Cape Town – Dam levels have declined by 1.4 to 75.9% since last week, the City of Cape Town says.
The dam levels were at 65.9% at the same time last year.
Daily water consumption is down to 669 million litres a day from 701 million litres the previous week.
The City gets its water from six dams – the Berg River (91.9%), the Upper Steenbras (100%) and Lower Steenbras (85%) dams, Theewaterskloof (67.3%), Voelvlei (80.1%) and Wemmershoek (81%).
The average dam levels in the Western Cape is below 60%.
The City of Cape Town recently reassured residents who have detected an earthy taste to their tap water that it remains safe to drink and compliant with SANS241 standards.
The change in taste is due to the presence of geosmin in our raw water supply.
"It must be emphasised that geosmin poses no threat to human health. It is a naturally occurring organic compound and is responsible for the earthy taste of beetroot and the scent that occurs in the air when rain falls after a dry spell.
"The compound is sometimes present in water, particularly during periods of hot weather, and even minute concentrations of a few parts per trillion can be detected by the human palate," the City said.
The City is currently dosing powdered activated carbon during the water treatment process to reduce the effect of the geosmin. However, they said it may take some time for the taste and smell of the water to normalise.
The City urged residents to practise water conservation and make saving water a way of life, as this will enable the City to provide safe, reliable, sustainable and affordable water and sanitation services to residents.
Major dams30/12/2019Previous week% 2018Berg River91.993.390.0Steenbras Lower85.086.568.6Steenbras Upper100.0100.270.2Theewaterskloof67.368.651.0Voëlvlei80.181.984.5Wemmershoek81.082.978.6Total Stored Ml681 932694 599591 926% Storage75.977.365.9