THE Western Cape government has issued fresh instructions to Southern Cape municipalities to toughen up their act on water saving measures.

Knysna Mayor Eleanore Bouw- Spies yesterday said the municipality had been urged to implement stricter measures to ensure that consumption came down.

“The Local Government MEC (Anton Bredell) wrote that they would like to see at least 30% savings from local businesses, and households must bring their consumption down to 15 kilolitres a month,” she said.

A kilolitre (kl) is 1000 litres. A megalitre (Ml) is a million litres.

The call for even tougher measures comes shortly after the Eden District was declared a disaster area by the National Disaster Management Centre in order to access Treasury relief funding. The declaration makes it easier for water projects to be fast-tracked as oversight mechanisms are more relaxed.

Bredell’s call for even tougher water restrictions comes just weeks ahead of the peak December tourist season, when the population of towns like Knysna and Plettenberg Bay doubles and demands on water increase exponentially.

She said despite water restrictions and appeals to the public to use less water, consumption was still too high. “We are employing more law enforcement officers to monitor the situation and will issue fines to offenders. These fines will also from now on reflect on municipal accounts.”

In addition, the municipality was monitoring the top 100 consumers on a weekly basis. Flow restricters would be installed if necessary.

“If we do not cut our consumption, the funding from Treasury for emergency water measures can be compromised. We need to work together to alleviate the pressure,” Bouw-Spies said.

The Akkerkloof Dam is being supplemented by the Glebe pipeline, which came into use at the end of October. Bouw-Spies said this should not give people a false sense of security.

“We are dependent on the flow of the rivers and we are only able to pump 10Ml a day ... with the SA Weather Service forecasting below-normal rainfall for the next three months, the situation is likely to worsen in that the two perennial rivers, Knysna and Gouna, will remain under threat. We are standing at the beginning of the high season and with the local population expected to double, we have to use all measures available to us to cut water consumption,” the mayor said.

This week, average water consumption in Knysna was measured by the municipality at 9,1Ml/day, opposed to an average of 7,7Ml/day at the end of September. Last week Sedgefield consumed an average of 1,3Ml/day, compared with 1,1Ml/day in September.

The municipality has erected posters and banners to make people aware that it is a water restricted area and will hand out brochures with water saving tips early in December. With the help of Knysna Tourism, special water saving goody bags will also be distributed to accommodation establishments in the area.

“We really need the help of our residents and businesses to make a concerted effort to bring their water consumption down,” Bouw- Spies said. “We are monitoring the water use in all municipal buildings and will cut our consumption by 30%. We ask the same of other businesses in town. At home we have to reach that 15kl target – once you look at ways to cut, it is not so difficult. We will even install a flow restricter free of charge if residents contact us. This is crunch time.”