Cape Town’s dams end October on a negative note

After a week of extremely hot weather, Cape Town’s overall water consumption has spiked to a new high, while its dam levels have dropped.

According to the City’s Dam Report published on Monday, the city’s reserves lost 0.9% of their combined storage. The dams now sit at 74.8% full.

The Berg River Dam suffered the least, dropping just 0.1% from 99.3% to 99.2%.

Its neighbour, the Wemmershoek Dam, decreased by 0.9%, and now holds 92.1% of its designed storage capacity.

The Voëlvlei Dam is 96.2% full, dropping 0.5% over the previous week.

And the Steenbras Lower and Upper dams decreased by 0.4% and 8.5% respectively.

Finally, the Theewaterskloof lost 0.8% of its capacity. It’s now 58% full.

Considering last week’s lofty temperatures and the lack of rainfall in October, the losses are not a cause for concern. But it’s clear that Capetonians had a bit too much fun running around sprinklers last week.

Water consumption ballooned to 593-million litres per day, the highest consumption number the City has seen this year.

Feature image: City of Cape Town