Capetonians continue to save water despite recent rain

A new record low for water consumption was reached in Cape Town last week.

According to deputy mayor Ian Neilson Cape Town residents used only 505 million litres a day last week.

This coincided with rainfall which raised dam levels in the Western Cape from 20% to 20.9% last week.

Neilson said that the rainfall could have led to residents relaxing and using more water than usual but that‚ instead‚ the "conscientious" mindset of Capetonians meant that less was used.

"These efforts will go a long way to ensuring that the City will make it safely through the winter‚" said Neilson.

The city's ultimate aim is to bring consumption down to 450 million litres‚ and to keep it there for the foreseeable future as changing weather patterns are making large parts of the already water-scarce Western‚ Northern‚ and Eastern Cape provinces even drier.

Neilson called on residents to monitor their water usage so they could stay within the 50 litre per day target.

"Knowing exactly how much water one uses for washing dishes (or using a dishwasher)‚ washing clothes (or using a washing machine)‚ and showering (for less than two minutes)‚ instead of bathing can go a long way‚" he said.

"Widespread adoption of this kind of monitoring and evaluation at the household level will likely be key to unlocking the final 50 million litres of savings that is required to meet the allocation by the National Department of Water and Sanitation‚" said Neilson.