Cape Town dams hit 90% for the first time in 2020
Cape Town dams have passed the 90% mark for the first time this year as consistent rain helps to replenish the city's water supply.
According to data from the City of Cape Town, dam levels were 90.7% as at 31 August and the key Theewaterskloof Dam was at 87.9%.
This is significantly up from 2019 levels when the capacity was 81% and the largest dam, Theewaterskloof, was at 72.2%.
Western Cape dam levels are also improving at 69.5% of capacity, up from last year at 66% at the same time.
South African Weather Service (SAWS) data revealed that rainfall was healthy in July with several stations reporting above-normal rainfall over the month ending on 1 August.
Drought conditions
Western Cape weather stations in Atlantis, Cape Columbine, Darling and Lambertsbaai all reported rainfall well in excess of the norm, and very few stations reported rainfall below 10mm.
While the rainfall and dam levels are good news for the Western Cape, the SAWS warned that overall, South Africa was still a water-stressed country.
"During the three-month period from May to July 2020, nearly the entire country received below-normal rainfall. Near-normal to above-normal rainfall was received in parts of the Western and Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, [the] North West and Mpumalanga," reads the SAWS Drought Monitoring - July 2020 report.
It warned that the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape remained vulnerable to drought conditions.
South Africans have to prepare for hotter weather as the climate slowly shifts.
According to the SAWS Annual State of the Climate 2019, last year was 1.1°C hotter than the norm (as calculated from the 1981 – 2010 reference period) which was an indication of 0.16°C warming per decade.
That report highlighted the very dry (less than 75% of normal rainfall) 2017 for the Western Cape. One has to go back all the way to 1996 for the previous wet year (more than 125% of normal rainfall).
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?
Receive 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)
➕
Recieve 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
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation