Of the 5 dams that supply Cape Town of its drinking water the two largest, Theewaterskloof (480.2 million cubic meters) and Voelvlei (158.6 million cubic meters), are considerabilly lower than the previous year. While the bergriver dam which comes in third at 127.1 million cubic meters is slightly lower than last year.
Both Steenbras dams are considerabaly smaller than the big three, roughy a quater of the size of the bergriver dam. 15 Steenbras dams could fit into Theewaterskloof. Below we have a look at the respective dam levels. Values are expressed as percentages.
| Dam | River | Last Year | Last Week | This Week |
| Berg River dam | Berg River | 95.0 | 94.8 | 93.6 |
| Steenbras Dam-Lower | Steenbras River | 62.3 | 79.5 | 78.4 |
| Steenbras Dam-Upper | Steenbras River | 96.9 | 97.3 | 97.3 |
| Theewaterskloof Dam | Riviersonderend | 87.9 | 81.2 | 80.2 |
| Voelvlei Dam | Voelvlei River | 95.1 | 84.4 | 82.3 |
As one can see, our most important dams are lower than previous years. Should this dramatic drop have occured several weeks ago the City of Cape Town would have been likely to have implemented further water restrictions. Currently the only water restrictions in place through out the greater Cape Town area is an irrigation ban between 10am to 4pm.
It is difficult to predict what the state of our dams will be like in a months time as summer comes into full fruition. We are only left to hope that water is used wisely.
