Infrastructure

Cape Town considers water tax

27 Nov, 2017

New levy on the cards as Cape Town battles water crisis.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has confirmed that the city is considering a new water tax to help raise funds to combat the ongoing water crisis.
De Lille said that the funds would be used for the city's water augmentation scheme, which includes six desalination plants and one water recycling facility.
The mayor said the plan was to avoid a "Day Zero" worst-case scenario, in which Cape Town residents could be left completely without water, but that any proposal to introduce levies would involve public participation.
The first plant is expected to become operational in February, generating an additional 196 million litres of water per day for Cape Town. However, despite the city’s water-saving efforts, the mayor said that only less than half of the residents have compiled with the restriction of 87 litres per day. For details of current water levels see Cape Town website.