Regulations
To deal with the delicate water supply, city officials in Cape Town began implementing water restrictions, with the first water restriction, level one beginning in November of 2005. The restrictions apply to all residents with separate rules governing residential and non-residential inhabitants. The restrictions cover a broad spectrum of water use and aim to make sure that water is being used wisely. The water restriction levels are implemented based on the water level of the 6 dams (Cape Town Government, 2018). Level 1 remained in effect until January 2016 when it was replaced by level 2. Due to the lack of rainfall and the growing population, level 2 restrictions were replaced with level 3 in November 2016, then by level 4 in May 2017, level 5 in September 2017 and level 6 in January of 2018. Level 6 remained in effect until October 2018 and the current water restriction level has been “relaxed” to level 5.
Tariffs
To accompany the water restrictions, the city was forced to implement water tariffs. As water usage decreased, revenue that was being used for the new projects also decreased, creating a R$2BN+ shortfall. The initial water tariffs carried higher charges for those housholds using greater than 10,500L / month but recently, the city has been forced to hike the rates for households using between 0–6,000L/month by 55.2% and those households using between 6,000 – 10,500L/month by 6.3% (Groundup, 2018). Additionally, the new tariffs imposed continued to place a larger strain on the lesser consuming househoulds as they tend to have more occupants. Lastly, the indigent population (~270,000) are exempt from the water tariffs as long as they remain under 10,500 L/month.
Fines
A final lever used by Cape Town city officials over the course of the last two years is the usage of city fines for violating water restriction limits, illegal pumping from rivers or bore holes, unregistered building of boreholes and other violations deemed necessary. These fines have ranged from R2,000 – R10,000 (Cape Town Government, 2018), which when can range from 5% – 50% of the average Cape Town salary.
These fines have grown since 2016 and have grown even higher after the city recently relaxed the water restrictions from level 6 to level 5, with the hope that relaxing the restrictions doesn’t dramatically increase the water usage.
Photo credit:
Brett Walton