Recent rainfall in the Western Cape has brought some relief to the province as major dams have steadily improved.

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation, the increased inflow into the rivers was sufficient to lead to significant inflows into the dams.

The latest dam level assessments as at 11 June shows the combined average dam level for the Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS) is at 31.51%, compared to 20.97% at the same time last year.

Rashid Khan, Western Cape Regional Head for the Department of Water and sanitation, says there is a noticeable turnaround in the province, however much more rain is required to significantly increase the dam levels.

Dam levels

Western Cape receives its water primarily in winter and with the dams filling earlier, there is hope that the dams will recharge faster.

Theewaterskloof, one of the largest dams supplying Cape Town and surrounding municipalities is at 20.89%.

Misverstand is at 107.79%. Voevlei has recovered to 25.53% from 22.04% last week.

Clanwilliam dam on the West Coast is also showing an improvement from 14.29% last week to 20.41% this week.

Continue using water sparingly

“We urge water users, domestic and industries, to continue using water sparingly,” Khan notes.

The department says it will only consider reducing water restrictions after the province has experienced enough rain.

“As the DWS we commend those water users that are harvesting rainfall and encourage those that are not harvesting rainfall to do so during this rainfall season,” Khan says.