Cape Town - The Western Cape government is praying for more rain this winter as two of its biggest cities are experiencing water shortages.
The current average dam level for the province is hovering at around 50%, and this is a matter of concern if enough winter rain is not received, said Wouter Kriel, spokesperson for Anton Bredell, MEC for the Department of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.
“If we do not receive enough rain, we will enter the next hot and dry summer season with low dam levels. That is why we are continuously urging the public to save water now because it is better to be conservative now rather than having to implement drastic measures once it is too late,” said Kriel.
He said climate change is a reality for the Western Cape. “It means we will see a hotter and drier future, with more intense droughts and floods when they do occur. We must plan for this future. The provincial 15-Year Drought and Water Resilience Plan is our latest attempt to do this.”
Chantèl Edwards, George Municipality spokesperson, said the city has been experiencing lower rainfalls than usual. She said the catchment area of George received a much lower than predicted rainfall, with a total of only 117.2mm recorded from 1 July to 14 November 2022, and predictions by the South African Weather Service for the Garden Route for the months ahead remained uncertain.
“George currently still faces limited water treatment capacity, and although an additional 20Ml/day Water Treatment Works (WTW) is under construction for the next three years and various improvements at the old WTW (circa 1950) are still in process, the water treatment capacity remains limited. The extended load shedding continues to exercise a negative impact on the ability to treat raw water, despite the use of generators reducing the reliability of daily treatment volumes.
The City of Cape was reportedly losing 2% of water on a weekly basis, and the public has urged to stay below 850 million litres per day.
Mayco Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien, said below-average rainfall was cause for concern.
“We suspect that the region is going through a prolonged drought cycle. The City has had numerous prolonged drought cycles, ranging up to 10 years throughout the decades. Drought cycles will become more frequent as the effects of climate change become more intense, and we suspect that there will be approximately 25% less water available in the Western Cape Water Supply System over the next 30 years,” said Badroodien.
He said the City would continue to reduce water wastage through programmes such as leak detection, annual pipe replacement, and pressure management.