Looming water restrictions amid high demand season

© Jozsef Szasz-Fabian – 123RF.com

Ekurhuleni Municipality said it has received a letter from Rand Water, informing the city that various stages and levels of restrictions will be imposed on the bulk supply meters of Rand Water, in agreement with the municipal customers.

“According to the letter, Rand Water intends to have water consumption staying within the licence target level and that means an overall reduction of 8% by municipalities,” said divisional head: communication and media relations in the City of Ekurhuleni, Nhlanhla Cebekhulu.

Cebekhulu has encouraged customers to do everything in their power to save water at this time.

Harvest rainwater

“Such actions include ensuring that no water goes to waste and that efforts to reuse water are applied. Customers are also reminded to make plans to harvest rainwater which may be used for all other household needs except for drinking and cooking,” Cebekhulu said.

According to the latest weekly report by the Department of Water and Sanitation, the country’s dam levels have dropped by 9% in the past three months, bringing them from 75.2% to 66.6% this week.

However, the department assured that this is not all doom and gloom, as this is normal during this period of the year, as the rainfall season for the inland provinces ended four months ago already.