Water Wednesday: Severe drought continues in Cape Town

Cape Town has warned its residents not to relax their water saving efforts despite a little rainfall in the past week. The city’s water crisis continues as dam storage levels were at 26,4% on 17 July but usable water is only at approximately 16,4% which is very low for this time of the year.

What is worse is that the Western Cape government’s Disaster Management Directorate estimates rainfall will decrease by 30% by the year 2050. As level 4b water restrictions continue, the collective water usage is still 613 million litres per day. This is 113 million litres above the new target of 500 million litres despite the rainfall and winter weather conditions. If the crisis continues, the summer of 2018 will be a difficult one for Capetonians.

The City has been monitoring metro-wide high users since January 2017. Their statistics from May 2017 show that each month’s top 100 high-user list has been reduced by about 80% due to the City’s engagement with these users and subsequent corrective measures that have been implemented.

The table below shows rainfall received between 14 and 16 July 2017. It includes the long-term average for July in various areas:

Rainfall (mm)    14 July      15 July             16 July     July total      July long-term

Blackheath Upper       0                     23                    0              30                     80,8

Newlands                    0                      17,5                 21            68,5                   273,2

Steenbras                    0                      20                    0              42,8                  141,3

Table Mountain         0                       39,5                0               73,7                   231,1

Theewaterskloof        5                      27                   0                55,4                    73,5

Tygerberg                   0                      22,4                 0               34,4                   83,4

Voëlvlei                       0                      24                    0                34                      94,5

Wemmershoek          0                      40                  0,6             85,1                   160,5

Wynberg                     0                      28,5                 0,4           46,5                    207,3

Brooklands                 3                      25                    0               81                       139

These are the three solutions the city has undertaken to alleviate the water crisis in the long term:

1. Apply stricter water restrictions to reduce current average daily consumption to 500 million litres.
2. To appoint more staff to handle water complaints, identify problems, find leaks and make sure leaks are repaired.
3. To establish water reclamation and desalination plants in order to purify sea water into fresh water.

Meanwhile, as part of Mandela Day, the Department of Water and Sanitation has continued its Clear Rivers campaign across the country.

Here is your weekly dam update:

The Vaal River System consisting of 14 dams serving mainly Gauteng, Sasol and Eskom is at 89.5.

Here are the latest dam percentages throughout the country:

For a more in depth rainfall update, visit WeatherSA or click here. For more information on the water storage levels across the country, visit the DWS site. For a comprehensive drought status report from the Department of Water and Sanitation, click here.