Day Zero pushed back to June as water users cut back

13th February 2018 By: Natasha Odendaal - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Cape Town’s looming Day Zero has been pushed back to June 4, as Cape Town reduced its water use over the past week to an average of 529-million litres a day – the lowest daily consumption achieved to date.

Last week, Day Zero, which had initially been expected to occur in April, had been further delayed to May 11 owing to the drop in agricultural water use.

“Over this past weekend, residents consumed just 499-million litres a day, the first time we have achieved the daily target of less than 500-million litres a day,” Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said on Tuesday.

Last week, owing to no significant decline in urban water use at the time, the city moved ahead with the implementation of its level 6B water restrictions and tariffs to limit water use to 50 ℓ/d per person.

“If we keep consumption this low for the weeks and months to come, we will defeat Day Zero in 2018,” he said.