water consumers/users;- Reducing water pressures in low-lying areas where possible;- Restricting water supply to residential complexes and businesses where pressure allows;- Restricting water supply to retirement villages; - Reinforcing maintenance teams to curb the incidents of pipe bursts and water leaks;- Recruiting more learners from Rand Water and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to strengthen maintenance and war-on-leaks teams;- Creating a forum to engage with top 100 water users;- Creating a dedicated telephone line at the customer care centre to report water leaks; and- Creating an SMS hotline for reporting of water leaks and burst pipes.In August‚ the DWS issued a government gazette compelling municipalities to reduce consumption by 15%.The City of Tshwane responded by making a call to its residents to reduce usage in order to meet the department’s call. However‚ the response from consumers has not been satisfactory.According to Rand Water‚ by October 3‚ water reduction had regressed to a disappointing 2.7% due to increased water consumption. This was after the actual restrictions had started on September 6. This left the city with no option but to use technical interventions to save water.“We have been left with no choice‚ but to implement these measures‚ failing which we would be facing the prospect of our taps running dry‚” said Msimanga. – TMG Digital..