The City of Cape Town in the Western Cape has drilled its first test borehole in Mitchells Plain in hopes that the earth’s natural underground reservoirs will provide much needed water for the province.
Cape Town’s Mayor Patricia De Lille attended the drilling tests into the Cape Flats Aquifer for additional water supply and said the city hopes to gain an additional 150 million litres of water per day from the three major aquifers in and around the Mother City.
Dam levels in the Western Cape have dropped below 30% as the province battles the worst drought in decades.
De Lille says, for the first time since the drought began, the dam levels are at 29. 4%, which means that only 19.4% is usable and the city is very critical now.
She added saying, “Capetownians still use 580 million litres of water per day. There are many people who are not adhering to the 87 litres per person per day, and because of that day zero has now been moved forward to April 22, 2018.”
