Cape Town’s dams drop below half capacity as water levels continue to fall

2026-03-25 - 10:30

The city’s major dams are sitting at just 48.8% capacity as of 24 March 2026, down from 49.2% the previous week and significantly lower than the 66.5% recorded at the same time last year. Cape Town’s dam levels have fallen below 50%, with the latest figures from the City of Cape Town showing a steady week-on-week decline, leaving water watchers concerned heading into the drier months. The city described the network feeding the metro as far-reaching. “The dams in and around Cape Town form part of the Western Cape Water Supply System, which is an integrated and collectively managed system of dams, pump stations, pipelines, and tunnels,” the city said. It added that the system’s reach extends well beyond the city limits. “In addition to servicing Cape Town, the system supplies water to towns in the Overberg, Boland, West Coast, and Swartland areas, and provides irrigation water for agriculture.” ALSO READ: Cape Town water usage surges as dams plunge to 50% Dam levels nearly 18 percentage points lower than last year The combined storage across the six major dams stood at 438 411 megalitres on 24 March 2026, out of a total capacity of 898 221 megalitres. A week earlier, on 23 March, total stored water was recorded at 441 678 megalitres, reflecting a loss of more than 3 000 megalitres in seven days. The same period in 2025 recorded 597 059 megalitres in storage, translating to 66.5%, nearly 18 percentage points higher than current levels. The city cautioned against reading individual dam figures in isolation. “Because each dam size is different, the best indicator of overall dam water levels is the total quantity stored expressed as a percentage of total dam capacity,” it explained. That overall percentage, which sat at 50.4% the previous week, has now slipped to 48.8%. “This statistic is shown in the bottom line of the table,” the City noted. Theewaterskloof edges closer to the halfway mark Theewaterskloof, which holds the lion’s share of the system’s capacity at 480 188 megalitres when full, was at 47.7% on 24 March, down from 47.8% the week before. While the week-on-week change is marginal, the year-on-year gap is stark; the dam was sitting at 67% at the same point in 2025. Berg River, the second-largest dam in the system with a full capacity of 130 010 megalitres, fared similarly. It recorded 43.9% on 24 March, compared to 44.8% the previous week and 66.6% a year ago. The city has consistently emphasised that the system’s integrated nature means no single dam tells the full story. Steenbras Upper remains the best-performing dam Among the six major dams, Steenbras Upper continues to hold the highest percentage of its capacity, recorded at 59.4% on 24 March and 60.9% the week prior. Its full capacity of 31 767 megalitres makes it the smallest of the six, but it remains the only dam above 59% in the current readings. Steenbras Lower recorded 41.6% on 24 March, slightly down from 41.8% the previous week, while Voëlvlei, with a full capacity of 164 095 megalitres, sat at 53.6%, compared to 54.1% a week earlier. Wemmershoek, which holds up to 58 644 megalitres at full capacity, recorded 53.9% on 24 March, down from 54.2% the prior week. READ NEXT: Two-week water outages coming to these Joburg areas