CAPE TOWN, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The City of Cape Town will run out of water around March 2018 as the worst water crisis shows no sign of abating, Mayor Patricia de Lille warned on Wednesday.
But the mayor assured residents that the city would try every means possible to prevent that from happening.
Cape Town, known as the Mother City of South Africa, is in a water-scarce region and is currently in the midst of a very serious drought.
Insufficient rainfall and fast declining dam levels have led to the current unprecedented water crisis. As of Monday, the usable water left in dams stood at 27.6 percent.
This has prompted the city to implement its Critical Water Shortages Disaster Plan, which will guide Capetonians through the coming months, De Lille said.
Under the plan, collective consumption of water has to be reduced from the current 618 million liters per day to the required levels of 500 million liters.
Residents are urged to cut water use to less than 87 liters per person per day, use municipal drinking water only for essential washing, cooking and drinking purposes, and limit household consumption to 20 kiloliters per month.
"If you can afford it, please invest in alternative water sources, e.g. greywater, rain water harvesting and underground water," said De Lille.
De Lille detailed the various ways through which the city was finding other sources of water.
These include the building of temporary land-based desalination plants which are expected to be operational by February 2018, and additional water from groundwater extraction.
De Lille said she had just met with Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane.
"She was very supportive. We have raised a couple of issues with her," De Lille said. "She has promised she will help."
With a population of almost 4 million, the city approved Level 5 water restrictions, effective from Sept. 3 until further notice.
Level 5 restrictions entail a ban on all use of municipal drinking-quality water for outside and non-essential purposes. Enditem
