Western Cape Dam Levels: 100% Expected Due to Heavy Rainfall
Due to recent high rains, water experts anticipate that at least two dams in the Western Cape may be filled to capacity over the next few days. Dr. Kevin Winter, a professor and water specialist at the University of Cape Town, said: “As you know, we are now experiencing good rainfall, which has caused the majority of the major dams to overflow. Both Theewaterskloof (77% full when I last checked) and Voelvlei (just over 50% full) are continually filling up. “These two dams are the only ones that haven’t reached 100%. Theewaterskloof will benefit from the rain that fell over the past 24 hours, but it will take a few days before we can verify how much the inflowing streams have raised the levels.
Western Cape Dam Levels
“Voelvlei is now a bit unknown because the last cold front delivered heavy rainfall to the Southern Cape, but I won’t see any data for the past 24 hours until later tomorrow. In any event, following a large rainfall, it takes a few days until the dams fill. Winter said that the City’s water dashboard included information for the Western Cape water storage system dating all the way back to 2008. “Since 2008, there have been six instances of the storage dams being completely filled. The last time the whole storage levels were at 100% was in 2014,” he noted.
| Dam | River | FSC | This Week | Last Week | Last Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellair Dam | Brak River | 4.3 | #33.6 | 33.6 | 5.3 |
| Berg River Dam | Berg River | 127.1 | 102.7  | 101.9 | 69.1 |
| Brandvlei Dam | Lower Brandvlei River | 286.1 | 53.8 | 48.0 | 36.6 |
| Buffeljags Dam | Buffeljags River | 4.6 | 102.8 | 102.8 | 99.3 |
| Bulshoek Dam | Olifants River | 4.9 | 88.6 | 79.1 | 50.8 |
| Calitzdorp Dam | Nels River | 4.9 | 100.4  | 100.7 | 75.1 |
| Ceres Dam | Koekedou River | 17.3 | 60.2 | 47.3 | 57.5 |
| Clanwilliam Dam | Olifants River | 122.5 | 53.3 | 20.8 | 25.9 |
| De Bos Dam | Onrus River | 5.8 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 73.5 |
| Duiwenhoks Dam | Duiwenhoks River | 6.2 | 100.9 | 101.1 | 99.9 |
| Eikenhof Dam | Palmiet River | 28.9 | 105.6 | 105.6 | 57.9 |
| Elandskloof Dam | Elands River | 11.0 | 98.5 | 74.9 | 29.8 |
| Ernest Robertson Dam | Groot Brak River | 0.5 | 101.1 | 101.4 | 96.8 |
| Floriskraal Dam | Buffels River | 48.3 | 28.1 | 27.4 | 23.4 |
| Gamka Dam | Gamka River | 1.8 | 99.9 | 99.8 | 100.0 |
| Gamkapoort Dam | Gamka River | 35.8 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 79.7 |
| Garden Route Dam | Swart River | 10.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 88.8 |
| Haarlem Dam | Groot River | 4.7 | 101.0 | 100.8 | 66.2 |
| Hartebeestkuil Dam | Hartenbos River | 7.2 | 33.0 | 5.8 | 6.3 |
| Kammanassie Dam | Kammanassie River | 34.4 | 33.2 | 30.8 | 3.8 |
| Keerom Dam | Nuy River | 9.8 | #100.0 | #100.0 | 17.4 |
| Klipberg Dam | Konings River | 2.0 | 100.1 | 99.9 | 54.1 |
| Klipheuwel Dam | Tributary of Hartenbos River | 4.5 | 57.0 | 52.6 | 15.8 |
| Korentepoort Dam | Korinte River | 8.1 | 100.8 | 100.9 | 87.8 |
| Kwaggaskloof Dam | Doorn River | 169.5 | 52.3 | 46.6 | 37.4 |
| Lakenvallei Dam | Sanddrifskloof River | 10.5 | 87.3 | 85.0 | 81.6 |
| Leeugamka Dam | Leeu River | 13.6 | 60.5 | 60.8 | 80.9 |
| Miertjieskraal Dam | Brand River | 1.5 | 100.5 | 100.7 | 70.5 |
| Misverstand Dam | Berg River | 5.7 | 133.3 | 132.3 | 102.8 |
| Oukloof Dam | Cordiers River | 4.2 | 19.0 | 14.6 | 6.1 |
| Pietersfontein Dam | Pietersfontein River | 2.0 | #87.8 | 87.8 | 19.6 |
| Poortjieskloof Dam | Groot River | 9.8 | #4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| Prinsrivier Dam | Prins River | 2.3 | #96.6 | 96.6 | 80.0 |
| Roode Els Berg Dam | Sanddrifskloof River | 7.8 | 46.8 | 33.6 | 16.6 |
| Roodefontein Dam | Piesang River | 2.0 | 84.5 | 81.2 | 92.5 |
| Steenbras-Lower Dam | Steenbras River | 33.9 | 94.9 | 84.2 | 58.4 |
| Steenbras-Upper Dam | Steenbras River | 31.9 | 102.3 | 102.0 | 82.6 |
| Stettynskloof Dam | Holsloot River | 14.8 | 106.1 | 105.4 | 42.4 |
| Stompdrift Dam | Olifants River | 46.3 | 23.6 | 23.3 | 20.8 |
| Theewaterskloof Dam | Riviersonderend River | 479.3 | 76.7 | 63.8 | 66.1 |
| Tierkloof Dam | Tributary of Seweweekspoort River | 0.1 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 99.1 |
| Voelvlei Dam | Voelvlei River | 158.6 | 54.1 | 45.9 | 55.9 |
| Wemmershoek Dam | Wemmers River | 58.8 | 97.1 | 83.9 | 47.8 |
| Wolwedans Dam | Groot Brak River | 24.7 | 100.2 | 100.3 | 84.2 |
Total | 1865.7 | 68.7 | 60.0 | 51.1 | |
The Western Cape dams’ water capacity has increased by 11% since this time last year, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), and experts anticipate an additional rise in the coming days. The sluggish rate at which the province’s dams were filling up caused considerable alarm among water consumers earlier this year, according to DWS. Naturally, the dam levels at the time were far lower than they had been the previous two years. The Western Cape storage dams’ condition has worsened during the past two weeks as a result of the torrential rain that fell throughout the whole region. The aggregate full capacity of the dams in the Cape Town system was 79.31%, up from 63.92% at this time last year. The overall storage for all DWS-monitored dams in the province stands at 68,71%, up more than 11% from the previous year, according to “The Western Cape State of Dams.” Thirteen dams had increases of more than 5%, including the Ceres, Bulshoek, Karee, and Kwaggaskloof dams.
The fact that no dams were lowered this week is encouraging. Although the Gouritz Catchment receives some sizable rainfall, the Coastal Belt receives the majority of its precipitation in the summer. “Ten of the catchment’s dams—the majority of which are agricultural dams are at 100% capacity. The Theewaterskloof Dam, which supplies water to 54% of the Western Cape Water Supply System Dams and is the largest dam in the province, achieved 76,67%, a respectable output for this time of year. The agency was observing how the province-wide dam storages were being topped off. Stella Nake, a senior forecaster for South Africa’s weather services, predicted that the recent rains will have a substantial impact on dam levels in the Western Cape. So stay tuned to PKB news for further updates.
