A steep hike in water tariffs could be one of the long-term solutions to Cape Town’s crippling water shortages, the Cape Chamber of Commerce says. The city is set to scrap free-water quotas and increase tariffs as the worst drought in decades continues to bite.
The critical water shortages have prompted fears that taps could soon run dry.
On Monday, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille declared the province a disaster area as dam levels slumped to 20.7%. With the last 10% of a dam’s water mostly unusable, dam levels are effectively at 10.7%. Forecasts also suggest the region will receive less than average rainfall during the winter rainfall season, which will likely prolong the crisis.
On Wednesday, Cape Chamber president Janine Myburgh said there is no doubt that water will become more expensive in the future and every business should plan to use water more efficiently. "The electricity crisis and the shocking tariff increases forced people to find ways to use less electricity and now we must do the same with water," she said.
Myburgh appealed to all businesses throughout the province to do everything possible to save water and to make plans to use less water in the future. "The drought has turned the Western Cape into a disaster area and we have to take urgent measures to reduce water use, but we must also see it as a long-term problem."
Rain water tanks are an obvious measure, said Myburgh. Many industrial buildings have extensive roof areas and are in a position to collect large quantities of water for their own use and for neighbouring industries, she said. "Once again, this could lead to long-term cost savings, just as solar-powered geysers produced long-term electricity savings."
Myburgh said it was also important to hold the authorities accountable for poor planning: "It is a scandal, for instance, that the massive quantity of waste heat from the Koeberg nuclear power station is not used in flash evaporation chambers to desalinate sea water for our very dry West Coast. The technology is old hat and used extensively throughout the Middle East."
All municipalities should be forced to set targets for recycling water, said Myburgh. In Cape Town, 6% of water is recycled and this is simply "not good enough, although it is probably better than most municipalities in the province".
Cape Town is set to introduce level four water restrictions which ban all use of municipal water for outside and non-essential use, and limit residents to 100 litres of water per person per day. Meanwhile, the provincial government said on Wednesday that animal farmers are among the worst affected by the prevailing drought.
Western Cape economic opportunities MEC Alan Winde said: "In livestock, we estimate that more than 30,000 animals have been sold as farmers battle to feed their core herds. We have seen a decline in the volume of wine grapes harvested, in part due to a lack of irrigation water. This will result in an estimated R500m loss in that industry."
Winde said the provincial department of agriculture had allocated R80m for drought relief through re-prioritisation of the equitable share budget since 2015-16. These funds have supported farmers with the purchasing of fodder for their animals.
The provincial disaster declaration will be used as a further motivation to request drought relief funding from the national government.
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