Water Restrictions - The Lowdown

Dear residents,

Below is some very useful information from the DA Councillor for Ward 117, Tim Truluck, regarding water restrictions, please take note.

Water Restrictions - The Lowdown
[Recently], our new MMC, former Ward 90 Cllr, Anthony Still, announced that Rand Water is reducing our water allowance to the City by 15% because of the ongoing drought.
This resulted in a few more stringent water restrictions being imposed on us. From November last year, we have been at Level 2 restrictions, and on 1 August this year the City imposed penalty charges on households that use over 20Kl/month (i.e. 20 000 litres or about 660 litres per day).
Basically, we have to reduce our usage by 15%. So the following restrictions are now in place:

1. No watering of gardens or use of hoses from 6am in the morning to 6pm in the evening.
2. When you do water your garden, you can only use a hand held hose or watering can. No irrigation systems or sprinklers are allowed to be used.
3. No washing of cars, hosing down sidewalks, etc is allowed.
4. There is a ban on filling of pools, but I did check with MMC Still about topping up of pools. Below is my question and his reply.

Cllr Tim: "I am getting requests from residents re topping up of pools. If the levels drop too far then the marbalite will be affected. And once it drops below the level of the weir, the pool will not be able to be filtered and residents will end up with a large body of fetid water."

MMC Still replied: "Agree. Topping up to keep level above weir is allowed. Just trying to discourage gratuitous filling of long empty pools. There is also of course the need to fill or empty pools that are undergoing necessary repairs."
So, we can top up our pools. But don't go mad and overfill.
If we don't reduce our usage, then there will be water shedding where water will be cut off at certain times of the day.

Fines
We don't want to be ratting on neighbours, so please use your What's Ap groups, street emails, Facebook Groups, a quiet word with a neighbour, etc to spread the word and remind people about the restrictions.
The JMPD will start the process of warning and then fining people. Fines will be around R1500 per infraction.

Tim’s Water Tips
I produced this simple guide on the water problem and what you can do about it. Obviously using grey water (shower or dish washing water) to water your garden is a good idea and installing a JoJo tank to catch rain water is also a good idea. There is some repetition of the above info.

1. Log every single water leak you see - on sidewalks, roads, water meters, water hydrants, burst pipes, blocked sewers - with customer@jwater.co.za. Please include the type of leak and exact address (if you are able to) as well as the nearest street corner. You can try @jhbwater via Twitter, but its not as reliable.
2. Don't use a hose to wash cars, wash down paths, roads and driveways. Only use a hose to water your garden in the evening after 6pm or early in the morning before 6am. Speak to your staff about this.
3. While you are not allowed to use an irrigation system at the moment, if you have one, install a timer and keep it maintained, especially the out if sight areas in the garden and on verges. Mulch your beds to keep moisture in - I use the leaves from the tree on my verge). Don't water your garden when it rains or if it's windy.
4. Fix dripping taps and leaking toilets. I spent R50 on washers and plumbers tape - and I sorted out all the leaking taps in my house. I had a particularly tricky tap and the guys at Parkhurst Hardware were great in advising me and helped replace all the rings on the tap too.
5. Check for leaks. Turn off your taps in the house. Then look at the water meter on the sidewalk. If its still turning, then you probably have a leak on your property. Call a leak detector (swimming pool shops usually have a few they recommend) to come out to find the leak and then a plumber to fix the leak.
6. Install a stop cock where the water pipe from the meter enters your property. It could save you a massive bill if you have a pipe burst. And Joburg Water won't charge you a R1626.15 (plus VAT) disconnection charge if you need to repair your system.
7. Keep an eye on your water bill. It will give you a clue if you have a leak. And you can monitor if your attempts at saving water are working. Water is charged for on a rapidly increasing rate the more you use (1 kilolitre is 1000 litres; prices below exclude VAT). Every month, consumption reverts back to the lower level again. As you can see, it gets very expensive once you go above 20kl. This is why leaks are so costly.
   On each bill, they include your daily consumption. On my latest bill. it was 0.706 Kl or 706 litres. The aim is to reduce our usage by 15%, so that means I need to get down to 600 litres a day.
   0-6 kilolitres: R0.00/kl
   6-10 kl: R7.14/kl - Price per litre is 0.714 cents
   10-15kl: R12.07/kl - Price per litre is 1.207 cents
   15-20kl: R17.65/kl - Price per litre is 1.765 cents
8. As of 1 Aug 2016, the City implemented a penalty rate for level 2 water restrictions. So the tariffs above over 20kl are now:
   20-30kl: R26.43/kl - Price per litre is 2.643 cents
   30-40kl: R30.97/kl - Price per litre is 3.097 cents
   Over 40kl: R41.95/kl - Price per litre is 4.195 cents
9. You are allowed to top up your pool as well as fill new pools or those that have been repaired. You will pay the the penalty rate though. If you are filling your pool more than once a week, you probably have a leak. Try to cut down on the backwashing. And run you pool motor at night as evaporation is less - moving water evaporates more than still water.
10. Shower, don't bath. Take a short shower. You can put a bucket under the shower head to catch water instead of it going down the drain. Just in case of water shedding, you can use your bath to store some 20/25 litre water containers that you can use for drinking water and flushing loos.
11. Wait until you have a full load before using your dishwasher or washing machine. Top loader washing machines use about double the amount of water used by front loaders.

We hope you find this information helpful in joining the effort to save water!

Sincerely

MRA