NASA Earth has shared an uplifting clip on their Twitter page showcasing that dramatic drop and then rise of Theewaterskloof dam
In February of this year, we shared a clip of the Theewaterskloof dam that scared everyone! It showed just how badly the water level of the dam had dropped.
The images were taken from January 2014 to January 2018 and show the water in the reservoir (in blue) slowly drying up over the last 4 years. You can see the harrowing clip below.
Thankfully the Cape Town winter rains came back in full swing over the last few months and the dam levels across the Western Cape have seen a healthy bounce back.
“The largest reservoir—Theewaterskloof—holds 40 percent of Capetown’s total water storage capacity, so the state of that reservoir serves as a good barometer for the amount of water available to the city.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquires new imagery of the reservoir every two weeks. The animation [below], based on Landsat imagery, shows the condition of the reservoir at two month intervals between 2015 and 2018.
Parts of the reservoir with standing water appear dark blue; areas where the bottom of the reservoir was dry and exposed are light blue. The pair of natural-color images below, captured by OLI, show the change in water levels at Theewaterskloof between July 22, 2017, and July 9, 2018.”
Below are two images of the dam, just about a year apart. You can see the effect of the rain on the surrounding patches of land. In 2017, most were closer to brown than green but the 2018 image shows just how green the land is supposed to be.
You can watch the uplifting clip of the dams regeneration below. It makes us really happy to see the dam filling up. Hopefully the rains will keep on coming and soon, the dam can be restored to its former glory.
Cape Town's water is coming back. See how water levels in Theewaterskloof reservoir changed between 2015 and 2018. https://t.co/1VsNn6AykX #NASA #Landsat pic.twitter.com/QOFkn677hX
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) July 18, 2018
Sources: Twitter / Earth Observancy
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