At the City and its partners Energy, Water and Waste Forum, held on October 19, Cape Town Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, said as a result of the impact of climate change, Cape Town had scrapped its old 30-year water plan and adopted a new scenario called the New Normal.
“The New Normal is a plan whereby we no longer rely solely on rainwater to fill our dams, but understand that we require a fundamental change in our behaviour with water – an increasingly scarce resource.”
De Lille emphasised that securing the city’s immediate water future could only be achieved if all sectors of society assumed responsibility for their roles to conserve water, or made use of alternative water.
“In line with Level 5 water restrictions, we are especially targeting the commercial property sector, which needs to reduce consumption by at least 20% compared with a year ago. Our new Water Resilience Plan is on a scale that has never been done before and we need to mobilise a high level of support to make it work.”
Earlier this year Cape Town initiated a Request for Information/Ideas processes calling on the private sector to submit ideas to augment water supplies. The city received over 100 submissions from the market on proposed solutions that would enable them to temporarily establish several small, intermediate and possibly even large plants to supply potable water.
“We have commenced with the procurement and commissioning processes that will see non-surface water from various sources coming on line at different stages and the yields rising incrementally. The City’s Water Resilience Task Team is working on the strategic intent to both augment the system with up to 500 million litres of non-surface water and to drive down consumption to 500 million litres a day,” said De Lille.
There are about 24 initiatives across desalination, groundwater abstraction, and water reuse that are planned. Beyond efforts to augment the system with these initiatives, the City is working closely with the National Government to ensure fairness in allocation of water from the supply system.
Cape Town’s collective water usage has dropped from over 1 billion litres a day at the start of the year to 600 million litres today.
“The most critical path to preserving our dams is driving down consumption. As of Monday, consumption stood at 600 million litres a day, which is 100 million litres more than the City’s target. If we remain at this level, the day of running out of water from our dams will arrive much sooner.”
“To our partners in business, the drought situation is indeed serious. This is not a drill. But there is a plan to avoid water shortages. That plan has roles for government, business, and households.”
De Lille urged business to adhere to the following:
- Continue to seek efficiencies in water use wherever possible to drive down demand;
- Promote and seek feasible opportunities to use alternative water;
- Engage with your staff and customers on ways to reduce water. There are plenty of downloadable resources from the City’s ThinkWater website to assist with engagement;
- Construct your own contingency plans for worst-case scenarios;
- Become a water ambassador and showcase your successes.
