We’ve seen a good amount of rainfall this June. Let’s investigate how this has affected Cape Town dam levels.
Collectively, our dams across the Western Cape have risen by less than 4% following the numerous cold fronst which have reached the Cape, bringing what was seemingly a hearty amount of rainfall – but sadly nowhere near enough to get us out of the danger zone. Instead, the City of Cape Town has declared that water consumption has spiked in recent days.
Dam storage levels are presently at 23.1% – effectively 13.1% as the final 10% has been deemed as ‘unusable’.
“Due to the severity of the drought, above-target consumption, as well as the unpredictability of climatic conditions, Level 4 water restrictions remain in place indefinitely over the long-term and could be intensified if warranted,” the City said in a statement on Monday.
“Apart from safeguarding our current sustainability, we must think about building additional reserve capacity by continuing with the most hard-hitting water-saving efforts that we can muster. It may take a few seasons of normal rainfall for the dams to recover and we must bear in mind that we are expecting an even tougher summer in 2018.”
Drought crisis: dam levels remain critical, consumption spikes again https://t.co/4xtXw9a2RP #CTNews pic.twitter.com/u0mvGxeZaJ
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) June 19, 2017
Photography Unsplash