Ms de Lille was speaking at a Council meeting, announcing heightened level four water restrictions in Cape Town as it grapples with the worst drought it has seen in a century.
“Water is not to be taken for granted.
To run out of useable water is to be presented with a crisis of catastrophic proportions.
What has worked very well in the past may not be the best model going forward,” she continued.
Ms de Lille said the city traditionally relied on winter rains to replenish its water levels, but with poor rainfall thus far during May, the confidence in weather prediction is low.
“We need a new relationship with water.
It does not mean that our lives should be diminished or the economy negatively affected.” Tighter restrictions de Lille said the new water restrictions that will mitigate the short term possibility of acute water shortages and ensure that Cape Town builds a water resilient city in the medium- to long-term.
Think 100 litres,” she said.
“We are in a critical situation and to build resilience to acute water shortages we need to push even harder and reduce water usage city-wide to 500 million litres of water per day…as Council will not meet until the end of July, I am also requesting Council to support further restrictions, 4B, that can be implemented in the next 60 days,” de Lille added.
Such restrictions would be more closely aligned with a 500 million litre per day goal, and would be consequently more restrictive.