Cape Town dams at 73.0%, 14 points below this time last year
The six supply dams hold 655 647 Ml against 785 335 Ml a year ago. Voëlvlei is at 55.0% and Steenbras Lower at 47.3%.
The City of Cape Town’s dam page for 2 November 2026 puts total storage in the Western Cape Water Supply System at 73.0%, down from 73.7% last week and 87.4% on the same date in 2025. In volume terms that is 655 647 megalitres out of a capacity of 898 221 megalitres.
Two dams stand out. Voëlvlei, the second-largest in the system, is at 55.0% (97.4% last year). Steenbras Lower is at 47.3% (89.9% last year). Theewaterskloof, which holds more than half of the system’s capacity, is at 72.7%. Berg River (94.3%) and Steenbras Upper (98.3%) are close to full.
The City’s Weekly Water Dashboard labels the situation “Drought Response” and asks households to cut use by at least 10%. The most recent dashboard we could fetch is dated 5 October and reported use of 891 megalitres a day, against a target of 860.
The main winter recharge season (May to September) is over, so what matters now is how quickly the dams are drawn down over summer. We will keep this page updated each weekday as the City publishes new readings.