Use water sparingly or face restrictions, Pretoria residents are told

The Tshwane metro has urged its residents to use water sparingly or face water restrictions as the city’s water consumption has increased.

MMC for utility services and Regional Operation Daryl Johnston urged Pretoria residents to lower the amount of water they were using.

“I would like to plead with residents to make efforts to seriously limit your water usage,” Johnston said.

“While we have not yet implemented water restrictions, they will likely be necessary unless we can lower our water consumption.”

The metro’s warning follows a high-level delegation of officials that met with Rand Water to discuss methods on how to restrict water usage.

On Friday, Rand Water notified the metro of its plans to reduce the flow of water to the municipality.

The utility issued a statement cautioning the metro about the increase in water consumption, which contributed to the current heat wave, which affected the level of water at its reservoirs.

Late last year, Rand Water implemented flow control measures in Gauteng after residents failed to heed the call to use water sparingly, putting water availability at risk.

Major metros in the province were hit by stage 2 water restrictions.

Rand Water serves around 17 million water users in the province, with an average consumption of 300 liters a day compared to the global average of around 170 litres.

Johnstons appeal to residents to avoid watering or irrigating gardens by the use of hose pipe or irrigation systems as a way of trying to reduce water consumption.

Also read: Metro warns of water outages amid high load-shedding levels

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