Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille on Wednesday described the scenario of the city running out of useable water as a “crisis of catastrophic proportions” and warned that water scarcity was now the “New Normal”.

In a speech to a full Council on Wednesday, De Lille said that over many decades, engineers and planners had built the water supply infrastructure in the city and in the surrounding areas which had served the city well and had previously navigated Cape Town through drought periods.

“The drought we are currently experiencing is the most stubborn in recent history,” she said. “It is a significant shock to the fabric our city and accentuates many other underlying stresses such as urbanisation.

“Water is not to be taken for granted,” she added. “To run out of useable water is to be presented with a crisis of catastrophic proportions.”