The City of Cape Town has warned residents to reduce water consumption immediately or face disaster, this after daily water usage rocketed to well above the target of 500-million litres per day.

The City said that recent rains did not mean that life could go back to normal.

According to the City, water usage has shot up to 643-million litres per day – 143-million litres above the City’s target of 500-million litres of collective water use per day. ‘

In a statement, the City said the “latest consumption levels are extremely worrying as many people believe that they can go back to normal behaviour due to recent rains.

“These recent rains are not nearly enough as we are still in a drought crisis. The drought conditions are the New Normal for Cape Town as a water-scarce region. To adapt to the New Normal, we have to change our behaviour drastically to save water while we still have water to be saved.”

The City added that too many people were not listening to warnings and appeals to reduce consumption.

“The rainfall has made a very small impact on our dam levels. The fact that we are still 143-million litres over our 500-million litre target per day means that those who are not reducing consumption are playing with everyone’s future in Cape Town.

“The lower than average rainfall, coupled with unacceptably high consumption, will hurt us all as there are still far too many stubborn people who are not doing enough to save water so that we can build up reserves for a terribly harsh 2017/18 summer.”

The City said dam storage levels were at 27.4%, but useable water was only at about 17.4% which was very low for this time of the year. This time last year dam storage levels were at 47.6%, with useable water at this time of year standing at 37.6%.

“We are in a dire situation and Level 4b water restrictions require all water users to use less than 87 l of water per person per day in total, irrespective of whether they are at home, work or elsewhere.”

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy, Xanthea Limberg, said: “Water users who are not adhering to the restrictions are playing with our collective future. We must save water while we still have it. We simply must do more to use water more sparingly. We are reminding those households who fail to reduce consumption that the start of the process that could restrict supply is firmly under way.”