Cape Town dam levels jump for the second consecutive week

Apparently it’s nearly summer, but you wouldn’t be able to tell based on Cape Town’s dam levels. For the second week running, the City of Cape Town has indicated yet another dam level increase for the city’s reservoirs.

As of 4 November 2019, total dam levels stand at 84.5%, an increase of 2.4% over the previous week. Within the past 14 days, dam levels have increased by 6.7%.

The gains come despite the lack of rainfall (bar 0.2mm experienced near Steenbras) in November thus far, and are largely thanks to a series of cold fronts which passed through the region late in October.

Cape Town: dam levels 4 November 2019

At the time of writing, all Big Six dams are above 75% full.

More importantly though, is the Theewaterskloof Dam’s weekly gains.

The largest dam in the Cape jumped from 72.3% to 75.7% full this past week. The Voelvlei Dam level also increased from 87% to 89.9%.

See the individual levels for each dam below:

Water consumption drops again

And there’s more good news.

Despite higher dam levels, Capetonians are still using water sparingly.

Total water consumption dropped once again this week, falling to 600-million litres per day from 625-million litres per day a week prior.

Expect a slightly wetter summer in Cape Town

On Monday, the South African Weather Service also issued its updated seasonal outlook, suggesting that western and central parts of South Africa could experience above-normal rainfall amounts.

You can read our breakdown of the report here.

So be prepared to carry your umbrella more often in Cape Town this summer.

Feature image: the Wemmershoek Dam in 2018, by City of Cape Town