Cape Town – Persistent rain has seen the Garden Route dam level rise by 24.5% since the last reading on Wednesday.
The George municipality said the area had received 148mm of rain, with the dam level expected to rise even further due to continued run-off and further rainfall expected this week.
Monday's reading showed that it was 89% full, compared to last Wednesday's 64.5%.
It can be influenced further by the Garden Route dam needing to be recalibrated by the Department of Water Affairs following the raising of the wall, the municipality said.
Until this process has been completed, all readings are based on the previous dam wall height, it said.
Nelson Mandela Bay's main supply dams, however, are continuing a worrying decline. Monday's figures show that the combined capacity of its four main dams stand at 29.40%, down from the 29.56% recorded on Friday.
We have received a rainfall of 77mm over the past weekend, following heavy rains since last week Friday. The Raubenheimer dam has increased from 39.7% to 48.07 and the water continues to stream in into the Raubenheimer dam from Melville dam and from Boesmans River catchment side pic.twitter.com/yKgJGZBLFo
— Oudtshoorn Municipality (@Oudtmun) January 21, 2020
Meanwhile, the latest average dam level for the Western Cape is 53.55% (2019: 49.55%).
The dams providing water to the City of Cape Town dropped to 71.8% full (last week 73.2%) – despite Sunday's rain – but the situation in the Karoo and upper West Coast remains serious, though the Karoo benefited from heavy rainfall last week.
Water consumption for the past week increased to 762 million litres per day in Cape Town.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell says it is heartening to see major dams like the Theewaterskloof Dam – the largest in the province and Cape Town's main supply dam – at a level above 64%.
“Only two years ago, the dam was rapidly emptying and standing at 13.9%. In January 2018 the Western Cape, as a whole, had an average dam level of 25% and worse was yet to come.
"The drought for the biggest part of the province only really broke in the winter season when we got some early rainfall.”