Soldiers on the streets: De Lille paints alarming picture of CT without water

Intermittent water supply‚ followed by having to collect water in buckets under the supervision of soldiers: This is Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s vision of the near future if the city’s dams run dry.

After meeting water minister Nomvula Mokonyane‚ De Lille outlined the city council’s disaster plan at a briefing on Wednesday. She begged Capetonians to stave off a disaster by saving more water‚ warning that otherwise day zero — when dams are no longer usable — would arrive in March.

Officials were working to avoid a disaster but is was vital to plan for the worst-case scenario‚ she said‚ revealing that the city council had activated the first of three disaster-management phases.

This would involve extreme reductions in water pressure to force down consumption. “As water rationing is intensified‚ some areas will be affected for short periods of time. This will lead to intermittent‚ localised‚ temporary water supply disruptions‚” she said.

WATCH | The disaster plan: What will happen if Cape Town runs out of water?

“The city cannot provide definitive timetables of the disruptions as the water systems must be managed flexibly to avoid damage to critical infrastructure‚” said De Lille‚ advising residents to store five litres of water as an emergency supply.

“Any zoned outages will likely occur during peak water usage times in the mornings and evenings. We are asking people to prepare for water supply to be disrupted for a short period of time.

“Critical services such as clinics and hospitals will be largely unaffected and mitigation measures will be put in place if they experience intermittent water supply.”

In phase two of the disaster‚ water collection points would be introduced. “Residents will be able to collect a predefined quantity of drinking water per person per day from these collection sites.

“Strategic commercial areas‚ high-density areas with significant risk of increased burden of disease and fires [such as the majority of informal settlements]‚ and critical services [such as hospitals]‚ where possible‚ would continue to receive drinking water through normal channels.”

De Lille said council law enforcement officers‚ the police and soldiers would be deployed “to ensure that general safety is maintained throughout the city in this phase”.

In the final “extreme disaster” phase‚ when dams expired‚ “there would be a limited period in which the city can continue to supply water before complete water system failure.”

Said De Lille: “Non-surface drinking water supplies‚ sourced from groundwater abstraction from various aquifers and spring water‚ will be available for drinking purposes only. The city will distribute this drinking water to residents through water distribution points.”

The mayor said the city’s temporary desalination plants‚ for which tenders have been sought‚ would start to produce fresh water from December or January.

Additional water from the Atlantis and Silverstroom aquifers‚ and recycled water from the Zandvliet treatment plant‚ would be available from January or February.

In the meantime‚ a mass rollout of water management devices was taking place‚ targeting about 55‚000 excessive users.