The weekly dam levels report indicates that the total capacity of dams supplying the Cape Town metro decreased by 0,5% in the last week, from 101% the previous week to 100,5%. Daily water consumption for the same period increased to 756 million litres per day, compared to 737 million litres the week before. At the same time last year, dam levels were at 98%.
Dams supplying Cape Town have for the second year running crested the 100% mark – this year sooner than in 2020, when dams hit full capacity in October. Prior to that, dams were last full in 2014.
Some residents have asked how the City calculates a capacity of more than 100%, and what happens with the excess water once dams have reached their full capacity. In terms of the excess percentages, the water depth flowing over the spillways translates to a volume of water temporarily stored behind the dam wall. A percentage exceeding 100% indicates that the dam is overflowing. Water that overflows goes down the rivers and is important for the ecological functioning of these water courses.
While the healthy dam levels are certainly something to be thankful for, we cannot afford to become complacent in our ambitions for water security, and reducing reliance on surface (rainfall) water. Cape Town is located in a water-scarce region, and our climate – particularly in Southern Africa – is proving increasingly unpredictable.
The City is enhancing its management of existing water supply, and it accepts the responsibility that it needs to step beyond its municipal mandate in terms of bulk water supply provision, as we did during the recent drought. In the face of rising temperatures globally, and erratic rainfall patterns, the City is pushing ahead with its New Water Programme, and realising the objectives and commitments laid out in the Water Strategy of building resilience and water security for this generation and future generations, come rain or shine.
As dams are now full, some residents might be questioning whether water tariffs can be lowered to pre-drought levels, when all households, both indigent and non-indigent, were provided six Kilolitres of water per month, at no charge.
Read: Water and Sanitation gives Update on Western Cape Water Situation
Prior to the drought, water purchases by those using high volumes of water allowed for the first six Kilolitres of water to be subsidised. Water usage habits have remained significantly lower than they were before the drought, and there are very few customers today who purchase the volumes of municipal water that enabled a subsidised allocation. The changing circumstances placed the sustainability of the previous tariff model at risk, and left the water and sanitation service vulnerable to climate shocks. It was necessary to build resilience into the tariff model, while adjusting the price of water to a more cost-reflective level. For this reason, the City introduced the tariff model comprising a fixed component, and a (variable) usage component. This provides a degree of security to a sustained operation of the vast water and sanitation service.
It is important to keep in mind that the amount of water in our dams, which we share with several other municipalities, does not directly influence the cost of delivering the overall water and sanitation service.
Information on how water and sanitation tariffs are structured and calculated can be found here.
