13 Mar Dam levels in Cape Town are now severely depleted
The dam levels in Cape Town are now severely depleted after two consecutive years of drought and Level 3B water restrictions remain in place.
Cape Town city officials recently stated that the actual amount of water that can be accessed by the city is less than reported dam levels because it is very difficult to extract the last remaining 10% at the bottom of the dam.
The statement by the city said, “Since the last 10% of the water in a dam being unusable, the city’s actual supply of dam water is estimated to be about 29.2% of dam levels.”
Last week Monday, dam levels dropped down to 39.2%, a decrease of 1.3% since last week.
Residents of Cape Town apparently consumed on average, 807 million litres a day, which was over the target of 800 million.
City officials said, “We are consuming 7 million litres more than the target we set for daily water usage, despite our recent rainfall.”
According to Xanthea Limberg, the city’s energy councillor, residential properties had used up 65% of Cape Town’s water supply.
Theewaterskloof Dam – one of the dams that supplies water to Cape Town – is drying up. Pictures: Ian Landsberg, Cindy Waxa
Original image from iol.co.za
An increase in water restrictions
The areas of high water usage include Althlone, Constantia, Kraaifontein, Lansdowne, Manenberg, Newfields, Newlands and Somerset West.
Limberg said, “Although these are the areas of highest water usage, there are definitely high water users residing in every suburb across the metro.”
Cape Town city officials increased water restrictions to Level 3B.
What this means is that residents can only irrigate and water their gardens on Tuesdays and Saturdays and must do it prior to 09:00 or wait until after 18:00. No more than one hour a day of watering is permitted, and it must only be done with a watering can or bucket. Water consumption has reached 837 million litres a day, collectively, which is more than the revised target for water consumption, which is 700 million litres a day.
Despite these shockingly high figures, many residents have ignored warnings and simply not cut back on their consumption of water.
Cape Town city officials have compiled a list of the top 100 areas that waste the most water.
These are the top 10 water wasters:
1. 702,000l for Haywood Road‚ Crawford
2. 655,000l for Manenberg Avenue‚ Manenberg
3. 557,000l for Boundary Road‚ Lansdowne
4. 554,000l for Upper Hillwood Road‚ Bishop’s Court
5. 500,000l for Norwich Drive‚ Bishop’s Court
6. 461,000l for Pear Lane‚ Constantia
7. 457,000l for Barchan Circle‚ Big Bay
8. 443,000l for Hoeveld Road‚ La Concorde
9. 441,000l for Montana Road‚ Colorado Park
10. 431,000l for Charnwood Avenue‚ Tokai
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Posted at 11:18h, 11 April[…] consumption on average was 80 million litres more than the goal as of 23 January 2017 and the dam levels fallen to 40.4%. When you understand how difficult it is to extract the final 10% of a dam’s […]