The downpours of last week brought both tears and joy.
Joy because our dams have risen, tears because of the large-scale damage which was caused by the stormwater, wreaking havoc across the bay.
But another tragedy is that all the rainwater and flow-off water of the Berg River and Wemmershoek dams will now be washed to sea in torrents.
As seen with the drought faced last decade, the dams feeding our taps are not sufficient to see us through the dry spells.
Both the Wemmershoek and Berg River dams feed huge communities and are just not big enough.
Theewaterskloof, the largest dam in the Western Cape, was constructed way too shallow, and so much of its water evaporates during the hot summer months.
All these harsh factors have led to an investigation into the releasing of water too late and/or too quickly from the Wemmershoek and Berg River dams.
Despite the heavy rains, landowners and the local municipality feel that if water was released earlier, and more gradually, the scale of flooding would not have been as extreme.
Water is such a valuable commodity, one that none of us can do without.
