Theewaterskloof Dam in 2018 & 2020. Photo courtesy Jean Tresfon.
In a rare bit of good news for 2020, Cape Town’s water supply dams are 100% full!
I wanted to follow up on a blog I wrote in January 2018, when we were all scared of “Day Zero”, the day that Cape Town was going to run out of water. Our average dam levels for the Cape Town area were down to about 17%, and we were running out of water fast. With the water restrictions, we were only allowed to use 50 litres of water per person during the height of the water crisis.
Thankfully, we did not run out of water! Cape Town residents cut their water usage by 55% between 2015 and 2018, meaning we use less than half of the water we used in 2015. Cape Town’s water saving achievements have been internationally recognized and applauded, with the International Water Association awarding Cape Town as the first city in the world to reduce its water consumption by 50% in just three years.
Today we are happy to announce that the average of our dams in the Cape Town catchment area is 100.8% and our biggest dam, Theewaterskloof, is overflowing for the first time since 2014! In March 2018, Theewaterskloof was only 11% full.
Cape Town is such a good example of what can be achieved when a community stands together! We will always be water warriors and we will never go back to old water usage habits.
For the latest dam levels, go to the City of Cape Town’s dam monitoring page.
