Statement by Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development

WC Water Update

30 July 2018

Statement by Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell.

The average dam level in the Western Cape remains at 51% with the dams feeding the City of Cape Town at 56%. Levels have not increased much over the past week, mainly due to warmer weather and little rain.

Anton Bredell, the minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in the Western Cape says the situation is still better than it was a few months ago when the City of Cape Town was still considering a Day Zero scenario.

“However, we want to point out that the levels we see at the moment correspond closely to the levels we saw two years ago. The fact is that within a year or so of those levels, the province was in a serious predicament. We want to avoid a repeat and so we want to urge the public to continue to save water and to allow the system to recover further ahead of the coming summer period.”

Bredell says there are still some forecasts that indicate more rain to come across large areas of the province, but the confidence and certainty remains low.

“As a province we continue to engage our national counterparts as well as local government counterparts in managing the system better. That includes matters relating to water restrictions. We continue to urge our national government colleagues to use the breathing room we have at the moment to complete the long postponed bulk water infrastructure projects needed for the province. The mandate for the bulk provision of water to citizens remains with the national department of water and sanitation and we will continue to monitor the situation going forward.”

Major Dam statistics

ENDS.