Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille has once again stated the importance of imposing a drought levy in the Western Cape.
De Lille has called on council to approve the levy which will affect more than 460 000 households in the midst of the worst drought in the province in decades.
In a lengthy statement released by De Lille’s office, she stresses the importance of the much-needed levies. She says due to water users decreasing their water consumption and paying less for the scarce commodity, The Water and Sanitation Department has a projected deficit in the region of R1.7 billion for the 2017/ 2018 financial year.
If approved by council, the income generated will be more than R400 million for the 2017/2018 financial year and approximately R1 billion over three years. But the proposal has not been well received by some.
On Wednesday, the DA Metro Executive called on council not to approve the levy. The public has until next Monday the 15th of January to make submissions.
More than 45 000 submissions have already been received.
Dam levels below 30%
De Lille has confirmed that dam levels in the Western Cape have dropped below 30% as the province battles the worst drought in decades.
De Lille attended the first drilling tests in Mitchells Plain into the Cape Flats Aquifer for additional water supply.
De Lille says it is hoped to gain an additional 150 million litres of water per day from the three major aquifers in and around the Mother City.
“For the first time since the drought began the dam levels are below 30 percent, 29 point four which also means that 19 point four percent is usable, which means it’s very critical now, and also because of the high usage of water, 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 the 22nd of april.”
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