Cape Town – Households will soon be paying between R45 and R60 extra every month as part of a drought levy, if mayor Patricia de Lille has her way in council on Tuesday.
For more affluent households whose properties are valued in excess of R3 million, the drought levy could reach R350 and is to be billed on top of municipal rates and taxes.
Families whose properties are valued under R400 000 will be exempt from the drought charge, which is set to implemented in February.
(We) will be proposing a drought charge to help pay for vital water projects for 2018.
She said the levy would be presented to council on Tuesday.
“It will not be an excessive amount in relation to resident and businesses rates accounts.
It is proposed that a residential property with a valuation of R800 000 could pay a drought charge of R45 and for a property with a valuation of R1m, the proposed drought charge would be R60.
If council approves the proposal, a public communications campaign will follow until mid-January.
It must be emphasised that the drought charge is necessary for vital water projects, it is not intended to be punitive as it relates to residents’ water savings,” she said.
Now Capetonians are being penalised for the City’s poor planning and for saving water."

But now, rising climate variability is adding to the state’s environmental vulnerabilities.
Gujarat was the first state in India to set up a department for climate change.
Its cities are developing plans that seek to adapt or mitigate the worst fallout of climatic stress.
How far do the state’s efforts help Gujarat adapt to – and mitigate – the fallouts of a changing climate?
But now, he added, “They come down just half as much – to [between] 32 degrees Celsius and 34 degrees Celsius.” Shocks and stresses come with different challenges for a city.
If high temperatures are a problem, ensuring sufficient green cover is one way to cool the city down.
“When the municipal corporation expands its limits, it finds these strange places where buildings are standing – but there are no roads, water supply or sewage,” he said.
It is also a water-scarce city.
“Our total supply is 300 MLD [million litres a day],” said senior municipal corporation official.
Where will this water come from?

Seven days of hot, dry weather are set for Wellington, which is currently in drought-like conditions.
MetService is not forecasting any rain in the capital until Monday next week but even that, the national weather forecaster is first to admit, is far from certain.
While some cloud was forecast for most of the coming week, daily highs were expected to range from 21degC to 25C and most nights the temperature would only drop to 16C.
* Week starts with a scorcher: Warm weather settled in * Water bans looming for Wellington as region ‘on the cusp’ of a shortage * CuriousCity: Where Wellington stores its water The long, fine patch was caused by a ridge of high pressure over the North Island that would shift away from Wellington later in the week, letting some wind in but no let-up in the dry conditions.
"This is really good because we don’t have to use water from the [Kaitoke reservoirs] lakes."
Wellington’s water use had been entirely supplied by the Hutt River and aquifer, leaving the "piggy bank" reservoir free for later in the season.
"If we start digging into the piggy bank early in the summer it is a bit worrying."
MetService Meteorologist Ciaran Doolin said a slow-moving front was expected to bring rain to the far south and Fiordland on Monday and Tuesday.
During Friday the ridge is expected to start moving east of the country as a northwesterly flow builds over the South Island, according to MetService.
None were expected for Monday.

Dry conditions began creeping into the extreme northwest corner of Garfield County this week, while moderate drought conditions took a firmer hold in Northwest Oklahoma, according to the weekly results posted by U.S. Drought Monitor.
There are large swaths of dry conditions and moderate drought in the northwest, southwest and Panhandle regions and severe drought in southeast Oklahoma, with a chunk of McCurtain County in extreme drought, according to Drought Monitor, which is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States Department of Agriculture and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
According to Oklahoma Climatological Survey, the north-central part of the state, which includes Garfield County, actually is above average for precipitation for the year.
However, north-central Oklahoma was 1.55 inches below normal for precipitation for the month of November, and 1.54 inches below normal for the past 60 days, according to the climatological survey.
“Drought increased dramatically across Oklahoma through the month (of November),” Gary McManus, state climatologist with OCS, said in a report released Friday.
“More than 19 percent of the state’s drought coverage was considered moderate in intensity, while another 20 percent was labeled as severe.
About 1 percent was in the extreme category.
The Drought Monitor’s intensity scale slides from moderate-severe-extreme-exceptional, with exceptional being the worst classification.” Despite the increase in drought, conditions are slightly better in the state as a whole compared to this time last year, and much better in Garfield County, which was experiencing abnormally dry conditions in 2016.
Wheat and canola fields in some parts of Northwest Oklahoma are beginning to show signs of drought stress, said Josh Bushong, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service northwest area agronomy specialist.
There have been reports of stunted plants and leaf discoloration in wheat, he said.

Considering the massive amounts of rain that fell during Hurricane Harvey, the idea of an eventual drought in Texas might seem hard to believe.
Holcomb said that the current seasonal weather pattern is partly responsible.
"We’re in the middle of a La Nina event which means not a lot of humidity, not a lot of moisture," Holcomb said.
We just dry out faster down here."
"All the rain that fell during Hurricane Harvey ran off into the Gulf of Mexico," said Holcomb.
"Not a lot of it soaked in as you would think."
"Predictions are that it’ll become hotter and drier over the next quarter for our portion of the state of Texas," Holcomb said.
"But, there are already portions of the state of Texas, in north, central Texas, that are already at stage four out of five."
Those worried about the products of their green thumb should pay attention to the few times that it might rain.
"If you’re into gardening especially, collect rain water, it’s a happening thing these days to collect rain water in barrels to use it in your gardens, whether it be vegetable gardens or flower gardens," Holcomb said.

In the South and Southern Plains, the overall dry pattern during the past 30-to-60 days led to expansion of areas of moderate-to-severe drought across portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas.
Overall, the region was dry with the exception of northern Florida where rainfall accumulations ranged from 2-to-4 inches.
In the eastern half of Texas, short-term precipitation deficits (3-to-5 inches) during the past 30-to-60 days led to expansion of areas of Abnormally Dry (D0) and Moderate Drought (D1).
Overall, the region was dry during the past week, and average temperatures were near to slightly below normal across Louisiana, Mississippi, and eastern Texas while above average temperatures (5-to-14 degrees) were observed in western portions of Oklahoma and Texas.
High Plains On this week’s map, conditions deteriorated in central and eastern Kansas as well as in western North Dakota.
During the past week, the region was dry and temperatures were well above average especially in western portions of the Dakotas where temperatures were 15-to-18 degrees above normal.
On the map, areas of Moderate Drought (D1) expanded in central and northern Arizona, western Colorado, western New Mexico, and across Utah in response to short-term precipitation deficits (30-60 days), poor snowpack conditions, and anomalously warm temperatures.
In the Hawaiian Islands, one-category improvements were made in areas of Severe Drought (D2), Moderate Drought (D1), and Abnormally Dry (D0) on Kauai.
Average temperatures were below normal across much of the state with the exception of western Alaska and the North Slope that saw positive anomalies ranging from 4-to-14 degrees above normal during the past week.
The CPC 6–10-day outlook calls for a high probability of above-normal temperatures across the eastern half of the conterminous U.S. as well as in western Arizona, California, and western Nevada while below normal temperatures are expected in a swath extending from west Texas to eastern portions of the Pacific Northwest.

BRYAN, Tex.
(KBTX) – After a three month stretch with less than 5" of rain in the Brazos Valley, drought conditions are starting to spread back into the area.
The Brazos Valley is not alone.
The drought situation is increasing across Texas as a whole.
35% of Texas is considered to be in some classification of drought, up from 20% last week.
Abnormally dry conditions have increased 11% — much of that from the Brazos Valley down to Houston and the coast.
Much needed rainfall is in the Brazos Valley’s forecast in the upcoming week.
Bad News for the Brazos Valley: Moderate Drought has spread across most of Milam, Robertson, Leon, & NW Houston Counties (along with west Austin County).
Abnormally dry conditions have taken over the rest of the area.
pic.twitter.com/Mm3iaRVkgu — Shel Winkley (@KBTXShel) November 30, 2017 Drought conditions continue to spread across Texas.

MOGADISHU, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) — About 32,000 people have been displaced by conflict and severe drought ravaging several parts of Somalia in October, the UN humanitarian agency said on Thursday.
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest bulletin this is a slight decline in the number of newly displaced people, compared to about 49,000 people displaced in September.
"Of those displaced in October, 23,000 were due to drought related reasons as the cause of the displacement, while 8,000 cited conflict," the UN said.
The Horn of Africa nation is in the midst of unprecedented drought after rains failed for the fourth year in a row.
Humanitarians in Somalia have mobilized 1.2 billion U.S. dollars since January for famine prevention to reach the most vulnerable with life-saving assistance.
The UN agency, which cited figures compiled by the UNHCR-led Protection and Return Monitoring Network (PRMN), said more than 1 million people have been displaced due to drought compounded by armed conflict since January, mainly from rural areas to urban centres.
It said the latest displacements bring the estimated number of displaced in Somalia to more than 2 million people.
"It is imperative to complement humanitarian assistance with more sustainable durable solutions for IDPs, currently making up more than 16 percent of the population," said OCHA.

Building drought conditions will elevate the brush fire threat across the central and southern Plains through the weekend, but a pattern change may bring beneficial rain to parts of the region next week.
Sparse rainfall since September has led to a significant rise in moderate to severe drought across the South Central states.
The dry conditions have since spread to the north and east into the lower and middle Mississippi Valley.
No significant rainfall is projected across the nation’s midsection through the weekend.
Vegetation will continue to dry out and become fuel for brush fires should a spark ignite.
Winds will increase late this weekend into early next week, further enhancing the risk of wildfire spread.
Avoid throwing lit cigarettes on the ground, outdoor burning and parking a car over dry brush as the hot exhaust can be enough to trigger a spark.
“At the leading edge of the cold shot spreading south and east next week, there might be an opportunity for some good soaking rain in areas from the central Plains through the Midwest next Monday and Tuesday,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston said.
Dallas may receive its first measurable rainfall since Nov. 8 from Monday to Tuesday.
Little Rock, Arkansas, has remained dry since Nov. 18, but will likely receive a thorough soaking during this time frame.

Drought is returning to Walker County, as well as much of the western border areas of the Alabama, and one weather official said the state’s rainfall totals could worsen this winter under La Niña conditions.
A number of areas are also falling in the second-lowest level of drought, moderate drought, including all of Pickens and Sumter counties, as portions of Lamar, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Pickens, Greene, Hale and Choctaw counties.
The southeastern section of the state, affecting five counties, also shows abnormally dry or moderate drought conditions.
Five counties on the north border of the state are also showing abnormally dry conditions.
In all, about 9 percent of the state was in moderate drought on Nov. 21, while about 26 percent of the state was showing either abnormal or moderate conditions, affecting nearly 200,000 people in the state.
The conditions are concerning when one recalls an epic drought that lasted for months in the state, which only became drought free in June.
In November 2016, most of Alabama was in at least extreme drought conditions, which is the second worst stage.
At the start of the calendar year 2017, almost 90 percent of the state was in at least severe drought, half of it had reached at least extreme drought, and 19 percent had been in the worst stage, exceptional drought.
Moderate drought conditions may soon move eastward, going deeper into Fayette and Tuscaloosa counties.
McNeil said not much rainfall is expected to help with the situation this week in the area.