The City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation Department has warned Capetonians to ensure they register any boreholes or well-points situated on their premises or face the possibility of a fine.

As per a City by-law, all borehole users are required to have a sign indicating their property has a borehole or well-point on site. These signs can only be acquired via registering the water supply with the City and failure to display signage would make owners liable for a potentially hefty fine.

Level 2 water restrictions are on the horizon for local residents amid a nationwide water supply crisis which has spurred various Metro’s to try and clamp down on water wastage. These measures include increased water tariffs, with the City of Cape Town offering an incentive whereby those who shed 10% of their monthly usage will not have their bill increased.

The idea of paying more for basic utilities, especially in light of the country’s current economic uncertainty, is likely to spur many to alternative forms of water supply; notably bore-holes and well-points.

“The reason for registration is so that we can have a database of all our well-point and borehole users throughout the city. That feeds into our database in terms of the management of water resources in Cape Town,” explained the department’s communication officer, Farouk Robertson.

Once the water supply have been registered, property owners will be sent a certificate of appreciation from the City of Cape Town towards their contribution to saving on water, as well as the appropriate signage to indicate their premise is supplied by borehole water.

“The nice thing about this is that there is absolutely no cost to this,” Robertson noted.

While an alternate water supply would seem as a manner in which to avoid water restrictions, Robertson said residents need be mindful of their borehole and water-point usage.

“We ask very kindly that those borehole users also limit themselves and prescribe to the hours of (restrictions) between 9am in the morning and 4pm in the afternoon,” he added.

Those seeking to have their boreholes registered are required to send an email to Borehole.water@capetown.gov.za. The email would need to stipulate the physical address and earth number of the property, whether a borehole or well point is being registered, as well as the account details of the owner. VOC