Cape Town - City of Cape Town inspectors are undertaking inspections to check if the public is complying with the requirements of water by-laws as water usage remains high.
After topping one billion litres per day, water usage has recently decreased to 936 million litres a day. However this is still higher than the 850 million litres per day target that the City has urged the public to stay below.
To amplify the call for the public to reduce their usage, particularly outdoors, the City’s Water Inspectorate has been doing inspections to check if the public is complying with the requirements of water by-laws.
The City is calling on the public to reduce non-essential outdoor water usage through various means, including watering gardens before 9am and after 6pm every day, and less often, and also ensuring pools are covered to reduce evaporation losses.
“We had below-average rainfall last year, and this could happen again this year. Using less water will also help reduce the impact of ongoing load-shedding on our water supply system,” Acting mayco member for water and sanitation Siseko Mbandezi said.
“At this stage, a transgressor can be issued a spot fine each time they are caught in the act of transgressing the by-law, such as not watering at the correct times and the swimming pool not being covered.”
The City’s Water inspectorate is responsible for monitoring and enforcing water by-laws and its related policies, standards and procedures by conducting regular/daily building site inspections to ensure proper water related installation materials are used and are SABS approved, engaging with contractors/plumbers daily regarding construction projects in progress, attending to complaints, inspecting plumbing installations under construction and issuing relevant Certificates of Compliance as may be required.
The inspectorate also conducts blitz operations/targeted enforcement on certain by-law measures in areas as and when required, sometimes with other enforcement agencies.
Cape Times