Cape Town lists top water-wasting streets

Top 100 water consuming streets identified as Cape Town battles drought.

The Cape Town administration has released a list of the streets containing the top 100 water consumers as the city grapples with an ongoing water crisis.

The publication of the list follows repeated requests for Capetonians to reduce their water usage and comes amid news that the city has about 120 days of potable water left.

As part of its "naming and shaming" policy, the city is expected to publish the identities of the offenders - both individuals and commercial properties - after those responsible have paid a fine or faced the courts for flouting water restrictions.

The "scenario-changing" policy has been defended by Cape Town's mayor Patricia de Lille who said that while the city could not control the weather, "we do have control over our use of potable water for non-essential purposes."

Despite dam levels dropping continually in recent months, the city said that water consumption increased to 837 million litres of collective use per day compared to the recently-announced target of 700 million litres per day.