Dam levels drop in the Western Cape

By Jurina Nkwazi
03 September 2010

The Western Cape has seen a decrease in the water levels at its dams over the past two months compared to last year.

The city only received 40.3mm of rain in July and 31.4mm in August.

Water shortages are currently seen in Mossel Bay where its main water source, the Wolwedans Dam is drying up.

The lack of rainfall over the past two months has resulted in lower storage levels in the majority of dams around the Western Cape.

Last year Wemmershoek dam was sitting at 99.7 percent compared to this year’s 79.3 percent. Steenbras Lower and Steenbras Upper dam was at 100.1 percent and 100.8 percent last year and are now at 59.1 percent and 94.6 percent respectively.

The Western Cape has overall seen a decrease of 6.9 percent in it’s storage levels since last year.