Last week’s barrage of rain have pushed dam levels up to 64.4% – just 0.6% away from having a dam storage average of 65%. The light rains received last week quickly turned into storms so intense that the South African Weather Services released severe weather condition warnings to the public.
Although the weekly dam level average on the City of Cape Town’s website still reads 62%, the daily levels for Wednesday, 29 August read 64.4%.
Last year this time, when the Cape was still gripped in the clutches of a devastating drought, the dam levels were at an average of 34%.
#Theewaterskloof this morning at 8am ? Tony Georgiou @SAWeatherServic @maroelamedia @AfricaWeather_ @eNCA @YouMagazine @JoelGuy_ @landbou @venter_annette @SABCNewsOnline @Weather4Africa @Netwerk24 @debeer_anika @zarsg @dieCourant @AgriWesKaap @WeslanderMedia @Die_Burger pic.twitter.com/9SMnCH5EoX
— ReenvalSA (@ReenvalSA) August 18, 2018
The City recently reported that many homes in the Cape have moved from their previous green dot status, as they have increased their water consumption.
A total of 397 184 households achieved green dot status in July compared to the 400 538 in June – a total of 3 354 homes increased their water usage last month.
Despite this, the City has once again made the request to the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to marginally relax the current level 6b water restrictions still imposed on the Western Cape.
The City proposed that a risk-based analysis be conducted to evaluate the current water situation. The average water consumption over the past week has reached an average of 513-million litres per day – a decrease from the previous week’s 527-million litres per day consumption.
The DWS has conceded to give the City a response on whether it will allow restricitions to be lowered on Friday, 31 August.
Picture: Twitter