Mayor Patricia de Lille said the city council was replacing its unpopular proposed drought levy with higher tariffs and a punitive charge for anyone who uses more than 50 litres of water a day.
Cape Town firmly pushed the drought panic button on Thursday.
Mayor Patricia de Lille said the city council was replacing its unpopular proposed drought levy with higher tariffs and a punitive charge for anyone who uses more than 50 litres of water a day.
The new 50-litre limit will be backed up by a city-wide consumption target of 450 million litres a day.
De Lille told a news conference: “We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them.”
Households that use up to 6‚000 litres of water a month‚ currently paying R28.44‚ will see their bill rise to R145.98.
For those who use up to10‚500 litres‚ the bill will rise from R109.50 to R390.82.
Then it gets ugly. Households that use up to 20‚000 litres will see their bill rise from R361.06 to R1‚536.25; up to 35‚000 litres‚ bills will rise from R1‚050.04 to R6‚939.57; and up to 50‚000 litres‚ bills will rise from R2‚888.81 to R20‚619.57.
De Lille pushes the drought panic button
Image: TREVOR SAMSON/Business Day
Mayor Patricia de Lille said the city council was replacing its unpopular proposed drought levy with higher tariffs and a punitive charge for anyone who uses more than 50 litres of water a day.
Cape Town firmly pushed the drought panic button on Thursday.
Mayor Patricia de Lille said the city council was replacing its unpopular proposed drought levy with higher tariffs and a punitive charge for anyone who uses more than 50 litres of water a day.
The new 50-litre limit will be backed up by a city-wide consumption target of 450 million litres a day.
De Lille told a news conference: “We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them.”
Households that use up to 6‚000 litres of water a month‚ currently paying R28.44‚ will see their bill rise to R145.98.
For those who use up to10‚500 litres‚ the bill will rise from R109.50 to R390.82.
Then it gets ugly. Households that use up to 20‚000 litres will see their bill rise from R361.06 to R1‚536.25; up to 35‚000 litres‚ bills will rise from R1‚050.04 to R6‚939.57; and up to 50‚000 litres‚ bills will rise from R2‚888.81 to R20‚619.57.
De Lille decries DA confusion on Cape Town drought levy
Said De Lille: “I will personally fight to ensue that the proposed punitive tariff exempts those (households) who are using less than 6‚000 litres per month.
“On the punitive tariff‚ provision will be made for households larger than four people to ensure that they are not unfairly penalised.
“In terms of the drought charge‚ it is likely to be dropped after massive outcry from Capetonians that it was unfair. I understand that response and it has personally been a tough lesson for the city.”
De Lille said the result of dropping the drought charge was that “we are now going to have to make deep cuts to important projects”.
The new 50-litre-a-day limit‚ which takes effect on February 1 under Level 6b water restrictions‚ was “to make up for the many months of missing the 500 million-litre-a-day target”‚ she said.
“The new daily collective consumption target is now 450 million litres per day. This will be in place for 150 days‚ after which the city will reassess.
“Level 6b will also limit irrigation using boreholes and wellpoints.”
This is a developing story.
Level-six water restrictions came into effect on January 1 2018. It is possible that the current restriction of 87 litres per person per day will be replaced with a 50-litre limit. Here’s how to u...
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