Dams supplying Cape Town's residents, who face mandatory water restrictions, are lying at 21.2 percent capacity, or an effective 11.2 percent, as the last 10 percent of the dam's water is unusable, officials said.
Limberg told Reuters the city expects a new pilot desalination plant, capable of producing 2 million litres per day, to be operational by December before "accelerated full-scale" implementation of the technology.
The plant, being developed in partnership with power utility Eskom's Koeberg nuclear station, forms part of a 300 million rand ($23 million) three-year budget as the city looks for alternative sources of water, including tapping an underground aquifer at Table Mountain.