Cape Town's dam levels higher than this time last year

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The City of Cape Town’s Water Dashboard shows that as of 28 May, the dam levels are at 24% versus 19.8% in the same week in 2017. Also, the dam levels rose nearly three percentage points from last week’s 21.1%. This is a consequence of the recent rain and Capetonians using much less water. Last week the city used a mere 505-million litres of water per day. Compare this to last year, when on 29 May the city said, “Disappointingly, consumption remains at 666-million litres [daily], which is above the consumption target of 600-million litres.”

The dam levels on 28 May 2018 versus the same week in 2017 are:

• Berg River: 43.3% vs 31%
• Steenbras Lower: 33.7% vs 23.8%
• Steenbras Upper: 60% vs 56.7%
• Theewaterskloof: 14.9% vs 13.8%
• Voëlvlei: 16.9% vs 14.6%
• Wemmershoek: 50.6% vs 36.1%

It is of course vital that Capetonians continue to use water frugally so that the dams can fill up and the risk of Day Zero can be avoided for at least a couple of years.

Article originally published on GroundUp.