As President Cyril Ramaphosa announces the closure of all schools until after the Easter Weekend, parents are concerned about how they will manage to keep their kids entertained (other than Netflix or browsing the Internet!) without having to physically leave the house.
Fear not! We have compiled a list of things you may find helpful to ease the boredom and keep the children (and even yourself) busy until the Coronavirus panic dies down.
The City’s Mayoral Committee has today recommended that Council adopt Level 4 water restrictions which would ban all use of municipal water for outside and non-essential use. If approved, it will come into effect as from 1 June 2017. Read more below:
The City warns all water users to use municipal water for essential washing, cooking and drinking purposes only as dam levels are critical and consumption remains far too high.
It has been recommended that the associated Level 4 water and sanitation restriction tariffs be implemented as of 1 July 2017, subject to approval as part 2017/’18 Budget Process by Council.
This table provides a comparison between Level 3b and Level 4 water restrictions:
| Categories | Level 3b | Level 4 |
| Irrigation with municipal drinking water | –Tuesday and Saturdays for an hour, before 09:00 or after 18:00using a bucket or watering can
-Prohibited within 48 hours of adequate-saturation rainfall |
Prohibited |
| Irrigation with non-potable water | -Strongly encouraged to follow same rules as potable water
-Prohibited within 48 hours of adequate-saturation rainfall
-To be used by City departments |
-Strongly encouraged only on Tuesday and Saturdays before 09:00or after 18:00 for an hour
-Discouraged for 7 days after adequate-saturation rainfall
-To be used by City departments |
| Bathroom | No restriction | Flushing toilets with non-potable water (e.g. greywater or rainwater) encouraged |
| Water features | Use of municipal drinking water strongly discouraged | Use of municipal drinking water prohibited |
| Swimming pools | -Manual top up only if fitted with pool cover
-Use of portable play pools prohibited
– Pool covers for public swimming pools strongly encouraged |
-Top-up, filling or refilling prohibited
– Use of portable play pools prohibited
– Pool covers for public swimming pools strongly encouraged |
| Washing vehicles | – Commercial car wash industries must comply with industry best practice norms
– Informal car washes to use only buckets and not hosepipes |
– Prohibited with municipal drinking water
– Car wash businesses may apply for exemption |
| Facilities | -Spray parks to be strictly managed
-Golf courses, sports facilities, parks, schools and learning institutions are not allowed to establish new landscaping or sports fields, except if irrigated only with non-potable water |
– Operation of spray parks prohibited
-Golf courses, sports facilities, parks, schools and learning institutions are not allowed to establish new landscaping or sports fields, except if irrigated only with non-potable water |
| Indigent water allocation | Free 350 litres | Free 350 litres |
| Overall consumption per person | No restriction | 100 litres/person/day strongly encouraged |
‘Use water only for drinking, cooking and essential washing. The intensified restriction also specifically makes reference to a limit on water use for these purposes to 100 litres or less per person per day. Please don’t flush your toilet unnecessarily as 10 flushes per day, for example, would almost be your entire water allocation for the day.
‘Furthermore, we expect water users who are making use of borehole water for irrigation to do so only on designated days as uncontrolled use of non-potable water affects us all. The City does however not regulate borehole use and it is a national government competency. Filling or topping up of pools is prohibited under Level 4 restrictions.
‘We need all Capetonians to pay heed to our warning that we are in a serious predicament at the moment. We cannot watch four million water users in the city 24/7. Behind closed doors is also where many misuses and contraventions will occur, as we’ve seen from the previous restrictions. Every single drop that is wasted or saved, is making a difference to our dam levels,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy, Councillor Xanthea Limberg.
The proposed fines to accompany Level 4 restrictions are subject to Council and the Chief Magistrate’s approval. It ranges between R1 000 and R5 000. Most of the fines have been increased from R0 and R2 000 to R1 000 and R3 000 to R5 000 respectively because of the severity of the situation at hand. The City hopes that the Magistrate will determine the fine schedules as suggested.
The limit for a spot fine is R5 000, but the courts may determine a fine of up to R10 000 on conviction.
The City continues with its pressure reduction programmes across the metro which forcibly reduces supply at a given time. Other emergency interventions are under way, and if required, the City will start to implement a lifeline supply of water across the metro.
Over this coming week consumption must be brought down by 100 million litres of water per day.
Residents may contact the City via email to water@capetown.gov.za for queries or to report contraventions of the water restrictions (evidence should be provided to assist the City’s enforcement efforts) or they can send an SMS to 31373.
For further information, residents should please visit the water restrictions page on the City’s website: www.capetown.gov.za/thinkwater
