National Cape Town’s dam levels rise to the same levels as two years ago BL PREMIUM

After being brought to the point of near-depletion‚ Cape Town’s dam levels this week are at exactly the same levels as they were two years ago.The city council said the five main dams were at 29.8% of their capacity on Monday‚ up 5.8 percentage points on a week earlier and more than 10 points higher than this time in 2017.The rise in levels can be attributed to the 216.3mm rainfall in May that was close to the long-term average‚ according to the city.According to the South African Weather Service‚ 54.2mm fell in the CBD last week alone‚ with 156.8mm recorded at Kirstenbosch.Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said the rise in dam levels could also be attributed to the city’s pressure management programme‚ which had reduced water use and the risk of leaks or bursts. Pressure management is saving 62-million litres of water a day‚ according to Neilson.He said the city had been imposing pressure management for years‚ but had expanded the system in response to the drought. Officials could control w...