Cape Town dam levels jump 2.7% after another weekend of heavy rain

It’s been another wet weekend for Cape Town, and all that precipitation has contributed to a bumper dam level report this week.

According to the City of Cape Town, the region’s total dam storage now stands at 52.9%. That’s an increase of 2.7% over the previous week, and contributes to a 4.2% increase in the past two weeks.

On a dam-by-dam basis, all six large dams have seen an increase to their storage levels as of 1 July 2019:

• The Berg River Dam is up by 2.9%, from 75.9% to 78.8%.
• The Theewaterskloof Dam is up by 3.1%, from 41.8% to 44.9%.
• The Voëlvlei Dam is up by 2%, from 56.8% to 58.8%.
• The Wemmershoek Dam is up by 2.6%, from 40.6% to 43.2%.
• The Steenbras Lower Dam is up by 2.7%, from 40.5% to 43.2%.
• The Steenbras Upper Dam is up by 0.3%, from 66% to 66.3%.

Those are big gains. In total, the six dams store some 24.3-billion more litres than the previous week. That said, we’re still not quite out of the woods yet.

According to the City of Cape Town’s hydrological calendar, current dam storage levels are just below projections for the year.

However, if rainfall continues through into July, Cape Town should avoid any 2017 Day Zero talk altogether. And more rain is expected on Tuesday, according to the SA Weather Service.

Western Cape Tomorrow 's Weather overview: 2.7.2019 pic.twitter.com/FUyUHQMeZg

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) July 1, 2019

Feature image: A view of the Wemmershoek (lower left), Berg River (bottom right), and Theewaterskloof Dam (distance) from the sky in April 2019, by Andy Walker/Memeburn