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DAM-L Dry winter may limit Cape's summer water flow/LS (fwd)
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Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 12:46:04 -0800
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From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: Dry winter may limit Cape's summer water flow/LS
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Dry winter may limit Cape's summer water flow
August 15 2000 at 09:55AM
By John Yeld
A decision on whether to impose summer water restrictions in the Western
Cape will be taken only at the beginning of October - but the probability of
some form of curb is "pretty high" at this stage.
So says Arthur Clayton, director of water and waste at the Cape Metropolitan
Council (CMC), which provides bulk water supplies to most of the local
authorities in the region.
This follows the particularly hot summer at the beginning of this year, and
"well below average" rainfall so far this winter.
The overall percentage of the region's water storage capacity on July 25 was
only 62 percent - the lowest in five years by a full 10 percent.
Well below average rainfall so far this winter
Clayton said both rainfall and water levels in the big storage dams such as
Theewaterskloof, Wemmershoek, Steenbras and Voelvlei were constantly
monitored, and a report was made to the council at the end of each month.
However, at the end of the hydrological year - October was regarded as the
end of the normal winter rainfall period - the Western Cape's water
resources were assessed by means of a sophisticated computer model.
This model, set up jointly by the department of water affairs and forestry
and the CMC, assesses the total demand for water in the region over a number
of years, against expected water inflow into the various dams in drought
years.
It then gives options at various degrees of risk for the coming season.
Clayton said this year's assessment would be made at the end of September.
"We went through a very hot summer and hit all sorts of records, including
the highest daily consumption," he said.
Apart from January and July, the Cape metropolitan area had also received
significantly less rainfall than the long-term monthly average.
The computer model "will tell us if we do need to impose water restrictions
and what extent these need to be".
"The probability at the moment appears pretty high."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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