After yesterday’s rains across the metropole, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille briefed media, and Twitter, on updates regarding its water resilience scheme.
The scheme aims to “avoid a time when users do not have access to municipal drinking water”, de Lille explained.
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“In terms of our Water Resilience Plan to augment supply with schemes, we are expecting the first water to come online by Dec 2017 /Jan 2018,” she tweeted.
The plan intends to add an additional 500-million litres per day to Cape Town’s water supply by using natural springs, aquifers, and desalination. The latter, however, won’t be ready this year.
“[W]ater from temporary land-based desalination plants is expected by February 2018,” she continued, stating that initially two plants are expected to be online.
I want to assure residents we will not allow a well-run city to run out of water. Today I outline the plan to avoid critical water shortages pic.twitter.com/Z9pQS21adL
— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) October 4, 2017
“These [plants] will be in Monwabisi & Strandfontein. Thereafter from March 2018 onwards, additional desalination projects are expected to come online.”
She also revealed that the resilience plan is subdivided into three phases.
I have met with returned with Water & Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane to discuss water security & licences for the emergency schemes.
— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) October 4, 2017
“The City activated Phase 1 with water rationing through pressure reduction,” she tweeted. “This is a critical stage where we must all do everything we can to stretch the water supply in our dams.”
Notably, Cape Town dams’ total storage failed to breach the 40% mark in September, thanks to below average rainfall.
