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261:
418:
67:
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and strong rains starting in June 2018 led to dam levels recovering. In
September 2018, with dam levels close to 70 percent, the city began easing water restrictions, indicating that the worst of the water crisis was over. Good rains in 2020 effectively broke the drought and resulting water shortage when dam levels reached 95 percent.
173:, with a storage capacity of 480 million cubic meters, or 41% of the total storage. It is linked to the Cape Town water system through the Faure treatment works via the Kleinplass balancing dam with a tunnel system through the Hottentots Holland Mountains. The Berg River dam (130 million cubic meter) was added to this system in 2009.
622:
largely switched off and it was envisioned that residents could have to queue for their daily ration of water. If this had occurred, it would have made the City of Cape Town the first major city in the world to run out of water in the municipal supply. The Cape Town water crisis occurred at the same time as the
621:
In late 2017, there were first mentions of plans for "Day Zero", a shorthand reference for the day when the water level of the major dams supplying the City could fall below 13.5 percent. "Day Zero" became a term to mark the start of Level 7 water restrictions, when municipal water supplies would be
628:
The City of Cape Town implemented significant water restrictions in a bid to curb water usage, which reduced its daily water usage by more than half to around 500 million litres (130,000,000 US gal) per day in March 2018. The fall in water usage led the City to postpone its estimate for "Day Zero",
70:
The locations of major and minor dams in the
Western Cape Water Supply System. Major dams: A - Theewaterskloof, B - Voƫlvlei, C - Berg River, D - Wemmershoek, E - Steenbras Lower, F - Steenbras Upper. Minor dams: G - Kleinplaats, H - Woodhead, I - Hely-Hutchinson, J - Land-en-Zeezicht, K - De
573:
The system provides water to irrigate about 15,000ha of farmland, where high-value fruit and vegetables are grown. From the early 1970s until the mid-2000s water consumption in Cape Town increased by about 300%, increasing the competition for water with irrigated agriculture. This has been
574:
exacerbated by several unusually dry years, such as in 1994-1995 when storage in the system was only one third of average storage. Farmers have adapted by significantly improving irrigation efficiency and shifting even more land into the production of high-value crops.
570:, which has a population of over 4 million. Smaller towns used 5%, and 32% was used by agriculture. Within the city, in 2016/2017, 64.5% of water went to houses, flats and complexes, while 3.6% went to informal settlements.
161:
These six major dams provide 99.6% of the combined storage capacity, and 8 minor dams the remaining 0.4%. The levels of these dams are recorded and published in weekly reports by the
Department of Water and Sanitation.
982:
618:. Dam water levels began decreasing in 2015 and the Cape Town water crisis peaked during mid-2017 to mid-2018 when water levels hovered between 14 and 29 percent of total dam capacity.
860:
1037:
103:
The largest component of the WCWSS is the
Riviersonderend-Berg River Government Water Scheme, which is a large inter-basin water transfer scheme that regulates the flow of the
681:
598:
Graph of total water stored in the
Western Cape's largest six dams (blue) as well as City of Cape Town water restriction level (orange) from November 2013 to August 2021.
878:
87:, comprising an inter-linked system of six main dams, pipelines, tunnels and distribution networks, and a number of minor dams, some owned and operated by the
943:
577:
The system also generates pumped storage hydropower using an installed capacity of 400 Megawatt (MW) on the
Palmiet River and 180MW on the Steenbras River.
639:
46:
33:
783:
669:
Address by Mr Ronnie
Kasrils, MP, minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, at the Berg Water Project signing ceremony on 15 April 2003, in Cape Town
815:
974:
649:
88:
801:
203:
In 2009 storage capacity in the system was increased by 17% from 768 to 898 million cubic metres through the completion of the
834:
193:
928:
644:
951:
38:
528:
1004:
756:
566:
In 2009, 63% of the water in the system was being used for domestic and industrial purposes in the city of
603:
587:
769:
798:
Benefits and Costs of
Measures for Coping with Water and Climate Change:Berg River Basin, South Africa
623:
898:
Temporal case study of household behavioural response to Cape Town's Day Zero using smart meter data
478:
374:
328:
297:
246:
166:
145:
130:
594:
909:
705:
615:
92:
901:
444:
897:
668:
385:
364:
189:
181:
170:
135:
104:
861:"Cape Town residents become 'guinea pigs for the world' with water-conservation campaign"
293:
270:
177:
150:
339:
204:
155:
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729:
430:
197:
185:
140:
611:
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318:
260:
250:
112:
84:
80:
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343:
66:
465:
407:
395:
108:
122:
The principal dams are all located in the Cape Fold
Mountains to the east of
905:
896:
Booysen, Marthinus
Johannes; Visser, Martine; Burger, Ronelle (2019-01-05).
567:
353:
280:
123:
116:
913:
800:, in: Fulco Ludwig, Pavel Kabat, Henk van Schaik and Michael van der Valk:
24:
816:"Cape Town could be the first major city in the world to run out of water"
307:
497:
434:
306:
184:(59 million cubic meter) in the Berg River basin, the Upper and Lower
975:"City of Cape Town relaxes water restrictions, tariffs to Level 5"
593:
65:
610:
was a multi-year period in 2015ā2020 of water shortage in the
18:
16:
Water supply system in the Western Cape region of South Africa
200:, from which water can be transferred to the Steenbras dams.
730:"Department of Water and Sanitation - Surface Water Storage"
527:
496:
464:
443:
416:
394:
352:
279:
879:"Day Zero, when is it, what is it and how can we avoid it"
757:
Western Cape Water Reconciliation Strategy, Newsletter 5
796:
John M. Callaway, Daniel B. Louw and Molly Hellmuth:
71:
Villiers, L - Lewis Gay, M - Victoria, N - Alexandra
784:"Do Formal Residents Use 65% of Cape Town's Water?"
835:"What's Actually Behind Cape Town's Water Crisis"
79:(WCWSS) is a complex water supply system in the
1005:"After the drought: Cape Town's gushing water"
751:
749:
802:Climate change adaptation in the water sector
772:, 17 March 2009, accessed on 12 December 2009
111:flowing North towards the Atlantic Ocean and
8:
107:flowing South towards the Indian Ocean, the
1038:Water supply and sanitation in South Africa
640:Water supply and sanitation in South Africa
759:, March 2009, accessed on 11 December 2009
755:Department of Water Affairs and Forestry:
209:
176:Other storage dams of the WCWSS are the
49:of all important aspects of the article.
944:"Chamber delighted by Day-Zero's death"
929:"Cape Town water usage lower than ever"
661:
626:, located in a separate region nearby.
45:Please consider expanding the lead to
985:from the original on 12 December 2018
973:Pitt, Christina (10 September 2018).
165:The largest dam in the system is the
7:
833:Poplak, Richard (15 February 2018).
614:region, most notably affecting the
927:Narrandes, Nidha (14 March 2018).
814:Cassim, Zaheer (19 January 2018).
782:Makou, Gopolang (21 August 2017).
650:Department of Water and Sanitation
89:Department of Water and Sanitation
14:
942:Myburgh, Janine (29 June 2018).
770:Cape Town's water supply boosted
586:This section is an excerpt from
373:
327:
259:
180:(159 million cubic meters), the
77:Western Cape Water Supply System
23:
859:York, Geoffrey (8 March 2018).
37:may be too short to adequately
671:, accessed on 11 December 2009
47:provide an accessible overview
1:
194:Palmiet Pumped Storage Scheme
1054:
645:Water Board (South Africa)
585:
804:, London 2009, p. 205-226
706:"Western Cape Dam Levels"
581:Water crisis 2015-present
526:
490:Lewis Gay (Simon's Town)
442:
232:Capacity (thousand cubic
682:"This Week's Dam levels"
220:(thousand cubic metres)
604:Cape Town water crisis
599:
588:Cape Town water crisis
532:
501:
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906:10.31224/osf.io/6nckp
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624:Eastern Cape drought
900:(Report). engrXiv.
686:www.capetown.gov.za
167:Theewaterskloof Dam
146:Steenbras Upper Dam
141:Steenbras Lower Dam
131:Theewaterskloof Dam
865:The Globe and Mail
768:City of Cape Town:
600:
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502:
470:
449:
422:
406:Land-en-Zeezicht (
400:
358:
312:
285:
73:
883:City of Cape Town
710:www.elsenburg.com
616:City of Cape Town
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552:(Table Mountain)
521:(Table Mountain)
458:(Table Mountain)
367:(Table Mountain)
321:(Table Mountain)
93:City of Cape Town
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950:. Archived from
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931:. Cape Town etc.
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734:niwis.dws.gov.za
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115:that flows into
91:and some by the
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786:. Africa Check.
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479:Steenbras Upper
431:Steenbras Lower
365:Hely-Hutchinson
247:Theewaterskloof
192:as well as the
190:Steenbras River
182:Wemmershoek Dam
171:Sonderend River
136:Wemmershoek Dam
105:Sonderend River
101:
60:
54:
51:
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32:This article's
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17:
12:
11:
5:
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954:on 6 July 2018
948:Cape Messenger
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388:(Franschhoek)
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205:Berg River Dam
186:Steenbras Dams
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156:Berg River Dam
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41:the key points
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1010:GroundUp News
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269:Kleinplaats (
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198:Palmiet River
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1015:. Retrieved
1013:. 2020-09-07
1008:
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989:10 September
987:. Retrieved
978:
968:
956:. Retrieved
952:the original
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922:
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873:
864:
854:
842:. Retrieved
839:The Atlantic
838:
828:
819:
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764:
737:. Retrieved
733:
724:
713:. Retrieved
709:
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689:. Retrieved
685:
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664:
620:
612:Western Cape
608:South Africa
601:
576:
572:
565:
271:Simon's Town
251:Villiersdorp
233:
219:
202:
196:dams on the
178:Voƫlvlei Dam
175:
164:
160:
151:Voƫlvlei Dam
126:. They are:
121:
113:Eerste River
102:
85:South Africa
81:Western Cape
76:
74:
52:
36:
34:lead section
844:22 February
456:De Villiers
386:Wemmershoek
344:Franschhoek
229:Minor Dams
215:Major Dams
55:August 2022
1017:2020-09-11
739:2017-06-16
715:2017-06-16
691:2017-06-16
656:References
481:(Grabouw)
408:Helderberg
340:Berg River
109:Berg River
99:Components
83:region of
820:USA Today
568:Cape Town
562:Water use
550:Alexandra
238:Location
224:Location
218:Capacity
124:Cape Town
117:False Bay
39:summarize
1032:Category
983:Archived
914:30472543
634:See also
519:Victoria
319:Woodhead
294:Voƫlvlei
234:metres)
958:29 June
440:33 517
435:Grabouw
349:130010
303:164095
256:480188
188:on the
169:on the
979:News24
912:
484:31767
391:58644
298:Gouda
276:1368
991:2018
960:2018
910:PMID
846:2018
602:The
555:126
524:128
493:182
461:243
413:451
370:925
324:954
75:The
902:doi
606:in
95:.
1034::
1007:.
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977:.
946:.
908:.
881:.
863:.
837:.
818:.
748:^
732:.
708:.
684:.
546:N
515:M
487:L
475:F
452:K
437:)
427:E
410:)
403:J
382:D
361:I
346:)
336:C
315:H
300:)
290:B
273:)
266:G
253:)
243:A
207:.
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
