Cape Town dam levels continue to dwindle, despite the recent rains

3rd April 2018

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

The few days of “good rainfall” experienced by the Western Cape is not enough to fix a system that has received three years of below average rainfall.

The average dam levels in the region continue to decline, falling to 17.6% by April 2, from 24.3% a year ago and 18.22% last week.

A lot of hard rain in the catchment areas is needed for dam levels to recover to adequate levels, Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Minister Anton Bredell said on Tuesday.

“One or two days [of rain] here and there will not make much difference. In the Western Cape our catchment areas are in our mountain ranges. So it needs to rain hard and a lot in the mountainous areas for our dams to see some recovery,” he said.

In addition, a very cold winter with much snow would be beneficial to the system, particularly in Spring, where melting snow on the high mountains contribute to boosting rivers and dams in the province.

“We have not seen really cold winters with lots of good snow over the past few years,” he added, warning consumers to continue using water sparingly.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION