As Vaal dam reaches 85%, Western Cape still critical

The City of Cape Town is set to take drastic measures as dam levels drop to 26.2% of usable water.

On average, this leaves the city with about 135 days’ worth of drinking water.

Strict water restrictions have been imposed on Cape Town residents to conserve water and reduce water shortages.

“The primary thing is to get people to reduce consumption. We are phoning high water users, visiting businesses and alerting people through radio, the newspapers and social media to give them warnings and spread the message,” said City of Cape Town spokesperson Priya Reddy.

“On a wide scale we will reduce water pressure and implement other water planning measures,” Reddy said.

She added that the average stipulated water use was 700ml a day but people used 800ml.

She said this was the City’s main cause for concern because “the last 10% of dam water can’t be used because it’s full of salt”.

The most critical dams were the Theewaterskloof, Steenbras, Voëlvlei and Berg River dams.

Meanwhile in Gauteng, the department of water and sanitation announced that the Vaal Dam levels passed the 81% mark, the highest it’s been in two years.

The Gauteng weather service predicted that the Vaal might still cross over the 85% boundary on Thursday.

The Grootdraai Dam, recorded to be 102.51% full, had been opened and its water would be flowing into the Vaal Dam on Thursday morning, Gauteng Weather said.

Other dams’ water levels also increased over the rainy two weeks in South Africa.

The Gariep Dam, South Africa’s biggest dam, was currently more than 72% full as the gushing Orange River continued to feed it.

South Africa’s second-largest dam, the Vanderkloof Dam in the Free State, was last recorded to be at 53.3% capacity.

While the dams in the northern and north-eastern parts of South Africa are filling up rapidly, the Western Cape and western Northern Cape dams remained at a critical low.