Cape Town's New Water Programme
After Day Zero, the City set out to add about 300 million litres of water a day by 2030, from sources that don't depend on rain.
Updated 4 November 2026
Why it exists
The 2015 to 2017 drought showed how much Cape Town relied on rain-fed dams. The City's Water Strategy, adopted in 2019, set out to change that, and the New Water Programme is how it plans to do it.
The City's climate modelling expects the dams' yield to fall by about a quarter over the next 30 years, so the new sources are meant to make up the difference as well as cover a growing city.
Where the new water would come from
Groundwater: boreholes into three aquifers under and around the city. The City plans for about 7% of its supply to come from groundwater by 2040.
Purified recycled water: the planned Faure New Water Scheme would turn treated wastewater into drinking water, 70 to 100 million litres a day.
Desalination: a permanent seawater plant at Paarden Eiland, expected to produce 50 to 70 million litres a day by about 2030.
Clearing invasive alien plants from the dams' catchments, so more of the rain that falls there reaches the dams.
Where it stands
Some groundwater is already in the system: boreholes into the Table Mountain Group aquifer have pumped into Upper Steenbras Dam since August 2020. The recycled water scheme and the desalination plant are still in planning, with the City studying how to build, finance and run them, including partnerships with private companies.
Timelines have moved before, and the City has said the programme's planned dates need to hold. We'll update this page as the projects reach their next steps.