The Western Cape has done a remarkable job in recovering its water levels. So much so that it has led to water restrictions planning on being lifted on the 1st of November 2020.
The City of Cape Town will change the water restrictions to a “water-wise tariffâ€, which has been approved by the city council. The decision came with the plan to also lower water tariffs based on a few considerations.
Introducing the water-wise tariff plan, the mayoral committee welcomed it with open arms as they support the City’s decision.
This came after a long winter of consistent rainfall, that followed with a big increase in water levels of dams in the Western Cape in 2019 after the extreme drought in 2017 and 2018.
A Plan Beyond 2020
The City’s decision to lift water restriction comes from previous years of excessive stress around the idea that Day Zero managed to make it to the doorstep of the mother city. With some of the Western Cape’s dams over 100% full, there is a fear that the city could experience drought again in the future. The new water-wise tariff plan will apply to all of the Western Cape’s Water Supply System of shared dams, with Cape Town being one of the users. To defend any concerns that the residents may have about how successful the next winter will be, the City’s projections indicate that dams are very unlikely to drop below 50% again, at least not in 2021. It also suggests potential water usage patterns for the summer in the next few months, will be sufficient for the City to lower water tariffs. Furthermore, there is hope for the future as Cape Town is becoming a resilient city due to new sources of water supply being added in the long-run.
