Cape Town’s dam levels have increased to 46%, more than double what they were last year when they stood at 20.6%. This is the first time in seven months that the Mother City’s dam levels have risen.
Although the levels only rose by 0.15%, locals will be delighted to hear of it, as the rainy season in the province has not officially started yet. This small percentage recorded also does not account for Sunday’s heavy rainfall, and the numbers are likely to receive a fair boost once this figure is added.
Although the figures for the Western Cape’s dams as a whole have been dropping incrementally, some dams have shown increases individually. The Berg River catchment area is now 0.4% fuller while the Gamka dam in Beaufort West, which was bone dry less than two months ago, is now at 43% capacity.
“We are a winter rainfall zone and we are not yet in the winter. Dam levels are still dropping slightly but that is not unusual. We are still not close to the record low levels we saw a year ago,” Anton Bredell, Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development, said. “We are continuing to urge caution and restraint with water usage. Please protect the resource. However, the Gamka dam in Beaufort West was empty a little more than a year ago. It is now at 43.6% full. That is a major relief.”
Picture: Pixabay