Cape dams down to below 40%
ALTHOUGH the water situation in the province is not yet at a crisis level, consumers were urged by Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell to assist the authorities in using water responsibly.
In providing an update of the water situation, Bredell expressed concern that the average water level for dams across the province had fallen to below 40%.
“It is massively concerning to see dam levels on average at 39.4%.
‘‘We are still some way off our rainy season and therefore we once more call on consumers to assist us in using water responsibly,” he said.
He explained that despite the hard work done by the authorities to reduce water consumption, water use remained high and dam levels kept falling fast.
“We are constantly monitoring the situation and municipalities are implementing additional measures, including restrictions and tariff increases where necessary,” he said.
He emphasised that despite some areas having been declared disaster areas over the past year, the water situation in the province was not yet at a crisis level.
Latest data provided by the National Department of Water and Sanitation regarding Western Cape dam levels include that Cape Town system dams combined were 39.90% full this week, 42.03% last week and 50.36% at corresponding time last year.
The Western Cape State dams were 39.40% full this week, 41.27% last week and 48.48% at this time last year.
I CONTINUE to be totally amazed and disturbed by the lack of prominence the Cape Times is giving to the severe water crisis we are currently facing.
Apart from a few letters from other concerned residents like myself, and the occasional factual piece by one of your reporters, I have not seen even an editorial column reflecting the concern that a medium of communication such as yours should be showing.
In fact, your editorial last Friday dealt with the totally unimportant subject of the attitude of the South African cricket team’s former captain.
This is in marked contrast to, for example, Cape Talk radio station, which has been giving great prominence to the current crisis for many weeks, exhorting residents to heed the City’s calls to drastically cut back on water consumption.
It is obvious from the consistently high daily water usage that either many of the residents of Cape Town do not care that our potable water supply is rapidly running out, or that a large proportion of the population is poorly informed regarding the current situation.
It is my opinion that, as prominent newspapers, The Cape Times and the Cape Argus should be at the forefront of communicating to the people of Cape Town how dire the current water situation is, and how important it is that they should adhere to both the letter and the spirit of the water restrictions.
This should be front page news at least every Tuesday, when the latest dam levels are published.
Come on Cape Times. It is well past time for you to perform what is a vital function in communication. Jim Gibson Constantia