Spying on your neighbours water-usage is now possible but we don’t recommend it, you know, just in case you decide to say something and get a not so neighbourly response.
We were sent a link to a website that lists your monthly water-usage, all you have to do is type in your address and you can see what you use in a month. You can also see what your neighbour uses, your boss and your archnemesis if you really wanted to.
Being an ex-Capetonian, I typed in every address I have ever lived at to see how people were treating my old homes. I can safely say that every single one has been respectful and stuck to the rules. However, the way the website actually worked was a little confusing so I gave up and decided to see if someone could help.
The data shown on the map is from November 2017 and has five different dots indicating the water usage of the households. The Conversation broke down how the map actually works which we found very helpful.
How the Map works
Properties are marked by a colour-coded dot. A dark green dot indicates properties with a meter reading of less than 6 000 litres in the previous month. A light green dot indicates properties with meter readings over 6 000 litres but below the limit of 10 500 litres in the previous month.
There are also grey dots with dark or light green centres. The dark centres are for water usage that’s estimated to be 6 000 litres. Light green centres are 10 500 litres.
Pure grey dots apply to properties where the meter read zero in the past month or for which no meter reading exists. Some properties aren’t assigned a dot. These include properties over the limit as well as properties that are not included in this version of the Map, such as commercial and industrial properties and flats.
The map was designed to give a sense of the water saving heroes and water-usage villans. Which will you be?
“The greener we go, the more we push day zero away” – Patricia de Lille
On inspection of some neighbourhoods, we noticed many well-to-do areas are just not playing fair. To you we say… “We see you now! The whole world is watching.” Hopefully, they will change their ways to avoid being publically shamed for their actions.
We can see now why the website was made because technically it would be wrong for the mayor to name homes herself, so now you can do it for her. Although, once again we don’t recommend you do that.
You can check out the website here.
And if you are above the allowed usage and want to get to the green, use this water calculator to figure out where you need to make changes.
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