Cape Town’s Berg River Dam is now one giant puddle

I’m not sure how many more articles I can kick off with the words “Cape Town’s in the midst of a water crisis”, but I think I can squeeze it one last time.

Cape Town is in the midst of a water crisis.

Dams are drying up, and there’s no genuine winter rainfall forecast until mid-July — much later than what the region is used to. And with our reservoirs languishing at the low 30% full mark, everyone is about to get a lot thirstier [lol – ed]. But numbers don’t tell the real story.

Cape Town vlogger Dean Tucker (better known as Visualrev on YouTube) took a trip with mates to the Berg River Dam to document just how critical the situation is, and capture a visual representation of the crisis.

The Berg River Dam, just outside Cape Town, is now below two-fifths full

“Today I saw just how bad the water situation is in Cape town really is,” Tucker writes on Facebook.

“After returning to this exact spot after 4 months I was shocked to see what I saw. I hope this can be seen as a wake up call to some Cape Town residents to start saving water.”

According to the City of Cape Town, the Berg River Dam — usually the primary feeder of the city’s biggest dam, the Theewaterskloof — is just 39% full. And it’s one of the most bountiful of the six major metropolitan dams. The Theewaterskloof, in comparison, is just 25% full.

Nevertheless, the vlog discovers just what a large, embankment dam looks like when it’s hanging on for life. The clip isn’t massively educational nor does it aim to be, but it does showcase just how quickly our dams are becoming giant puddles.

Have a look at the clip below.