Mayor Patricia de Lille held an interfaith thanksgiving prayer service on Table Mountain on Tuesday to "give thanks for the much-needed rains that we all prayed for on this very same spot in May last year".
The 2017 service was held at a time when dam levels were at a critical 20.7% at the time, but on Monday it was announced that the dam storage capacity in the province had reached 60% for the first time since 2016.
Yesterday's service was attended by members of the various religious communities in Cape Town. De Lille cautioned, however, that "with climate change, weather patterns have become very unpredictable. That is why it is important that we continue to seek spiritual guidance and support to supply our needs".
"In May last year, I called on the interfaith leaders to pray for much-needed rains as our dam levels stood at critically low levels of around 20.7% at the time. As we stand here today, we have reached just over 60% dam storage capacity for the first time since 2016, and it is thanks to your prayers and the joint efforts of the amazing water-saving Team Cape Town," De Lille said.
"As a caring and inclusive city, we know and appreciate the role of the religious community and know that our prosperity as a city cannot be achieved without your guidance, counsel and prayer. Sometimes people underestimate the power of prayer. We have prayed for rain and we thank God for the rain and for listening to our prayers.
"Since early last year, we all became more acutely aware of the importance of water as a source of life that needs to be conserved and not taken for granted.
"In the past summer, we faced grim prospects and it has indeed been your prayers that have contributed to the showers of blessings that came down in recent weeks. I recall when the first heavy rains fell earlier this year how Capetonians including myself rejoiced at the sound and feeling of the rain.
"We now all have a greater appreciation for rain and while we are at just over 60% dam storage capacity, we are still not out of the woods. We have called for this service today to give thanks and to thank you as religious leaders especially for the role that you played during this trying time for our city.
"Thank you for all the prayers you held with your congregations throughout this time. We are now nearing the end of winter and my call today to the religious community is to ask that you continue to play a leading role and continue to pray for rain so that our dams may recover fully.
"We have seen that we cannot predict what will happen and the impact of no water in our dams is devastating for us all. With climate change, weather patterns have become very unpredictable. That is why it is important that we continue to seek spiritual guidance and support to supply our needs.
"At this time, I must again express my heartfelt thanks to Team Cape Town for their amazing effort to bring down our collective water consumption from over 1 billion litres a day in 2016 to around 500 million litres a day currently. This was no easy task but it shows what we can achieve when we all pull together for a common purpose. "
"I cannot stress the important role that residents and businesses played in bringing down our consumption especially in the past 18 months. Team Cape Town continues to be the most important player in ensuring that we never find ourselves in that situation again where we go below the 20% dam storage mark.
"There has been a great mindset change and this must continue as the new way of life and as the new normal. People must change their relationship with water and many people have made this change.
"Water is life and can never again be taken for granted because we can only save water while we still have water to be saved. So once again, my thanks go out to everyone for short showers, for flushing with grey water, for tolerating a dirty car and all other measures that Capetonians have implemented which have seen us avert Day Zero.
"We asked for all hands on deck during the drought and indeed Capetonians and visitors responded to the call. Let us continue on this path of being thankful for what we have, keeping up the water-saving efforts and working together to conserve our precious water resources."