How Cape Town’s ‘winter’ weekend of rain pushed dam levels higher

This past weekend of heavy rainfall across Cape Town has done wonders for the city’s dam levels.

According to the City of Cape Town’s latest update on Monday, dam levels are up 3.3% over the previous week, pushing the total back beyond 80%.

That number now stands at 82.9%. It’s also the highest dam levels have been this entire year.

Cape Town water storage: dam-by-dam

Five of Cape Town’s six largest dams all saw increases, even as the region transitions into the warmer seasons.

The Berg River Dam is now 101.7% full, climbing from 97.8% measured the week before.

The Steenbras Lower Dam is also 102.1% full, increasing by nearly 10% over the previous week.

Cape Town’s largest dam, the Theewaterskloof, saw its levels increase from 69.7% to 73.8% week-over-week.

The Wemmershoek (91.4% last week up to 94.7% this week) and Steenbras Upper (81.1% up to 81.4%) dams also saw increases.

Only one dam shed some of its water. The northerly Voëlvlei Dam, which saw much less rainfall than other areas this weekend, saw its level decrease by 0.3%.

Huge rainfall numbers recorded

Even so, the City of Cape Town notes that 37.7mm has fallen in the Voëlvlei Dam’s catchment area, still more than 16mm above its monthly average.

October has generally been much wetter than usual, judging by the City’s numbers.

The Theewaterskloof Dam benefitted from 73mm of rain this past month, nearly three times above the long-term monthly average.

Newlands, meanwhile, recorded 195mm of rainfall in October, and 112mm in a single day on 25 October. It’s long-term average is 84mm.

Tygerberg has also received well beyond three times its long-term monthly average.

Cape Town water consumption drops

Notably, after last weekend’s high water consumption figure, the city’s residents have reduced their usage considerably.

The City of Cape Town recorded just 625-million litres per day drawn from the dams over the last week, some 32-million litres per day less than the week before.

Feature image: Andy Walker/Memeburn