Cape Town - As Cape Town dam levels decreased by 2% in the past week to 85.4%, the City has reminded residents of its permanent water regulations in a bid to encourage water conservation.
In a media statement, the City said: “Daily water consumption for the same period increased to 799 million litres per day, compared to 776 million litres the week before. At the same time last year, dam levels were at 72%.
“Residents are reminded that while water restrictions were lifted from November 1, 2020, certain permanent regulations in the City’s water by-law still apply.”
It added: “These include those regulating the use of outdoor water use and groundwater. Watering is only allowed before 9am or after 6pm to avoid evaporation losses in the heat of the day. This applies to watering with municipal drinking water, and is also recommended for alternative water like borehole and well-point water.”
Meanwhile, Local Government MEC Anton Bredell released the statistics for the provincial dam levels and said: “The latest average level for dams in the Western Cape is 66%. In 2020 at the same time it stood at 53%.”
Bredell said: “The Central Karoo district which continues to be severely affected by the ongoing drought, received some welcome rainfall during the past week.
“The Gamka dam outside Beaufort-West was standing at 16% last year at this time. It has now recovered somewhat following good rainfall in the catchment area and is 62.6% full.
“Good rainfall was also seen in Laingsburg, Prince Albert and the Meiringspoort areas. It’s probably not enough yet to enable us to say the drought in the larger region is over, but we are grateful for every bit of rainfall we get. In addition, some areas continued to see very little rain.”
At the same time, the department has helped facilitate the provision of 1.2 million litres of drinking water to drought-stricken communities in the Northern Cape.
Bredell said: “The department has been part of an ongoing humanitarian operation to deliver much-needed drinking water along with Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages (CCPB).
“Over the past two weeks over 1.2 million litres of water has been delivered to the Garies and Karkams districts in the Namaqua District Municipality. This has been made possible thanks to the deployment of the three CCPB water tankers with water provided by the West Coast District Municipality out of Vredendal.”
Cape Argus