Dam levels now at 23.8%, rainfall trending just above average

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Dam levels across the province stand at 23.8%, compared to 17.7% this time last year, with provincial authorities believing that at the moment the rainfall for this year is trending slightly above average. James-Brent Styan, the spokesperson for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell, however, said the province would need two to three years of above average rainfall for the entire system to recover. “While 23.8% is a lot better than last week’s 19% and last year’s 18%, it is by no means a comforting level.” The drought, which according to Styan is the worst in 400 years, is still in full effect, and he urged people to continue to reduce water use. “We must allow the system to recover as much as possible ahead of the coming summer months when demand is sure to increase again,” Styan said.

The department remained concerned about the agriculture sector, which had been devastated by the drought across large parts of the province, he added.

“We continue to provide support to the sector as well as to municipalities in the province where there may be pressing concerns.

“At this stage we are happy about the fact that to date the province has managed to ensure that not a single community in this province has gone without drinking water over the past year, despite the trying conditions. We certainly aim to keep that up, but it remains a team effort. We also want to thank the public for their efforts in helping reduce water usage and spreading the message of water awareness over the past year,” Styan said.

According to the City, Cape Town’s collective consumption over the past week was 529 million litres of water per day, up from an average of 505 million litres in the preceding week.

Dam levels have increased by 5.8 percentage points as a result of the good rainfall received, especially in the catchment areas, and overall levels are now at 29.8%.

The 216.3mm of rainfall received last month is close to May's long-term average, and higher than what was received at the same time last year.

The City’s pressure management programme is also achieving savings of 62 million litres of water per day by lowering pressure across the metro.

Meanwhile, Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti yesterday launched Nestlé SA’s first Zero Water Technologies site.

Over the past six years, the company has installed new water recovery, treatment and recycling technology at its Mossel Bay dairy factory. This newly installed infrastructure will enable the factory to re-use and recycle water from its dairy operations.

Through this initiative Nestlé will be able to reduce the factory’s water consumption by over 50% during the first year of implementation, by re-using the water recovered from the milk evaporation process.

“It is imperative to note that the plant is in line with its National Water and Sanitation Master Plan, which encourages development of alternative water sources for water security. These include recycle, re-use, and desalination and groundwater optimisation.

"While we are glad that Nestlé, as one of the major water users in the Western Cape, has initiated such technological efforts, this does not take away our concern for the municipality to lose out on critical revenue once company goes off-grid,” Nkwinti said.