Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille, as of Monday, 27 February 2017, reported dam levels had dropped to 33%, which is 1.5% down from the previous week The Western Cape government could be the first to build a water desalination plant as the province finds itself in the midst of a crippling drought. Desalination is a process that removes minerals from salt water, and the province is now planning to spend millions of rands and create jobs for its residents with the first phase of a 450-million litre-per-day desalination plant, which could cost about R8bn to construct for a yield of 55-million cubic meters of water per year. This cost, however, is only related to building the plant and excludes operating costs. (LINK) Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille, as of Monday, 27 February 2017, reported dam levels had dropped to 33%, which is 1.5% down from the previous weekDME GmbH2017-03-03T13:09:03+01:00