Cape Town dams are now more than three-quarters full

The largest dams that feed Cape Town this week hold a little bit more water compared to last week, with the combined total extending beyond the 76% full mark.

As of 5 August, the City of Cape Town noted that total levels are now at 76.8%, the highest mark since 2015.

The 4.7% change is largely due to the recent rains we’ve seen earlier this week, in addition to precipitation on Sunday evening.

The Berg River Dam and Steenbras Upper Dam remain above 100% full, while the Steenbras Lower approaches the 90% full mark.

Read more: Chart: Here’s how much rain fell across Cape Town in July 2019

The Theewaterskloof is now 67% full. It was just 22.7% full in 2017.

Cape Town’s dams now hold just less than 7-billion litres in total

The Wemmershoek and Voëlvlei dams also saw increases, jumping from 71% to 78%, and 74.1% to 78.6%, respectively.

Cape Town’s six largest dams hold 6.89-billion litres of water, much, much more than in 2017 when they were nothing more than 2.62-billion litre puddles.

While dam levels are up, water consumption is up too. Capetonians used more than 30-million litres per day more than the previous week.

Last week, the City of Cape Town announced it would consider dropping tariffs for water based on improved dam conditions, but water restrictions remain at Level 3.

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