City of Cape Town relaxes water restrictions to Level 5
From 1 October the water restriction level will be lowered from the current Level 6b to Level 5.
This means a reduction in the water tariffs that should be somewhere between 26,6 percent and 70 percent per kilolitre.
Deputy mayor for the City of Cape Town, Alderman Ian Neilson says the City has been in discussion with relevant stakeholders and after reviewing the hydrological information and risk studies they came to a conclusion that there should be a relaxation in the water restrictions.
He says the National Department of Water and Sanitation has taken a firm step to wait until the end of the rainy season to see if there's anything that warrants a relaxation of water restrictions.
Read: No Day Zero for 2019 if appropriate water restrictions are maintained
We waited for a response from the DWS but they haven't responded. We don't believe there is any merit in us waiting for a response from them so we are moving ahead and we believe some other municipalities will do the same.
Alderman Ian Neilson, Deputy mayor for the City of Cape Town
This is the first time the City of Cape Town has initiated Level 5 water restrictions. In the past the City has moved straight from Level 4 to Level 6, skipping Level 5.
Nielson says in Level 5 the water consumption has been increased to 70 litres per person per day instead of the 50 litres.
Industrial and commercial users will be restricted by 40% instead of the 45% under Level 6 restrictions.
The city's overall consumption which is at 450 and will be relaxed to 500 megalitres per day.
Alderman Ian Neilson, Deputy mayor for the City of Cape Town
This is not an invitation to a whole scale use of water, it is simply to say it is time to relax things a little bit.
Alderman Ian Neilson, Deputy mayor for the City of Cape Town
To hear the rest of the conversation with Alderman Ian Neilson, listen below:
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