Last week’s burst of rain seems to have done some good for the Eastern Cape and helped raise the provincial dam levels to 46.4%.
However, this won’t be much comfort to BCM as dam levels continue their steady decline. Only two dams are over 50% – Gubu and Laing – and only Laing and Rooikrans saw an increase.
According to figures released by the department of water and sanitation (DWS) on January 13, Bridle Drift dropped to 39.5% from last week’s 40.4%.
Wriggleswade saw a similar decline, going from 31.6% last week to 30.7% this week.
While Gubu remains over 50%, it too saw a drop in level to 56.7%. Nahoon, meanwhile, fell to 43.8%.
Rooikrans did see a slight increase thanks to last week’s rain, but it is still sitting at a critical 21% as of this week.
In sharp contrast to all the other dams in the BCM area, DWS figures show Laing is actually over capacity at 100.9% full.
At the time of writing, weather reports indicate that more rain is predicted to fall over the weekend. Unfortunately, it is likely to do little in relieving the ongoing water-crisis in the BCM area.
As the drought continues to worsen, exasperated by the ongoing climate crisis, citizens are reminded that stage 3 restrictions are still in place and urged to save water wherever possible.
