Cape Town’s water consumption has increased by 28 million litres per day for the past week, the City said on Monday.

This means that water consumption is increasing to 583 million litres per day, week-on-week. According to the City, rain over the past week saw dam levels recovering to 61.8% of storage capacity.

However, the City said in a statement that they are not yet in a position where they can safely relax on its our water savings efforts.

Residents have been encouraged to continue using water sparingly.

The City said although consumption had increased, Cape Town remained within the daily allocation of 650 million litres per day. Water restrictions remain in place to aid dam recovery.

Meanwhile, Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said the Gouritz River catchment area continued to be the area of most concern.

This is the area feeding large parts of the Karoo. While some regions, including Beaufort West, have received good rains in their catchment areas, others have not yet seen the relief they need.

“A source of concern remains the agriculture sector in large parts of the province where the ongoing drought, which has been prevalent for more than four years, remains in effect.”

Bredell said his department continued to monitor the situation across the Western Cape and ongoing interventions seeking to address longer-term water sustainability remained on track.

“These include searching for a new water source for Beaufort West, as well as rolling out the Blossoms project for Oudtshoorn and other areas of the Karoo, including Kannaland,” he added.