• From Saturday 1 December 2018, water restrictions and the associated tariffs will be lowered from Level 5 to Level 3 recovery restrictions, which includes increasing the daily usage from 70 litres per person per day to 105 litres per person per day; or from 500 million litres to 650 million litres of collective usage per day
• Tariffs will also be lowered to Level 3. If for example residents use less than 6 000 litres per month (Step 1) they can expect to pay 35,5% less
• This decision follows on from the National Department of Water and Sanitation’s latest water assessment
• Restrictions remain on a fairly strict recovery level as a precaution to deal with rainfall uncertainty in 2019 and 2020
• We encourage Cape Town’s water ambassadors to maintain their water-wise approach during the recovery phase and as the metro moves towards becoming a more water-sensitive city in the near future
• The 40% restriction on water usage applicable to businesses has been removed but the sector is strongly encouraged to continue implementing and investigating the further efficient use of water in their operations

The City of Cape Town’s water users can expect a considerable reduction in the cost of water to be reflected in their municipal invoices from next month. This is due to the lowering of water restrictions from Level 5 to Level 3 recovery restrictions from Saturday1 December 2018.

The City views 2019 as a recovery year after having successfully emerged from the unprecedented drought.

This decision to lower restrictions comes after a meeting between the National Department of Water and Sanitation and the water users of the Western Cape Water Supply System, namely the agricultural sector, Western Cape Government, municipalities and the Cape Town metro regarding the water assessment for the year ahead.

Based on National Government’s assessment of the hydrological year, a saving of between 10% and 20% for urban water users has been proposed. However, the City has decided to implement a more cautious 30% saving to help with the recovery of the dams and to cater for the uncertainty that exists around rainfall volumes and frequency in 2019.

‘I want to thank all the residents, officials, and visitors to Cape Town who played their part in helping us get through one of the worst droughts this city has ever seen. While the drought is not yet over, we have seen that there is room to bring some relief to our residents. I know it has been tough and I hope that this reduction in tariffs will bring some comfort over the festive season. We will still need to be water-wise though, as we do not know what the next rainy season holds.

‘We are no longer in a period of extreme scarcity, but it does not mean that we should forego some of the great water-wise ways that we have made a part of our daily lives – and for which we have become world famous. We are situated in a water-scarce region and the water-wise efforts and ways to diversify and augment our water supply should and will continue.

‘If one looks at international drought experience, water restrictions are either implemented too late or lifted too early. Hence our decision to take a conservative approach to the recovery while we continue to monitor the situation,’ said the City’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato.

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy, Councillor Xanthea Limberg added: ‘We see 2019 as a recovery year after having successfully emerged from the severe and unprecedented drought. Based on our own assessment, we are following a conservative approach in the light of rainfall uncertainty over the coming two years. These Level 3 recovery restrictions are also a measure to help support the great change we have seen in the relationship that we have with water while, at the same time, providing some financial relief to residents and businesses. This is not only a period of recovery for our dams, but also for our economy as a whole as well as for our residents and businesses who truly made huge sacrifices to help us get Cape Town through the drought.’

Due to the extreme economic and rural hardship that has been suffered as a result of the drought, the agricultural sector will only reduce water usage by 10% as it too enters a period of recovery. The City fully supports this move as the agricultural sector also supported the City as an urban water user during the height of the drought.

Please see the following links for information on:

• Level 3 restriction guidelines: http://bit.do/L3-guide
• Level 3 water and sanitation tariffs: http://bit.do/L3-tariffs
• Level 3 overview: http://bit.do/L3-overview

·       Level 3 FAQs: http://bit.do/L3-faqs

DMI Guideline Series – A5 flyer

Full information (content of the booklets) can be downloaded from the following link :

http://www.capetown.gov.za/Family%20and%20home/City-publications/publications-and-reports/building-planning-and-development

CITY OF CAPE TOWN

20 MARCH 2018

STATEMENT BY THE CITY’S EXECUTIVE DEPUTY MAYOR, ALDERMAN IAN NEILSON

Let’s keep our water-saving focus, Team Cape Town

As at Monday 19 March 2018, our collective consumption over the past week was 565 million litres of water per day. Unfortunately, usage has increased by 54 million litres per day from last week’s record low of 511 million litres per day. Nevertheless, we are confident that our water users will again shatter water use records in the weeks ahead. Read more below:

Our dam levels have shown only a slight decline of 0,3% to 22,7% . This is the lowest decline in dam levels this year to date. This can likely be attributed to somewhat lower evaporation rates and small amounts of rainfall, especially in the Steenbras Dam area.

We will continue to monitor the water usage trend to see whether the increase in consumption is a once-off occurrence or whether there is another underlying reason that would need to be addressed.

Level 6B water restrictions are still in place. Water pressure reduction remains in place, water management devices continue to be installed on the connections of high water users and the bills based on 6B tariffs are reaching consumers. It is essential that we all continue to save water.

All water users are reminded that the City is still required by the National Government to reduce water usage to 450 million litres per day in order to stretch the available water supplies through the rest of the year. This equates to a reduction of 45% from normal usage. We are currently hovering at just below a 40% reduction. A sustained collective push is now required to reduce consumption by just 5% in order to achieve our target.

We will continue to drive our initiatives to reduce water consumption. This will include advanced pressure management, the installation of water management devices at the properties of high water users and proactively implementing advanced water restrictions and associated tariffs to encourage behaviour change.

If all Capetonians join us by keeping their consumption down to 50 litres of water a day, or less, we will avoid having to take more drastic actions.

Please visit www.capetown.gov.za/thinkwater for all water-related information, including Level 6B restrictions and FAQs about Day Zero as well as tips to lower usage even further.

The Salt River BID plays a vital role in the efforts by all Capetonians to save water. 

Quite often our patrol vehicles detect the leaking water meters and burst pipes in the small hours of the morning and through the SRBID Control Room alert the City of Cape Town as soon as possible.  This results in a quick reaction from maintenance crews but more importantly, vast amounts of wasted water are stopped from leaking away into the stormwater system because the City can act swiftly to shut off water supply and repairs can commence. 

Often the only evidence of this vital work is the sandy patch in the road from the work done while the rest of us were fast asleep.  

Picture: City Crews at work on a bust pipe with City maintenance team attending to the problem:

Thanks to the commitment of all who are involved in the Salt River Improvement District drive, much needed progress is being made in various ways. 

Accompanying images tell the story of how problems like security issues, illegal dumping and the confiscation of stolen trolleys and wheelie-bins are successfully addressed by the teams. 

The Public Safety issues that are addressed during the day-to-day activities, include problems related to the following:  

• Illegal Dumping 
• Engaging with the public (public safety officers engage with all people in the public space to ensure that everyone is aware of the SRBID’s presence and activities. This is done in conjunction with and in support of the city’s law enforcement officers who oversee such activities. If something suspicious is found, the law enforcement agencies and/or SAPS act accordingly. 
• Bin scratching  

• CCTV in action  
• Trolley and wheelie-bin confiscation 

The Cleaning issues include: 

• Litter picking 

• De-weeding 
• Sweeping streets 

On the Urban management side, the SRBID Management continues to log all urban and infrastructure defects as C3 notifications with the City of Cape Town for correction. The accompanying photos show the result of these actions as the City and other partners address issues. 

Photographs: 

Demonstrating the variety of activities that the ERCID engages in, sometimes in collaboration with teams of the CCT and law enforcement agencies. 

South Africa will experience its second annual International Public Art Festival (IPAF), a 9-day festival to be held from 10 to 19 February 2018, in the community of Salt River.

This second festival promises to yet again bring together an eclectic mix of artists from different continents, in one space for nine days, to paint beautiful, large murals for the public to observe and engage with the local and international artists. Each artist will be given a wall space in Salt River as they interpret this year’s theme of “Nature Doesn’t Need Us: We Need Nature.” Between 2017 and 2018, 80 murals would have been painted in Salt River.

The festival, is just one of BAZ-ART’s mission to use art as a fun outlet for social change, one community at a time and draw art lovers out into the streets. Attendance is free, but private guided tours by local certified tour guides and spray paint workshop hosted by our renowned SA artists can be bought from Webticket.

This year Baz-Art is partnering with IPAF Mexico and IPAF Canada. Thanks to the strong partnership with the respective embassies and the city of Cape Town, IPAF 2018 will see artists from a variety of genres and places coming from as far as Flanders, France, Ukraine, Finland, alongside a dozen local artists from South Africa.

Asked about why Baz-Art brought this annual event to Cape Town, organizer Alexandre Tilmans said, “Public festivals act as a creative vessel to enhance artists and make the communities stand strong together. This festival showcases the rich history, creativity, skills, diversity and style of South Africa’s public artists, as a result, we act as a platform for painting murals and billboards providing commissioned work to South African artists at a local and international level.” concludes Alexandre. The full artist line up can be consulted on Baz-Art and IPAF websites.

The International Public Art Festival in Salt River 2018 falls within the art month in Cape Town, with events such as the Cape Town Art Fair and That Art Fair, the week promises to explore various art forms, for a completely explosive experience in art immersion.

Tickets to the SPRAY PAINT workshops and GUIDED TOURS will be on sale from Webticket; keep an eye on Baz-Art’s Facebook page for updates.