South Africa’s drought-stricken city of Cape Town has pushed back its estimate for “Day Zero,” when residents will have to start queuing for water, to May 11 from April 16, authorities said on Monday, citing a decline in agricultural water usage.
“Capetonians must continue reducing consumption if we are to avoid Day Zero,” Cape Town’s executive deputy major, Alderman Ian Neilson, was quoted as saying.
Neilson added: “All Capetonians must therefore continue to use no more than 50 litres per person per day to help stretch our dwindling supplies.”
The latest data from the city indicate that the Cape Town’s progress in securing alternative water sources is at 62%.
However, from the seven projects which includes desalination, ground and recycled water, only one project – the V&A Waterfront desalination project is on schedule. The combined level of dams supplying the city is at 25.5% – down 0.8% from last week.
