Western Cape dam levels: Capacity drops below 19%

James-Brent Styan / Western Cape Government

Western Cape dam levels: Capacity slumps to just 26%

Fully-fledged catastrophe

Western Cape dam levels: Capacity drops below 19%

James-Brent Styan / Western Cape Government

After another hot and dry week, the Western Cape dam levels were depleted once more, as the region saw more water drain from its storage facilities.

The province’s dams are now just 26.56% full, a drop of 1.13% from last week. However, the last 10% of water stored is not fit for human use or consumption. So realistically, the Western Cape is running at 16.5% capacity, with the dams less than 1/6th full.

Capetonians and tourists are pulling their weight

Anton Bredell, the minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in the Western Cape. He issued a statement urging citizens to keep fighting to save water, after usage spiked in the Karoo region. He did thank residents of Cape Town for managing to bring their consumption down, though:

“We remain very concerned about this ongoing drought that is continuing to afflict the Western Cape and we are doing what we can within our powers to manage the situation as we have been doing for the past number of years.”

“In a region like the Central Karoo, despite requests to keep water use down, we saw water use triple placing towns like Prince Albert under huge pressure.  However in Beaufort-West and Cape Town and largely across the province, indications are that the situation regarding water usage remained relatively stable and we want to thank the public and especially visitors for their help in this regard.”

Fight to prevent day zero

Bredell went on to stress that local government are doing all they can to stem the tide of the drought. He assured the Western Cape that contingency plans are in place to avert any areas from running out of water.

“The disaster management centre continuously revises the contingency plans. They manage the situation along with other stakeholders both in government and the private sector. These plans are aimed at ensuring no community will run out of water. Contingencies for key institutions like hospitals are also being implemented and revised where needed.”

“We also caution the public to be water and fire safe over the coming period. There remains a great risk of runaway wildfires under the current conditions and we ask for everyone’s help to prevent fires. Please use the number 112 to report any fire or other emergency that may come up.”

Western Cape dam levels for 15 Janaury 2018