Don’t relax efforts to save water, not even when it rains – City of Cape Town
Along with some rainfall in Cape Town over the past weekend, a resident captured on video the moment when it started to snow.
The City of Cape Town tweeted this photo of the drought-stricken Western Cape and urged water consumers to not use more water when it rained. Picture: @CityofCT on Twitter
Despite some rainfall, and even some snow, in Cape Town over the past weekend, the City of Cape Town is urging its residents to keep their water consumption down.
Rainfall is far below the long-term average, with 16,4% usable water left. #ThinkWaterCT & only use drinking water for essential purposes. pic.twitter.com/YtdWbLH4WV
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) July 18, 2017
On Monday, the City of Cape Town media office issued a statement that said the city’s catchment areas received insufficient rainfall. “The City warns residents not to relax their water-saving efforts despite the rainfall and cold spell as the metro and other parts of the country remain in the grip of the severe drought,” read the statement.
The City reminded water users to use less than 87 litres of water a person per day.
As reported yesterday, dam storage levels were at 26.4% but only 16.4% of this water is usable.
The City’s MMC for informal settlements, water and waste Services, and energy, Councillor Xanthea Limberg, warned that the water usage figures showed consumers were “influenced by the weather” and that this was “part of the challenge of the behaviour change path that we are currently on”.
Drought crisis: do not use more water when it rains https://t.co/SAQvGRRvON #CTNews pic.twitter.com/izkDrkJ7x6
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) July 18, 2017
Limberg continued: “We will have those users who wrongly believe that a bit of rain will lift us out of the drought. Similarly, we’ll have those who fight and resist the water restrictions and usage limits. The fact remains that we do not have a choice. We must save water while we still have it.
“We are expecting a tough summer ahead. Those great water ambassadors should please continue their efforts to influence their peers. Warning letters are currently being sent to exorbitant users. If they fail to act or to justify their high usage, water supply to their properties will be restricted.”
The City of Cape Town further drew up a table showing the rainfall received in the various areas in Cape Town over July 14 to 16. Wemmershoek, Table Mountain (Woodhead), Wynberg and Theewaterskloof received the most amount of rainfall on July 15.
See the full table here:
| Rainfall (mm) | 14 July | 15 July | 16 July | July total | July long-term |
| Blackheath Upper | 0 | 23 | 0 | 30 | 80,8 |
| Newlands | 0 | 17,5 | 21 | 68,5 | 273,2 |
| Steenbras | 0 | 20 | 0 | 42,8 | 141,3 |
| Table Mountain (Woodhead) | 0 | 39,5 | 73,7 | 231,1 | |
| Theewaterskloof | 5 | 27 | 0 | 55,4 | 73,5 |
| Tygerberg | 0 | 22,4 | 0 | 34,4 | 83,4 |
| Voëlvlei | 0 | 24 | 0 | 34 | 94,5 |
| Wemmershoek | 0 | 40 | 0,6 | 85,1 | 160,5 |
| Wynberg | 0 | 28,5 | 0,4 | 46,5 | 207,3 |
| Brooklands | 3 | 25 | 0 | 81 | 139 |
On July 16, Justin Hawthorne captured the moment it started to snow over Cape Town and the video was published on the Justin Hawthorne Blog Facebook page on Monday.
The Facebook post stated the video was “shot from the summit of Table Mountain on Sunday 16 July 2017”.
A screenshot of the post on the Justin Hawthorne Blog Facebook page.
The info section of the Facebook page states: “Justin Hawthorne is a pro mountain guide in South Africa with a keen interest in capturing magic mountain moments along the trail.”
Watch the video, which has been viewed over 416 000 times on Facebook, here:
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