Residents are on the brink of facing queues to collect daily water rations at checkpoints across Cape Town as the day the city’s taps run dry nears.
Tourists staying at local hotels have even been asked to limit their time in the shower to two minutes in a bid to cut down on water consumption.
Day Zero has crept forward to April 22 as city authorities race to build desalination plants and drill underground boreholes.
Councillor Xanthea Limberg, Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for water, said: “At the current rate the city is likely to reach Day Zero on 22 April.
“There is a real risk that residents will have to queue.”
City officials say dam levels dipped below 30 per cent in the first week of the new year, with only about 19.7 per cent of that water considered usable. Residents will have to queue for water when dams reach 13.5 per cent.
Residents are being urged to save water by turning off their taps while brushing their teeth, avoid flushing the toilet and use hand sanitiser instead of water and soap, as they are restricted to 87 litres of water a day.
But fears are growing as citizens struggle to hit the household consumption target of less than 500 million litres per day.
Ms Limberg said the dire situation was being heightened by people who continue to ignore a push for residents and visitors to use no more than 87 litres of water per person per day.
At a trial water collection site, similar to an estimated 200 the city may introduce, people queue between metal fences waiting to fill up containers from standpipes.
Officials said a maximum 25 litres of water will be provided per person, per day.
Hotels have pledged to help, limiting showers to two minutes, while using water used for washing dishes and clothes to water gardens.
Gabrielle Bolton, spokeswoman for the five-star Belmond Mount Nelson hotel, said: “Everyone is taking as many steps and measures that they possibly can to try and make sure we don’t reach Day Zero.”
Meanwhile, security guards have been monitoring a steady flow of cars and people lining up at AB-Inbev’s Newlands brewery to get up to 25 litres of free water from a mountain stream on its property.
The popular Newlands public swimming pool has also been closed due to water restrictions, despite two months of the South African summer still to go.
Almost two million tourists flock to Cape Town every year to bathe on sandy white beaches, explore natural features like Table Mountain or to sip wine in dozens of nearby vineyards.