Water & dams
Cape Town supply dams on 03 Nov 2026. Drought Response: the City asks households to cut use by at least 10%.
About 105 weeks of storage
Stored water divided by today’s use, with no rain, no evaporation and no dead storage. Real life is faster in summer.
About 69.9% in 30 days
At this week’s pace. Below 70% around 03 Dec 2026. A 10% cut by everyone adds about 3 days.
Each dam
How much water you use
- Showers45 l
- Toilet30 l
- Taps, drinking & cooking20 l
- Garden14 l
- Laundry10 l
- Dishes7 l
- Baths4 l
- Cut two minutes off every shower−18 l
- “If it’s yellow, let it mellow”: two fewer flushes a day−12 l
- Water the garden half as long, early morning or evening−7 l
- Run one less laundry load a week (full loads only)−2 l
Typical litre figures, so treat the result as a guide. Your meter is the real answer: log readings below. City average 152 l (City of Cape Town Weekly Water Dashboard); target is 10% less.
Meter readings
Read your meter once a week, same time of day. We work out litres per person per day.
No readings yet.
City of Cape Town page, reading 03 Nov 2026. The two sources use different capacities and dates, so figures differ slightly. We never mix sources in one gauge.
Dams across South Africa
Weekly levels for every province’s dams come from the DWS State of Reservoirs report. They will show here as soon as DWS allows our data service to collect them.
Until then: DWS weekly reservoir report.