#WaterCrisis: Dam levels decline slightly, water consumption on rise

Theewaterskloof dam Picture: Henk Kruger / African News Agency (ANA)

Theewaterskloof dam Picture: Henk Kruger / African News Agency (ANA)

Published Oct 15, 2018

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Dam levels have declined slightly by 0.2% over the last week to 76% of storage capacity, with fears over the increase in water consumption. 

The average water consumption for the past week increased from 546 million litres per day to 563 million litres per day, the City of Cape Town said. 

"Cape Town must try its very best to remain in the lower 500 million-litre per day usage band until another limit is imposed by the National Department of Water and Sanitation. This decision is likely to be made in December," the City of Cape Town said. 

"Although the metro has emerged successfully from a crisis situation, consumers are reminded that the permitted usage under Level 5 restrictions is 70 litres per person per day and that the Level 5 tariffs are still on the higher end of the tariff scale. This should be remembered when it comes to household budgeting." 

Nicky Allsopp, of the South African Environmental Observation Network, told News24 that from now on the dam levels would drop by between 1 or 2 percent a week during the summer.

The winter rainfall of 2018 had been "very mediocre", enough to bring the dams up to 76%, but not like 2014, before the three-year drought, when they were overflowing after winter.

Asked to comment on the increase in consumption, Allsopp said last week: "If that trajectory continues, and goes up as people become increasingly lax with water saving, then it will be a problem.

"We haven't got a short-term water problem, but if you look at rising temperatures with climate change, which are apparently really going to affect us, we could be facing many more years when rainfall is low, rather than this drought being a one-off. 

"We need a regime shift in water. We seem to have done relatively well so far, but this is not the time to get complacent."

Level 5 restriction don’ts

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  No watering/irrigation with municipal water is allowed. Nurseries or customers involved in agricultural activities, or those with gardens of historical significance, may apply for exemption.

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 No topping up (manual or automatic) of swimming pools with municipal drinking water is allowed.

·

  No washing of vehicles, including cars, taxis, trailers, caravans or boats allowed with municipal drinking water.

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  No washing or hosing down of hard surfaces with municipal water.

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 The use of municipal drinking water for ornamental fountains or water features is prohibited.

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All private swimming pools must be fitted with a cover.

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  The use of any portable or temporary play pools is prohibited.

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  Should borehole/well-point water be used for outdoor purposes, including garden use, topping up of swimming pools and hosing down of surfaces, it should only be done for a maximum of one hour on Tuesdays and Saturdays before 09:00 and after 18:00. However, the City discourages the use of this water for these purposes to prevent the over-abstraction of aquifers.

· 

The operation of spray parks is prohibited.

·  No new landscaping or sports fields may be established except if irrigated only with non-drinking water.

Current Dam Water Levels - 15/10/2018Major damsStorageMl% Capacity when full   15/10/2018Berg River130 01099.5Steenbras Lower33 51790.5Steenbras Upper31 76785.0Theewaterskloof480 18858.7Voëlvlei164 09596.6Wemmershoek58 64494.3Total Stored Ml898 221682 610% Storage 76.0

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