Drought hit South Africa capital wakes up to stricter restrictions on water usage

NewsBharati 01-Jan-2018

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Cape Town, January 1: South African capital wakes up to stricter water restrictions on the first day of the year. As the city is suffering from water crisis since a long time, this step has been taken to prevent taps of Cape Town going dry. Monday marks the start of level 6 water restrictions.

The new restriction holds water usage greater than 10 500 litres a month per household as excessive. Water management devices will be installed in such households of the city. All the steps are being taken to avoid day zero, the day on which Cape Town might be the first major city in the world to run out of the water. Insufficient rainfall and fast declining dam levels have led to the current drought in Cape Town.

Agricultural users need to reduce usage by 60% compared with the pre-drought period. Borehole water use for outdoor purposes is discouraged in order to preserve groundwater resources. Use of highest 87 liters of municipal drinking water per person per day is allowed under the new rule.

"With the average household size in Cape Town closer to three people, much can still be done to ensure that we are not queueing for water in March or April 2018. "Our hot and dry summer is here. We are not going to be given many more chances to really reduce our water usage. We have to do it now," City’s Mayor De Lille said.

Cape Town Water Crisis Drought