Cape Town - The past week’s rain clouds, which left parts of the Western Cape muddy and waterlogged, have a silver lining.
Cape Town’s dams have reached record levels since 2009, with most of the catchment areas either full or overflowing with water.
The City of Cape Town reported that there were more than 927 000 megalitres of water stored in its dams on Tuesday, putting them at 103 percent capacity.
The amount was 10 000 megalitres higher than the same prosperous period in 2009 and more than 100 000 megalitres higher than last year’s levels.
Of six dams that feed the city, five were overflowing – including the Steenbras upper and lower dams.
The Theewaterskloof dam, the city’s largest water resource, situated just outside Villiersdorp, was at 107 percent capacity on Tuesday.
Local water specialist Jeremy Taylor said there would be no further water restrictions in the foreseeable future.
“We are looking A-for-away for the summer months. We have been since 2005, because it’s been around eight years of higher-than-average rainfall.”
He said in his 50 years of experience, the frequent and prolonged rainfall over the past eight years was unprecedented.
Before this period, he had noted a rainfall pattern that swung around every seven years, with extended rainy seasons giving way to two-year periods of drought.
But he warned that this was not a cue to waste water, pointing out that despite the higher-than-average rainfall, the dams were still being emptied at a rapid rate.
“We have become used to this amount of water, but what happens when we hit two years of below-average rainfall. We will definitely feel the pain then, so this is no time to sit on our laurels.”
Taylor urged people to start saving water now and reducing the drawdown on the dams by at least 50 percent.
The city agreed with Taylor.
”It is important to bear in mind that the time to save water is when there is water to save, and we should therefore not become complacent about our water-saving efforts. Cape Town will never be in a position of having sufficient water to waste, and we must continue to be vigilant,” the city said in a statement. - Cape Argus