Well we knew it was coming, given the fact that the whole country is experiencing something of a massive drought, but now we know what we’re in store for.

The City of Cape Town has just approved level 2 water restrictions in the city, restrictions that carry a number of changes to how we use our resources. IOL with more:

[Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg] said the water restrictions, which come in light of the country’s ongoing drought conditions, meant that Capetonians would have to “tighten up on their water usage”. Capetonians – who use water from alternative sources such as rain water harvesting, grey water, treated effluent water, wellpoints and boreholes – should only water their gardens, parks and open spaces before 9am in the morning and after 6pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

These users must not water for more than than an hour.

That seems decent enough but here comes the real kicker:

Sonneberg said the city warned residents that due to low dam levels, they might experience erratic water pressure or a different taste or discoloration in their water due to “low levels of geosmin in dam waters.”

Geosmin, he said, was a naturally occurring compound that gave the water an “earthy taste and odour”. He said it is not toxic or harmful to one’s health, and assured residents and visitors that the city was working around the clock to ensure the city’s water supply quality was not affected and remained safe for human consumption.

If you happen to have told your overseas visitors about our fresh drinking water straight from the mountain you may want to ring them back. Then there’s the impact to the pocket:

The water restrictions would impact on residents’ water accounts as from January 1, 2016, customers would be charged according to a tariff that has been “designed to be revenue-neutral when applied to the 10 percent reduced consumption levels”.

Sonnenberg said this meant customers would receive a bill at a similar rand value if they reduced water consumption by 10 percent.

In short it will pay for us all to be considerate with our water usage going forward – maybe consider sharing a shower with a friend, we’ll cure this problem one scrub down at a time.

[source:iol]