Cape Town dam levels: City pulls in right direction but water is fading fast

Theewaterskloof is the largest dam supplying municipal water to Cape Town. It is currently 13% full

Cape water crisis: Western Cape likely to experience no rain until March 2018

Averting ‘day zero’ may be nothing more than a pipe dream.

Cape Town dam levels: City pulls in right direction but water is fading fast

Theewaterskloof is the largest dam supplying municipal water to Cape Town. It is currently 13% full

The rest of the summer is likely to be a dry affair for the Western Cape according to a weather scientists.

With the water crisis in the province already approaching disaster territory, it is is unlikely that relief from the bleak situation will come from mother nature.

Weather scientist Cobus Olivier says that the province is unlikely to experience any further rainfall until well into 2018, with the earliest downpour predicted only coming in March.

Reserves are running out

The dire water situation in the province currently sees damn levels approaching depletion, sitting at just above a third of their storage capacity due to a drought which has ravaged the area.

One dam, the Gamka in Beaufort West has already experienced the worst effects of the drought, going completely empty earlier this month.

Also read: City of Cape Town reveals details about water collection points for ‘day zero’

Olivier says the province will also miss out on heavy rains predicted for the rest of the country due to the weather phenomenon known as La Nina.

This does not bode well for the City of Cape Town, as its water supply is expected to run dry before March 2018. Mayor Patricia De Lille says the city will turn  off taps when the supply of usable water reaches 13%.

There are other avenues that are being explored as De Lille revealed that the city is looking at setting up a water levy to fund projects which assist in averting a potential disaster.

Not all doom and gloom

But according to Carolyn Roberts of the Knowledge Transfer Network, the current drought could end in a flash and be succeeded by heavy rains almost immediately, as it is often the case in instances of dry climate.

Also read: Explainer: No, ‘saline intrusion’ isn’t going to hit Cape Town’s water supply