Residents of South Africa’s Cape Town will be required to use no more than 50 litres of water a day from February as the city risks running out of water completely by April.
“The city has reached a point of no return,” Mayor Patricia de Lille said.
“We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them,” she said at a press conference.
“Despite our urging for months, 60% of Capetonians are callously using more than 87 litres per day,” she added, referring to the current daily limit.
Cape Town authorities had earlier in the year banned car washing and filling up of swimming pools as part of efforts to conserve water.
Businesses in the hospitality industry also say they are trying to help, limiting showers to two minutes and using water used for washing dishes and clothes to water gardens.
Much of southern Africa has been recovering from a drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, following heavy summer rains.
However, Cape Town is still gripped by a drought and has had very low rainfall for the last three years.
