WATCH: Drought? What drought? asks Cape Town vlogger

No one denies that Cape Town has had some tough water love lately, yet, unknown to most city residents, every day millions of litres of fresh water flow into the ocean just under their feet.

TimesLIVE collaborated with a Cape Town vlogger to look deeper into the city's water situation.

In the first of three parts, Adam Spires goes under the city to explore the almost forgotten water tunnels carrying millions of litres of water, currently unused.

In June, TimesLIVE reported that the city was looking into the springs from Table Mountain as an additional source of water.

The city's mayoral committee member for water and waste services, Xanthea Limberg, said at the time that city council was preparing a licence application to make further use of springs and streams.

"In most cases, springs have not been considered to supplement drinking-water supply because the expense of enabling the city to treat this water would not justify the small yield," said Limberg.

"Use of the water for other purposes, such as irrigation or industrial processes, would be more cost-effective and simpler to achieve, and would also take some pressure off the city's potable water reserves.

"The city is now engaging with the department of water and sanitation and other stakeholders and preparing a licence application for further use of the springs."

Limberg said as much as 2.8 million litres a day flowed from the Albion spring in Newlands. There are a number of similar springs feeding the tunnels, but unfortunately the water flows into the ocean unused.

• WATER CRISIS: Cape Town looks high and low for water

The Western Cape was declared a drought disaster area by Premier Helen Zille last month.

The City of Cape Town has led the way in applying stringent water restrictions‚ saying late last month it was contemplating measures to restrict overall consumption to 500-million litres per day.

This is a three-part series in collaboration with Adam Spires, a "wannabe vlogger" living in Cape Town. Have a look at his Facebook page here.