Residents have been doing a good job saving water in drought-parched Cape Town, but more has to be done to stop the taps running dry, the Parow sub-council meeting heard last week.
At the last public meeting for the year, on Thursday November 23, Sub-council 4 chairman Chris Jordaan said the dam levels were at 36%, of which only 26% was drinkable, and “Day Zero” would hit in May next year.
“We are asking all our water users to help us because it’s only through partnerships we can do more to save water,” he said.
Looking back on the year, he said the City’s organisational development and transformation plan — geared to reverse apartheid spatial planing and improve service delivery — had taken some getting used to.
He encouraged all the ward councillors to continue helping their constituents throughout the recess, and he appealed to people to drive safely and not drink and drive during the holidays.
Ward 30 councillor Charles Esau told the meeting his constituents had a lot of questions about the proposed Goodwood community housing project, and he asked Ward 27 councillor Cecile Janse van Rensburg to arrange a public meeting (he proposed Thursday December 10 for it) with the developer and consultants from DCI Community Housing Services (DCICHS), who presented the project to sub-council in August (“Housing project on track”, Northern News, August 23).
Ward 26 councillor Franchesca Walker said she too had fielded many questions from her constituents.
Mr Jordaan said pamphlets should be distributed, especially in Ruyterwacht, to advertise the meeting.
Meanwhile, Ms Janse van Rensburg said the Rohm Street park upgrade, which took R100 000 of her ward allocation, was going well. She said she had also spent R80 000 of the ward budget on traffic-calming.
The meeting heard that Sub-council 4 had generated 2 662 service requests through the City’s call centre in October, of which 2 198 had been closed, 101 were still outstanding and 363 were still being attended to.
Sub-council 4 will hold a closed meeting on Wednesday December 6, and the next public one will be in January on a date still to be confirmed.
For more information, call 021 444 0196.
Visit water.restrictions@capetown.gov.za or www.capetown.gov.za/thinkwater for updates on the drought.