Most people tend to shy away from the winter and would much rather prefer summer. However, given that rainfall has been inconsistent within the last few years in the Western Cape region, there’s no doubt as to why it’s the other way around.
Especially, because some dams, like Beaufort-West’s Gamka Dam, has been empty for two years. With the start of June, the dam luckily filled up as much as 45%, which brought residents in Beaufort-West great relief.
The residents of Beaufort-West, have been struggling to maintain their businesses, never mind their daily lifestyles, all because water scarcity has been extremely high in the region. Even though the winter months of 2018 welcomed plenty of rain to the Mother City, Cape Town, and some other parts of the Western Cape, it failed to reach the Beaufort-West region, leaving residents suffering for yet another year.
The first two weeks of June, welcomed plenty of rain, increasing the dam levels in not only Beaufort-West but also neighboring parts of Cape Town in the Western Cape.
The Dam Levels are Steadily Continuing to Rise
The Western Cape’s dam levels have increased to a total of 34.9%, which is a positive increase from its 25.9% in 2018.
Dams that provide water to Cape Town’s residents, is currently at 47.5%, which has also improved from 31.5% in June of 2018.
Despite the all the dam levels increasing, as opposed to last year, there’s still a long way to go specifically for Beaufort-West, which requires a lot more rain to sustain its agriculture sector, which hasn’t seen rain in nearly three years. Even though the Gamka Dam is at 45%, rain still hasn’t reached the regions’ farmers yet. Both residents and farmers hope that the rain will continue to fall, hopefully restoring the land, as well as remain consistent in years to come.
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