Day Zero Pushed Back Again, Drought Declared National Disaster

Day Zero is the day that taps will run dry for residents.
Residents collect water from a pipe to fill plastic water bottles at the Newlands natural water spring in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018.
Residents collect water from a pipe to fill plastic water bottles at the Newlands natural water spring in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018.
Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Day Zero for Capetonians has now been extended to June 4 from May 11, 2018.

Day Zero is the day that taps will run dry for residents.

The latest data from the City of Cape Town indicate that dam storage level is at 24.9%. This is a weekly decrease of -0.6%.

The week's average daily production of all water sources was at 526Ml/day. This is above the target of 450Ml.

Meanwhile, national government has declared the drought affecting the southern and western areas of South Africa a national disaster.

According to the statement released by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the government will "strengthen and support the disaster management structures to implement contingency plans and ensure that immediate relief, recovery and reconstruction measures are put in place to enable the national executive to effectively deal with the effects of this disaster".

The three provinces - the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape - have already been declared provincial disasters.

-- News24

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