By Yaseen Kippie

Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille announced today that day zero of the water availability in Cape Town has been moved from March 2018 to 13 May 2018. De Lille was at a Maitland collection point set up for day zero. She thanked Capetonians for their efforts in reducing water consumption.

With the dams currently at 36.8%, day zero will usher in when dams are below 13.5%, causing the city’s taps to be turned off.

According to the World Health Organisation, a human being needs 25 litres of water per day to survive. If or when day zero arrives, collection points have been set up at 200 locations across Cape Town. 20 000 people will be allowed at each site per day, with 25 litres of water given to each person.

Four desalination plants are currently underway. They are in Monwabisi, Strandfontein, the V&A Waterfront, and the Cape Town Harbour.

There is also an aquifier project in the Cape Flats. Most of all, the Zandvliet water recycling project will produce an additional 144 million litres of water per day between February and July next year, and is expected to be even more post-July.

Currently, the Molteno Reservoir in Oranjezicht provides two million litres of water per day. The Atlantis Aquifier produces five million litres per day.

There are 12 additional projects that will be brought from February next year, pushing day zero further.

De Lille emphasized that the only way day zero will be pushed further and not brought forward is if Capetonians maintain water usage of 87 or less litres per day.

On Day Zero:
· Residents will have to collect a predefined quantity of drinking water per person per day from approximately 200 sites collection sites across the city. The quantity will be based on the minimum requirements for people to maintain health and hygiene. At the moment, the plan is that we will distribute 25 litres per person per day which is in line with the World Health Organisation recommendation
· We are working on an estimation of up to 20 000 people per site per day
· Based on demand, we are considering extended or 24-hour operations at these sites
· The City’s Water and Sanitation Department especially will be considering the impact on sanitation services. An extensive public health communication campaign will be mounted in advance to ensure that all sanitation systems continue to function and limit the risk of disease
· The City’s Water and Sanitation Department, City law enforcement teams, and the Disaster Risk Management Section are conducting preparedness exercises to be ready should Day Zero come
· The City is consulting with the South African Police Service and the National Defence Force to ensure the safety of residents at these sites and maintain general law and order. Today teams are testing how a real water collection point will work. This is one of many preparedness exercises that the City is undertaking

De Lille concluded: Cape Town, the situation is serious, but we can make it if we all do our utmost in partnership. We can avoid Day Zero by working together.” [VOC]