Day Zero: how low Cape Town's dams got
In early 2018 Cape Town came close to turning off its taps. What the dams did, why, and how today compares.
In early 2018 Cape Town came close to turning off its taps. What the dams did, why, and how today compares.
Put today's dam level, the restriction level or a water-saving tip on your website or blog. It's free, takes one line of code and updates itself. Prefer to build your own? The same figures are open as JSON.
<script src="https://www.waterdashboard.co.za/widget.js" data-variant="level" async></script>The six big dams fell to 19% on 1 June 2017.
Combined storage of the six big dams. Not all of the water in a dam can be used: the last part is hard to get out and treat.
2017, month by monthDry winters in a row. In central Cape Town, rain from April to September was 62% of average in 2015, 77% in 2016 and 67% in 2017.
| Winter | Rain, April to September | Share of average |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 258 mm | 62% |
| 2016 | 320 mm | 77% |
| 2017 | 282 mm | 67% |
A study of the drought found that the low rainfall, rather than heat, was the main cause, and that climate change made a drought like this about three times more likely. Otto and others, 2018
Source: Open-Meteo, central Cape Town. Most dam water falls in the mountain catchments, so city rain is a guide.
Does El Niño cause Cape Town's droughts?Day Zero was the date the City said it would turn off most taps if the dams kept falling, leaving people to collect water at set points.
From 1 February 2018, under Level 6B restrictions, each person was limited to 50 litres a day. SAnews
As use fell, the City moved Day Zero later, and in June 2018 it said there was no prospect of Day Zero in 2019 if restrictions held. Engineering News
Water restrictions todayToday the dams are 73% full. On this date in 2017 they were 38%.
Combined storage of the six big dams, by date. The comparison opens on 2017.
| Date | 2026 | 2017 | Normal range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | 70% | 47% | 70% to 90% |
| 15 Jan | 66% | 43% | 64% to 87% |
| 1 Feb | - | 39% | 59% to 83% |
| 15 Feb | - | 36% | 57% to 80% |
| 1 Mar | - | 32% | 53% to 76% |
| 15 Mar | - | 30% | 50% to 73% |
| 1 Apr | - | 27% | 45% to 69% |
| 15 Apr | - | 25% | 42% to 66% |
| 1 May | - | 23% | 41% to 63% |
| 15 May | - | 21% | 42% to 63% |
| 1 Jun | 72% | 19% | 46% to 65% |
| 15 Jun | - | 23% | 49% to 75% |
| 1 Jul | - | 25% | 53% to 82% |
| 15 Jul | - | 26% | 55% to 87% |
| 1 Aug | - | 28% | 67% to 96% |
| 15 Aug | - | 31% | 71% to 100% |
| 1 Sep | - | 35% | 81% to 101% |
| 15 Sep | - | 37% | 82% to 101% |
| 1 Oct | 76% | 38% | 82% to 101% |
| 15 Oct | - | 37% | 81% to 100% |
| 1 Nov | - | 38% | 81% to 100% |
| 15 Nov | - | 37% | 78% to 99% |
| 1 Dec | - | 36% | 75% to 97% |
| 15 Dec | - | 33% | 73% to 95% |
The middle half of all years since 2001 on each date.
More ways to see the damsSource: City of Cape Town. History from City open data (2000 to January 2026).