Cape Town Dams are now 101% full

The City of Cape Town has announced that its dams are more than 100% full, achieving full capacity quicker this year than they did in 2020.

The figures come after the region experienced a cold front that brought rainfall.

“While the robust dam levels are certainly something to be thankful for, we cannot afford to become complacent in our ambitions for water security, and reducing reliance on surface (rainfall) water,” the City said in a statement.

How full are the dams in Cape Town?

According to the city, the capacity of dams that supply the Cape Town metro increased by 2.7%.

This brings the total capacity from 98.9% in the previous week to 101.6%.

During the same time last year, dam levels were registered at 90.3%.

The new levels mark the second year running that the city’s have dams hit full capacity. Previously, they hit 100% in October 2020.

And before that, the dams were last at full capacity in 2014.

However, during the one week period, the city’s daily water consumption increased to 738 million litres per day. This is up 20 million litres from the previous week.

On 24 August, the South African Weather Service issued a warning of an intense cold front that would arrive in the Western Cape from 26 August into the weekend.

The cold front would set in over the Western parts of the province and potentially lead to localised flooding.

The cold front also brought snowy conditions to the province with many residents posting their experiences on social media.

Meanwhile, the City also addressed concerns from residents that water tariffs had not been lowered to what they were prior to the drought crisis.

“It is important to keep in mind that the amount of water in our dams, which we share with several other municipalities, does not directly influence the cost of delivering the overall water and sanitation service,” it said.

However, many residents continue to call for the tariff to be lowered, especially in light of the economic challenges faced by residents during the pandemic.

Read more: City of Cape Town urges residents to renew licence discs online

Featured image: Unsplash/Thomas Bennie