The Berg River Dam is now more than 100% full

berg river dam city of cape town

Cape Town’s third largest and youngest dam, the Berg River Dam, is the first of the city’s large dams to hit the 100% mark.

After a week of cold weather and rain, the dam gained 2.8% putting it over its specified capacity of 130 000 megalitres.

It now joins its northerly Western Cape neighbour, the Clanwilliam Dam, in breaching the 100% mark this week.

Interestingly, based on percentage of capacity, the Misverstrand Dam is currently the Western Cape’s most bountiful dam, holding 113.6% of its designed capacity. It’s commonly used for water sport and recreation.


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So awesome to see our dams filling up #bergriver #franschhoek #nature

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The Steenbras Upper, Steenbras Lower, and Wemmershoek dams are all above the 90% mark, while the Voëlvlei Dam is currently at 88.9%. It was just 26.7% last year.

However, while there is good news in abundance, there are nonetheless signals that Cape Town’s plight isn’t completely over.

The Theewaterskloof Dam is just 55.4% full, holding nearly a third of the total surface water stored by the city’s dams.

cape town dams 21 september 2018

In the eastern Western Cape too, not much of a recovery has been noted either.

Beaufort West’s Gamka Dam remains completely empty, while the Oukloof Dam north of Oudtshoorn is just 0.5% full.

Feature image: City of Cape Town

Andy Walker, former editor
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