At the current rate of consumption, it is projected that Cape Town will run out of water on October 7th, 2017.
Drastic measures are being taken by the City of Cape Town to curb this bleak prediction – but is it too little too late? From today, the city’s water inspectorate will begin to install devices to restrict water consumption at the addresses of offenders who made the City’s top 100 consumers list.
The City has declared that its attempts to reduce water consumption under the daily target of 500 million liters have failed. With the dam levels currently hovering at around 27% – but let’s remember that the remaining 10% is ‘unusable’ due to sediment in those lower levels of the dams.
A local website named ‘How Many Days of Water Does Cape Town Have Left?‘ has popped up, independently-run and dedicated to tracking the last days of our water supply. It is not clear how frequently the website gets updated though, as the last apparent update occured on August 1st. The situation is looking rather worrying indeed, despite the City’s efforts to spread water consumption water awareness with the ThinkWater campaign.
Cape Town residents and businesses are strongly urged to continue to adhere to the 87 liters per person policy which is still currently in place. It’s likely that this figure will drop as we approach the impending disaster.
A cold front will reach us by Thursday this week, with a moderate amount of rain expected to fall. Another cold front is due to make landfall early next week, bringing with it additional rainfall. Has our winter peaked? It feels like we’re in for an early spring.
Keep following Cape Town Etc for the latest on the drought crisis in Cape Town.