Cape Town still in dire straits

Despite an improvement in water savings for the month of February, the City of Cape Town is still lagging behind its overall savings target and drought conditions continue, the city government said on Tuesday.

Reporting on the results of its water savings campaign for the month of February, councillor Saleem Mowzer, mayoral committee member for trading services said: "The improved water savings figure for Cape Town for February shows that residents are taking the drought and water restrictions seriously and that the city's water savings campaign is having the desired effect.

"We cannot relax, however, as we are behind on our overall savings target, the drought continues and dam levels are dropping, but I do want to thank every resident who has played his or her part in saving water."

He disclosed that in February the city had attained 74% of its savings target compared to 60% in January. The "pass rate" is 100% of the savings target.

"Every month we fall short, we carry that deficit forward to the next month," Mowzer added.

The current levels of city dams are Wemmershoek (38.7% full), Steenbras Lower (51.6%), Steenbras Upper (54.1%), Vo�lvlei (27.5%) and Theewaterskloof (33.4%).

Overall, the city's supply dams are 34.2% full.