Provincial dam levels recover, but only slightly
Stored levels are up, but a cut to 500 million litres a day looms
LEVEL 4b water restrictions with a cut to 500 million litres of collective water usage a day are about to be implemented soon. This week, with dam levels still at critical level, stored water has risen slightly to 24.5% with an increase of 1.4 percentage points. Only 14.5% of the water is usable.
Yesterday, the levels of the dams feeding the city were: Berg River dam at 36.6%, Steenbras Lower at 30.1%, Steenbras Upper at 60.5%, Theewaterskloof at 18.9%, Voelvlei at 18.5% and Wemmershoek at 37.3%.
With consumption at 630 million litres per day, 30 million litres above the current usage target of 600 million litres per day, informal settlements, water and waste services and energy mayoral committee member Xanthea Limberg urged residents to move to a target of 500 million litres, regardless of whether Level 4b restrictions have been formally implemented or not.
“It is incredibly important we focus on building our reserves at the moment.
“The danger does exist that we will start exceeding our water usage target due to the cooler conditions and the rainfall that is being experienced at times,” said Limbergh.
She said the City’s Water Resilience Task Team has been working on plans to boost the City’s response to drought and to ensure that acute water shortages are avoided, besides transforming the “water landscape into one that ultimately relies less on surface water”.
To this end, World Wide Fund freshwater specialist Christine Colvin said groundwater found below the surface was “better buffered from drought than surface water”.
After three years of very little rain, the dams were drying up, while aquifers have filled up over hundreds to thousands of years and usually have “lower levels of abstraction and use”.
Colvin said: “If groundwater is well monitored and managed, and we use that storage to see us through dry periods when other sources are low, it can be an important component of a mixed, resilient water supply.”
Limberg said she was aware many residents have been doing everything in their power to use less water and that it was difficult to consistently save water, “especially when the rain falls and the temperature drops, but we cannot afford to let our guard down”.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said that although the average water level for all the provincial dams has increased slightly, the levels remain a concern.
“We urge the public to continue to conserve water as much as possible.”