Dam levels have improved by 0.9% over the last week to 70% of storage capacity and with more rain expected the next two days should rise even further this week.
The average water consumption for the past week declined from 526 million litres per day to 505 million litres per day, the City of Cape Town said.
Last week the City of Cape Town announced that it would lower water restrictions and tariffs from Level 6 to Level 5 from October 1 due to the encouraging dam recovery and the ongoing conservation efforts by Capetonians.
The Department of Water has maintained that water levels could only be dropped markedly when dam levels reach 80%, but the City decided it could not wait that long.
As usage has never reached the target of 450 million under Level 6b restrictions and has hovered around 500 million litres per day, which is the target for Level 5 restrictions, the City decided to lower the restriction and tariff to Level 5.
This will provide some financial relief to water users and this should reflect in the October municipal accounts. Tariffs are based on consumption, thus lower usage leads to lower costs.
The City encourages its water users to continue conserving water to ensure that Cape Town’s dams recover adequately for the summer months ahead.
Major dams 17/9/2018 Previous week % 2017
Berg River 97.6
Steenbras Lower 87.5
Steenbras Upper 95.8
Theewaterskloof 52.5
Voëlvlei 83.7
Wemmershoek 90.0
% Storage 70.0 % Iol.co.za
