Every Drop Counts: Cape Town Calls for Smarter Water Use This Summer

Cape Town is calling on residents, businesses and visitors to reduce water consumption as the city prepares for a summer expected to be hotter, longer and drier than usual. Through its new “More Summer” campaign, the City is encouraging people to continue enjoying the warmer months while changing everyday habits to protect dam levels and ensure that existing water supplies last until the next winter rainfall season.

The appeal comes after Cape Town’s daily water use recently climbed to approximately 912 million litres, more than 52 million litres above the City’s collective target of 860 million litres a day. At the same time, the major dams supplying the region were sitting at around 71.7% capacity, significantly below levels recorded at the same point last year. City officials say the combination of rising consumption, warmer temperatures and uncertain rainfall makes early conservation especially important.

Current estimates suggest that household consumption needs to fall by at least 10% throughout the coming summer and into next winter. Homes are a particularly important part of the campaign because the City estimates that around 70% of high-volume water consumption occurs in households. Small changes repeated across hundreds of thousands of homes could therefore make a meaningful difference to the overall demand placed on Cape Town’s water system.

The City is encouraging residents to shorten showers, avoid leaving taps running, wait until washing machines and dishwashers are full before using them and flush toilets only when necessary. Outdoor water use is another major focus. Gardens should be watered before 9am or after 6pm to reduce evaporation, while hosepipes used for cars or gardens should be fitted with devices that allow users to stop the flow when water is not immediately required.

Swimming pools are also receiving attention as warmer weather approaches. The City is encouraging residents to keep pools covered when they are not being used, reducing water loss through evaporation. Where possible, households are also being asked to reuse backwash water and make greater use of rainwater or other alternative water sources for topping up pools and irrigating gardens.

Officials have stressed that Cape Town is not currently facing an immediate threat to its water supply, but that responsible use now could reduce the risk of stricter measures later. The National Department of Water and Sanitation is conducting its annual operating assessment of the Western Cape Water Supply System, and the outcome will help determine whether formal water restrictions are required for users across the system.

The warning is shaped partly by what happened during the previous summer. According to the City, dam levels fell by around 40% over that season as high temperatures and strong demand placed pressure on stored water. With rainfall increasingly unpredictable, authorities say Cape Town cannot rely on future storms to replenish supplies and must instead manage the water already available more carefully.

Long-term water security is also being supported through infrastructure investment, leak detection, pressure management, treated-effluent reuse and projects aimed at diversifying Cape Town’s water sources. These measures are intended to make the city less dependent on rainfall alone, but major infrastructure programmes take time to deliver. Water conservation therefore remains one of the quickest tools available to protect supply in the short term.

The “More Summer” campaign is designed to make that message practical rather than restrictive. The City’s position is that saving water does not mean giving up summer activities, but using the resource more thoughtfully while enjoying them. With dam levels entering the hotter months below last year’s position, Cape Town’s water outlook will increasingly depend on a shared response from households, businesses, government and visitors — proving that a successful summer can still be enjoyed while making every drop count.