South Africa’s national water storage levels showed a decrease last week based on an assessment by the Department of Water and Sanitation.

The assessment which was carried out on Monday showed a 0.4% decline in average dam levels, leaving national storage capacity at 72.1%. This time last year, national capacity was 53.8%.

The department said there has been a falloff in average dam levels across most provinces which are as follows:

The Algoa system which consists of five dams serving Nelson Mandela Bay was recorded ta 36.4% compared to 37.2% last week.

The Amatola system consisting of six dams serving Buffalo City saw a decrease of 0.9% in the previous week.

The Cape Town Dams system currently serving mainly City of Cape Town (as a result of the severe storm that hit the province) increased by 1.8% this week. The Voelvlei dam was sitting at 17.2%, an increase of 2.5% compared to the previous week. Despite the recent heavy rains over the past week, the Theewaterskloof Dam only rose by 1.9%.

The Umgeni Dam system serving mainly eThekwini and Msunduzi saw a decrease of 0.7%.Other KZN dams, which remain low, include Phongolo at 40.0% and Goedertrouw at 33.8%.

The Vaal River system serving mainly Gauteng, Sasol and Eskom was at 83.5% compared to 84.1% last week.

The Sterkfontein dam remains steady at 90.4% and The Grootdraai dam has decreased 0.8% and is now at 89.0%.

The Orange River the Gariep dam is at 84.8%, a decrease of 1.2%, while the Polokwane System remains steady, currently standing at 64.1%, no different to the week before.

The department said that water restrictions will remain in place across every province with the exception of Gauteng.

“Residents are urged to continue using water sparingly,” it added.