The City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Department has launched a new dedicated website which will form an integral part of its three-year ‘Keep Saving Water’ campaign.
The website takes the existing campaign to the next level, offering a range of online information, including:
- Water saving tips
- Alternative water resources
- Borehole registration procedure
- Educational resources
- An interactive water audit for download
- Posters, pamphlets and videos
The website provides residents, students, learners, educators and researchers with access to a range of information related to saving water in a user-friendly, attractive package.
It was specifically designed as a stand-alone site, at for ease of reference and access, but also has a link to the Water and Sanitation Department’s main website.
Visitors to the website can become Water Ambassadors in their communities by adopting the Water Ambassador Pledge, which is available for download in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.
Ambassadors simply need to download the pledge, print and sign it, and display it in a prominent position at their home, school, social clubs or place of work as an indication of their commitment to the Keep Saving Water campaign.
The pledge requires that Water Ambassadors:
- Reduce their daily water consumption
- Share water saving tips
- Discourage and avoid water wastage caused by leaks
- Report bad conduct and water wastage
Water Ambassadors also need to know the City’s channels of contact relating to water issues so that they can report water wastage, pipe bursts, leaking water meters etc.
Any such reports can be directed to the City’s Call Centre on 0860 103 089, or via e-mail to watertoc@capetown.gov.za or via SMS to 31373 (these details are also on the website). The City is excited about the launch of the ‘Keep Saving Water’ website, which will advance the City’s objective of ensuring that all households, agricultural communities and businesses will have sufficient information at hand to save water daily and thereby assist the City in meeting its water saving targets. All Capetonians have a role to play and can do that by taking responsibility for saving water wherever possible.
Background on the Keep Saving Water campaign
The Keep Saving Water campaign, launched by Executive Mayor Alderman Patricia de Lille in 2011, aims to encourage water savings across the city in order to reach the City’s operational target of 27% savings per year during this period.
The awareness component of the campaign is intensified during summer with print and radio marketing under the slogan: ‘Summer time means saving more’.
This is further supported by the education and awareness sessions that are presented by the City’s Water Conservation teams at schools, businesses, religious institutions, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, governmental departments and within communities. During these sessions partnerships with other existing programmes are developed to grow the City’s water conservation efforts.
The campaign has three key objectives:
- Create awareness about the need for continuous 27% overall water savings
- Create an understanding of the consequences of ignoring the need to save water
- Foster acceptance of the water savings imperative, which translates into action
As part of our commitment to being a Caring City, it is important that we maintain, and in fact intensify, our efforts to keep saving water in order to sustain a good quality of life for all our residents.
