Thanks to a year-long drought in Southern Africa, municipalities are increasing the cost of water by up to 30% and simultaneously reducing supply in order to try and stave off the threat of “watershedding” until the summer rains come.
Joburg Water, for example, announced yesterday that it would be increasing its charges for those households who use more than 20 000 litres (20Kl or units) of water a month. It also introduced Level 3 restrictions, which mean watering your garden out of hours or with a sprinkler system, or filling a pool with municipal water, which means hefty fines.
Want to know how your water use and bill will be affected, and whether or not you use more or less water than the average suburban house in Joburg and the rest of the world? We’ve put together this little survey to pique your curiosity.
If you don’t know how to find out how much water you use, it’s a line like this one highlighted in red your monthly municipal bill.
