CoCT renews call for residents to reduce water usage amid low dam levels

The City of Cape Town’s Mayco Member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, has renewed a call for residents to reduce water usage as dam levels hover at 66%.

Despite repeated warnings, water consumption remains high, prompting officials to urge households to cover swimming pools and fix leaks immediately.

The city said every drop saved now will help prevent further strain on Cape Town’s water supply.
 
“Please ensure that your pools have covers on that. Pools are not being filled, that you're not watering gardens in the middle of the day, that you're avoiding unnecessary car washes."

Meanwhile, the water crisis has deepened in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, comprised of Gqeberha, Despatch and Kariega.

The metro currently has 39.75% of usable water available.

CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Denise van Huyssteen said, “This decline in available water is not driven by declining dam levels alone, but also by unaccounted water losses of well over 50% caused by the lack of maintenance of water infrastructure and leaks, which is costing the metro millions of litres of treated water every day.”