Torrential rain yet to break the drought

It has rained, it has poured and it has even stormed almost apocalyptically, but the back of the country's ongoing drought is yet to be broken.

With one tweet, the department of water and sanitation's deputy director general for emergency services, Trevor Balzer, put everything into perspective.

"The drought is not over," he wrote on Saturday.

His reason for saying this is that the Free State's Vaal Dam, arguably the most important in the country because it supplies the majority of Gauteng's water, was at just 32.9% by 6am that morning.

While this is an increase from the 26.3% level exactly two weeks ago, it is still significantly lower than this time last year, when it was 53.6% full.

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In fact, dam levels are down in every province compared to a year ago, despite the downpours. Only the North West is up, while Gauteng is the same as it was last year.

In KwaZulu-Natal, where restrictions have been in place since February last year, the situation is still dire. Midmar Dam, which supplies Pietermaritzburg and most of Durban, is at 50%.

"This is an increase of 2% over the past week, an increase that is attributed to run-off into the dam, weekend rainfall in the catchment of about 30mm and transfer of water into it from Spring Grove Dam," said Umgeni Water's Shami Harichunder.

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"The current level of Midmar Dam is about 5% lower compared to the same period a year ago. Midmar Dam must reach a level of at least 70% before the situation could be considered normal."

The problem in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, is that rains fell in the wrong areas.

"Much of the torrential rains fell outside of the catchments. Rains in urban areas generally make their way into drainage systems and, ultimately, the sea," said Harichunder.

BELOW THE LINE

National dam levels at November 14 2016.

• KZN 41.8% (2016) 56.5% (2015)
• Limpopo 44.7% (2016) 68.9% (2015)
• Mpumalanga 48.1% (2016) 66.9% (2015)
• Free State 50% (2016) 64.7% (2015)
• Northern Cape 54% (2016) 72.3% (2015)
• North West 56.2% (2016) 51% (2015)
• Western Cape 57.7% (2016) 62.2% (2015)
• Eastern Cape 61.6% (2016) 77.1% (2015)
• Gauteng 80.7% (2016) 80.7% (2015)

- Department of Water and Sanitation