water, water everywhere

The Cape Times reported on 1 December:

Between 38% and 53% of Cape Town's water is 'lost' every year somewhere between the supply dams and our taps... [the authorities] don't know where the missing water is going.

Considering current rates of use and government's targetted economic growth of at least 6%, water supply in the Western Cape will soon be a serious challenge. 95% of the rivers that feed into the water management regions of the province are in an ecologically critical condition. There are no more opportunities to build dams, so the only remaining supply options are desalination of seawater and tapping the Table Mountain aquifer (estimated to hold 66 billion cubic metres). Using the aquifer is cheaper than desalination, but recharge rates are unknown, so this may not be a sustainable solution.