# ourdams.co.za

> Plain-English dam levels for Cape Town's Big Six dams (the Western Cape Water Supply System): the current combined storage, every dam's level, weekly history back to 2010-01-04, seasonal context and simple scenarios. Free JSON API, no key needed.

Current combined storage: 75.0% on 2026-09-14, from the Department of Water and Sanitation's weekly Cape Town river-system report. Total capacity 889.6 million m³.

## Current levels by dam

- Theewaterskloof: 75.9% full (363.8 of 479.3 million m³). Page: https://ourdams.co.za/dam/theewaterskloof
- Voëlvlei: 58.6% full (92.9 of 158.6 million m³). Page: https://ourdams.co.za/dam/voelvlei
- Berg River: 91.0% full (115.7 of 127.1 million m³). Page: https://ourdams.co.za/dam/berg-river
- Wemmershoek: 88.8% full (52.2 of 58.8 million m³). Page: https://ourdams.co.za/dam/wemmershoek
- Steenbras Lower: 46.2% full (15.7 of 33.9 million m³). Page: https://ourdams.co.za/dam/steenbras-lower
- Steenbras Upper: 83.3% full (26.6 of 31.9 million m³). Page: https://ourdams.co.za/dam/steenbras-upper

## Pages

- [Home](https://ourdams.co.za/): headline combined percentage, month-to-date and year-to-date comparison, per-dam levels, 12-month trend, catchment rainfall, seasonal overlay and full weekly history.
- [Dams](https://ourdams.co.za/dams): directory of the Big Six with capacity, current level and history for each dam.
- [History](https://ourdams.co.za/history): the full weekly record since 2010-01-04, including the 2017-2018 Day Zero drought.
- [Scenarios](https://ourdams.co.za/scenarios): explanatory projections for an average winter, a dry winter and a drought repeat. Not official forecasts.
- [Methodology](https://ourdams.co.za/methodology): where each number comes from and what is observed versus estimated.
- [About](https://ourdams.co.za/about): who built the site and why.

## Data API (JSON, static, refreshed with each data update)

- [Current levels](https://ourdams.co.za/api/levels.json): latest snapshot with combined %, per-dam level, storage and capacity.
- [Daily snapshots](https://ourdams.co.za/api/daily-snapshots.json): recent readings (DWS weekly points and City of Cape Town daily points), with provenance per point. Supports ?from=YYYY-MM-DD&to=YYYY-MM-DD.
- [Weekly history](https://ourdams.co.za/api/history.json): compact weekly combined series with the same week last year.
- [Weekly history snapshots](https://ourdams.co.za/api/history-snapshots.json): full weekly snapshots including per-dam values.
- [Per-dam history](https://ourdams.co.za/api/history/theewaterskloof.json): weekly series for one dam; slugs are theewaterskloof, voelvlei, berg-river, wemmershoek, steenbras-lower, steenbras-upper.

## Optional

- [Full text overview](https://ourdams.co.za/llms-full.txt): dam descriptions, recent readings and data notes in one file.
- [Sitemap](https://ourdams.co.za/sitemap-index.xml)

## Notes for agents

- Percentages are % of full supply capacity. "Combined" is capacity-weighted across the six dams, so Theewaterskloof (over half the system) dominates it.
- Weekly readings come from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS); daily readings, when available, from the City of Cape Town. The two publishers use slightly different capacities, so small steps between sources are expected.
- Scenarios are explanatory, not official forecasts. Please cite ourdams.co.za and the underlying publisher.
- Generated 2026-09-24.