The City of Cape Town has notified residents that the country is currently experiencing a chlorine supply shortage. More specifically, the liquid gas chlorine used by water boards and large municipalities to treat water to drinking standards.
According to the COCT, residents are assured that Cape Town currently has enough chlorine supply at all water treatment plants, with the City taking delivery of stock next week. The City further reiterated that tap water is safe to drink.
Cape Town is planning for an extended period of supply constraints and is executing contingency plans to ensure the chlorine is available to meet the national SANS241 drinking water quality standards at all times.
South Africa’s main manufacturer of chlorine gas for water purification purposes, based in Gauteng, experienced severe supply disruptions in the past week. The factory is now operating again, but it will take time to build up stock reserves as there is pent up demand from water boards and municipalities.
The City is already procuring chlorine gas substitutes locally and actively exploring all possible alternatives including international procurement options to mitigate the risk of protracted national supply constraints. The City aims to ensure we do not reach a point where the national shortage of chlorine impacts the quality of drinking/tap water.
It must be made clear that the city does not have a water shortage issue. The issue relates to national supply constraints of chlorine for water purification purposes.
Residents can help by reducing non-essential water usage. Ideally, Cape Town’s overall water usage should drop to approximately 800Ml/day according to current estimates.
The City is also looking at reducing pressure where possible to assist with staying within the 800 ML/day range, if required. Over the past few weekends, the water usage has reached pre-drought levels (1000 Ml per day) on several occasions. This is likely attributed to activities linked to hot weather.
In particular, residents should aim to be water-wise in their daily routines.
While Cape Town has contingency plans to ensure chlorine is available to meet the national SANS241 drinking water quality standards at all times, the public can help by reducing their non-essential water usage collectively to about 800 ML/day range to ensure there is a sustainable supply of chlorine to treat drinking water throughout the national supply shortage.
As part of our contribution, the City will be looking to minimise non-essential water usage at its own facilities.
Interventions for reaching 800Ml/day:
- Don’t top up your swimming pool for a while, and keep it covered to reduce evaporation.
- Reduce garden irrigation with municipal tap water to a minimum.
- Wash your vehicle with a bucket instead of strong-flowing hose.
- Use a broom instead of a hose to clean hard surfaces.
- Take short stop-start showers.
“While there is ample water in our dams, we need to ensure treated drinking water can be supplied sustainably throughout the period of national chlorine supply constraints. The City will ensure ongoing updates to the public until the chlorine supply challenge has been resolved”, says the COCT.
Team Cape Town, let’s work together to beat the heat while being water-wise.
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