Winter is our rainy season, most falling in June and July. It is supposed to be raining right now. We really need rain.
If you look at the graph, Weekly dam levels in Cape Town, you can see how low our dam levels are, compared to last year, 2015, when they were severely low, causing water restrictions throughout the whole of last summer, Dec 2015/Jan 2016. (Which wasn’t helped by the severe heat wave and daily temperatures of 38C.)
You have to look at the total storage capacity, as some dams may be fairly full, but are also very small. The largest dam is Theewaterskloof, which is only at 43.5% capacity.
The total storage of all the dams this year is only 48.1%. For the same week in 2015 the total storage was 61.5% and in 2014 it was 101%.
I don’t know how we will cope this coming summer if we don’t get more rain right now.
So where’s all our rain gone?
I think the UK might have the answer to that one!
You are correct, the UKers have been having a lot of rain apart from last 2 weeks we have been dry, we would share if we could but I don’t think my blow is strong enough to go as south as South Africa 🌍 😦 Sorry
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hahaha Thank you anyway, Sam 🙂
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Well, i hope you get rain even in the post-rainy season. Drought persists in regions of South America, such as Brazil, and weather for Rio, for the olympic games, looks very dry.
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Thank you Tom 🙂
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We defiantly have more than enough! I’ll make a wish that you get some of ours!! 😁
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Oh Thank you ! 🙂
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Water rights are going to be a huge issue in the coming decades 😦
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Yes, I guess so.
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I love the title of this post! It does seem like a rather damning predicament! I’ll ask mother nature if you can have some of our rain. I don’t particularly care that much for it since it ruins the perfect hair day… but I guess I’d gladly take it over a drought.
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Gone with the Wind is one of my favourite movies, especially Rhett Butler’s classic line! 🙂
We’d love to have some of your rain, thank you 🙂
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Funny!
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🙂
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It’s because you seem to have sent all the rain to us again… 😉
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Oh no! Quick – send it back! 😀
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We sure hope that you get plenty of rain soon. We, as humans, need to be way more green with our technology. The world’s climate is changing in weird ways and we need to wake up and smell the roses.
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Thank you Tom, but the rainy season is just about over; which is the worrying thing. But you’re right, we humans have caused most of this.
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Water is so important. I hope you do get more rain.
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Thank you Laura – me too 🙂
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I would gladly send some of the rain back! At the monent though we are enjoying a little heatwave which is great as it’s the Marina Party tonight and the car park is filling up nicely.
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Perfect! Enjoy the party 🙂
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I will send the rain God over!! Argh! I know what it is like. Thankfully we have Newater now and with this recycled water program, we are also supporting this technology to Australia and Malaysia.😊Maybe CT might look to lil red dot for help
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Please do send the rain God over 🙂
Normally we get enough winter rain to last right thro summer, no problem. It is just the last few years that things have changed, and it takes time to work out new solutions.
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Good then! Enjoy your Saturday 🙂
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Thank you and you too 🙂
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Dam! 😉
Normally, I’d be childish and riddle my comment with ‘dams’, but I’ll spare you.
It’s very interesting to read about how other areas deal with water needs. In Colorado, they have the same deal, reservoirs fill and reports are given.
Here in Illinois, many have Lake Michigan water. Yes, people using it get put on restrictions occasionally, ok most of the time. However, not like you, more like odd/even watering days is all. My rich clients can waste water to their hearts content 😲 as long as is on the correct day.
Me, I’m lucky to be on my own well. Most folks think it’s a bad thing, as they don’t know how to take care of it. Obviously, my plumber husband keeps everything in order.
Call me paranoid, but I don’t want “city water”. They put things in it like fluoride and other things they think are ‘good’ for us. I call it “the Kool-aid”. If there was to be an accident (search ‘Flint Michigan water’) or terrorism, everyone is out of water. I’ll be smelling sweet and not thirsty!
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Yep, I had to double check I was spelling dam right! 🙂
The tap water in SA is some of the cleanest in the world, but I still filter all my drinking water.
As for bore hole water (pumped from the water table) they now also have the same garden watering restrictions as the rest of us paying for it. There are no restrictions to what you use inside your house, just very steep price increases.
You’d think, living by the sea, we could use desalination plants, but I think it is too expensive.
Well I just hope we get some more rain, because with our sunshine, a lot of water simply evaporates.
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It’s our rain now and you can’t have it back 🌧😀
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hahahaha Thank you Richard 🙂
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