Western Cape dams remain low despite heavy rainfall

There’s been little change in Cape Town’s dam levels despite recent heavy rain.

Storage now stands at 45 percent, up slightly from 44.8 percent last week.

The city said water use has dropped to 859 million litres a day, down from 970 million litres last week.

That’s just below the new winter target of 860 million litres a day.

Heavy rain swept through Cape Town over the weekend, leaving some communities submerged.

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Multiple roads were also affected, with authorities working to respond to disruptions caused by rising water levels and poor drainage.

Water and Sanitation MMC Zahid Badroodien said while the rain is welcome, it only lifted dam levels by 0.2 percent.

"This just reiterates that we can't depend on unpredictable rainfall to fill our dams. So, while our rainfall is vital it also has to rain in the right place where our dams are in those catchments for dam levels to increase."

City officials stress that Cape Town is not in a drought and is not heading for Day Zero.