Cape Town - This week saw the resuming of construction work on the Clanwilliam Dam wall by the national Department of Water and Sanitation.
“This is very welcome news and we want to applaud and thank the national government department under minister Gugile Nkwinti for keeping to their commitments and starting to deliver on their mandate to the public,” said Western Cape Local government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell.
Bredell says the project had been postponed and the delays were a contributing factor to the province’s recent drought woes.
“If the wall had been raised as planned, the situation may have never been as dire as it was over the past year. Water is the most basic of human rights and the ball cannot be dropped. The recent progress on this project is very welcome indeed and we hope that similar action follows for other projects needed across the other regions of the province too. This includes projects like the Bergriver/Voëlvlei augmentation scheme.”
Bredell has continued to urge consumers to keep saving water despite improved dam levels in recent weeks.
The average dam level in the Western Cape currently stands at just below 51% with the dams feeding the City of Cape Town still at just above 56%. The levels have seen slight decreases over the past week as little rain has fallen. The Gouritz River catchment area remains in dire straits with an average level of only 19% for dams in that region.
@TheCapeArgus