This year JP Smith accused Athlone residents of 'playing politics with the water crisis' after they complained about the closure/reduced hours of pools, which they needed for sporting activities. Whether or not their complaint of unfairness had a basis,  from the outset the city has played politics by accusing households of wasting water allegedly watering their gardens and pools and shaming residents, incl those who had undetected leaks; for not taking action per restrictions against non-household users; in the initial period, granting exemptions of restrictions to a certain class of users to water their gardens and fields; for a lack of transparency and questionable information about overall consumption and their own culpability in their development-at-all-cost approach, which in its way, contributed to water high demand.
No one is blaming the city for the drought, but at every opportunity their poor management must be stated until they acknowledge some blame.