Cape Town – The Department of Water and Sanitation has revealed that South Africa's dam levels continue to decline as the country’s dry winter takes its toll on scarce water resources.
In a statement released on Thursday, it said dam levels were dropping, except for those in the Western Cape.
According to the department, the national water storage of combined dams declined to 69.3% this week, meaning the country has 22 200.1 cubic metres stored out of 32 012.2 cubic metres at full capacity.
Weather conditions in the Western Cape have seen significant increases in water levels as the provincial water store sits at 41.3% this week from last week's 40.2%. The Cape Town water supply system, consisting of six dams, is at 58.4% capacity this week, compared with last week’s 57.9%.
However, the Eastern Cape is battling as water storage has declined to 53.4% this week, compared with 54% last week.
The Algoa water supply system, which has five dams supplying Nelson Mandela Bay, is at 19% from last week’s 19.2% capacity.
The Amathole water supply system, which has six dams supplying Buffalo City, improved by 43.4% from last week’s 42.9%, while the Klipplaat water supply system, with three dams supplying water to Queenstown, declined from 43.3% last week to 43.2% this week.
Limpopo has seen a significant drop with its water storage capacity at 64.4% from last week’s 66.5%.
The Luvhuhu water supply system, which has three dams, is currently at 97.3%, while the Polokwane water supply system, with two dams, is at 77%.
The Northern Cape's dams have decreased to 95% from 96.4%. The Orange water supply system, with two dams, is at 92.1% capacity from 92.3% last week.
The Free State's water capacity dropped to 82.7% from 82.9%. The Bloemfontein water supply system which feeds Mangaung remains over the halfway mark at 56.3% from 56.8% last week.
Gauteng’s dam levels are just below full as the province saw an increase from last week’s 98.1% to this week’s 99.6% water capacity.
However, the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), with 14 dams, continues to decline and its water level now stands at 65.4% from 65.7% last week.
North West saw a slight increase from last week’s 70% to this week’s 70.3% and the Crocodile water supply system, which has seven dams, improved to 99.4% this week from 98.5% last week.
Mpumalanga's dams are at 73.4% from 73.5% last week. The Olifants water management area dropped from 67.4% to 67.3% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA now stands at 71% from 71.1% last week.
The water levels in KwaZulu-Natal dropped to 61.1% from last week’s 61.5% and the Umgeni water supply system, which has five dams, dropped to 73.1% from 73.7% last week his week.
The Department of Water and Sanitation said it continues to roll out water tanks to water-stressed areas and schools across the country to relieve water challenges, but it also reminded citizens of the scarcity of water in the country and asked for heightened saving measures when using water.