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South Africa’s dam levels continued to decrease last week, although on a fraction percentage of 0, 4 a report released by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), this week said.

The report indicates that  the average dam levels have dropped from 60,2% last week to 59,8%. In the Western Cape dams have reached critically low levels with the average level this week standing at 26,6%.The Theewaterskloof Dam is 15,7% (2016: 36,7%); Voëlsvlei Dam is at 19,5% (2016: 47,7%) and Clanwilliam Dam is at 19,9% (2016: 57,8%).

Capetonians woke up to the news that they could be 99 days away from their taps running dry . Dubbed  “Day Zero”, the doomsday date is now 22 April 2018 and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the  Western Cape Provincial Government have come up with ways to reduce consumption levels and explore augmentation initiatives such as groundwater extraction and desalination. Panic is setting in as dam levels decrease and residents are up in arms over a water levy proposed by the municipality. The City of Cape Town has now implemented Level 6 water restrictions.

In Gauteng, the Vaal Dam is at 80,3%  compared to last week when it was 81,2% .The Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) that has 14 dams serving mainly Gauteng Sasol and Eskom, has decreased by 0.7% from 72,9 last week to 72,2% this week. The system was at 61, 5% in the same period last year.

In the Eastern Cape, the Algoa System with 5 dams serving Nelson Mandela Bay decreased to 25,6% this week from 26,3% last week. Last year the system was recorded at 56, 2%. The Amathole System, with 6 dams serving Buffalo City decreased from 79,4% last week to 79,2% this week;last year at this time it was at 72,9%.

In the Free State the Bloemfontein System, with 4 dams serving mainly Mangaung, decreased by 1,6% from 33,4% last week to 31,8% this week . It was at 36, 5% during the same time last year. Gariep Dam is down from 56,7% to 55,1%;last year at the same time it was at 46,4%.

North West dam levels decreased from 70,5% last week to 68,7% this week .The Crocodile West System which has six dams serving mainly Tshwane, Madibeng and Rustenburg, decreased slightly from 84,9% to 82,8% this week.The system was recorded at 91,5% last year.

The Umgeni Dam System in KwaZulu-Natal with five dams serving eThekwini and Msunduzi in Pietermaritzburg, decreased from 57, 3% to 57,2%. The system was at 48, 3%  in the same period last year.

The Northern Cape province is at 76, 6% this week ,an increase of 1,3% from 75,3% last week .Spitskop in the Northern Cape is at 53,4% down from 56,0% last week.

In the Limpopo province Mokolo is at 80,4% down from 81,0% last week. Nandoni Dam is at 96,0% and De Hoop at 100,1%.
In Mpumalanga province, dam levels are at 77,2% a decrease from 77,5% last week. Meanwhile in Mpumalanga, dams such as the Blyderivierpoort at 65,7%, Loskop at 100,3%  and Ohrigstad at 48,4%.

The Department of Water and Sanitation would like to reiterate that all water users have a responsibility to ensure that every little drop of water is conserved. As the country, we need to inculcate the culture of water conservation to avoid running of water and save for it for future generations. South Africa is considered a scarce country and is sting recovering from the devastating drought that ravaged most parts of the country in the last three years.

Issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation