While the national average dam levels reported by the Department of Water and Sanitation are showing a slight increase around the country, certain provinces still remain disaster areas.

The latest dam levels report issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation show a slight increase of 2.1% from 60% last week to 62.1% this week after measuring the 215 dams across the country.

The department, however, noted that even though there was a meagre increase, Eastern, Western and Northern Cape Provinces remain national disaster areas, as announced by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs recently.

Severe drought

This is due to the severe drought effect that is currently being experienced in the three provinces.
The Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces are the most affected provinces with Cape Town and the Nelson Mandela Metros both being placed under water restrictions.

“The water levels in Eastern Cape increased slightly from 61% to 62%, however the area of Nelson Mandela Bay and Butterworth remain water stressed with dam levels decreasing alarmingly. The Algoa Water Supply System that supplies water to dams in Port Elizabeth remain just above 25%.

“The situation in Western Cape remains unchanged with the provincial average of water levels at 22.5%, a decrease from 22.9% last week. The Cape Water Supply System is at 24.2% this week from 24.4% last week,” the department said.

Other provinces

The dam levels in other provinces are 94.3% in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal 57.7%, Limpopo
64.2%, Mpumalanga 76.7%, Northern Cape 79.7%, North West 68.1%, and Free State 68%.

The department reminded all water users that water challenges should not be reduced to Eastern, Western and Northern Cape only.

“The rest of the globe continues to face the realities of climate change, therefore everyone should apply their efforts and use water sparingly.”