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It is too early to say whether this week’s rains have had any effect on the severe water shortages gripping the country. Government figures regarding water storage levels are updated weekly, and will be remeasured on Tuesday.
“We have seen some rain this week, but I think we need significant rainfall if we are to start seeing some changes. I don’t think recent rainfall will have much impact,” said department of water and sanitation spokesperson Sputnik Ratau.
Rand Water, which supplies water to residents of Gauteng, said, if anything, it was the drop in temperature this week and not the rain that affected the water storage levels.
Spokesperson Pride Mguli said: “The drop in temperatures has resulted in reduced demand and, with reduced demand, we have been able to store water. The level of stored water last week was very low [but] there have been improvements this week.”
Mguli said Rand Water was “still not within our operational protocol of between 60% and 80% stored water. Our operational protocol requires that we keep reservoir levels between 60% and 80%, which is normally enough water to cover normal demand without interruptions”.
Joburg Water said on Friday that “supply across the city is normal, with reservoir levels in a satisfactory position”.
This week’s national water storage levels showed some decline, but remained at what government said was a “positive water balance”. The national water levels dropped slightly to 63.3% this week from 64.2% last week.
The latest storage water level indicators show that North West is the worst affected and the only province with levels below 50%. North West’s levels declined from 50.4% last week to 47.6% this week.
